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\title{Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes}


\author{Sir Arthur Conan Doyle\\
{\normalsize Illustrations by Sidney Paget}}

\maketitle
\vspace*{\stretch{1}}

\noindent This public-domain (U.S.) text was created by

\noindent \begin{center}Angela M.\ Cable\\
3370 Roosevelt \#E\\
Rock Springs, WY 82901\\
(307) 382-9098\\
{\footnotesize dispatch@rock-springs.dowell.slb.com}\end{center}{\footnotesize \par}

\noindent The Project Gutenberg edition (designated {}``memho11'')
was subsequently converted to \LaTeX{} using \textbf{GutenMark} software
and then re-edited by Ron Burkey using \textbf{lyx} software. The
author's llustrations (lacking in the Project Gutenberg edition) were
restored, and various other corrections were made as well. Report
problems to info@sandroid.org.

\begin{description}
\item [B~12/13/02]Proofing completed.
\item [C~12/29/02]Added Sidney Paget's \emph{Strand Magazine} illustrations,
from bakerstreet221b.de. Also, made several minor corrections.
\item [D~01/30/08]{}``----'' was everywhere replaced with {}``---''.
Also, doctored one illustration ({}``The Death of Sherlock Holmes'')
to make it less obvious that there was a fold in it.
\end{description}
\vspace{\stretch{1}}

\frontmatter


\pagestyle{myheadings} {\small \tableofcontents{}}\newpage


\mainmatter



\chapter*{\raggedright Adventure I.\  Silver Blaze}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Adventure I. Silver Blaze}

\markboth{Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes}{Silver Blaze}

{}``I am afraid, Watson, that I shall have to go,'' said Holmes,
as we sat down together to our breakfast one morning.

{}``Go! Where to?''

{}``To Dartmoor; to King's Pyland.''

I was not surprised. Indeed, my only wonder was that he had not already
been mixed upon this extraordinary case, which was the one topic of
conversation through the length and breadth of England. For a whole
day my companion had rambled about the room with his chin upon his
chest and his brows knitted, charging and recharging his pipe with
the strongest black tobacco, and absolutely deaf to any of my questions
or remarks. Fresh editions of every paper had been sent up by our
news agent, only to be glanced over and tossed down into a corner.
Yet, silent as he was, I knew perfectly well what it was over which
he was brooding. There was but one problem before the public which
could challenge his powers of analysis, and that was the singular
disappearance of the favorite for the Wessex Cup, and the tragic murder
of its trainer. When, therefore, he suddenly announced his intention
of setting out for the scene of the drama it was only what I had both
expected and hoped for.

{}``I should be most happy to go down with you if I should not be
in the way,'' said I.

{}``My dear Watson, you would confer a great favor upon me by coming.
And I think that your time will not be misspent, for there are points
about the case which promise to make it an absolutely unique one.
We have, I think, just time to catch our train at Paddington, and
I will go further into the matter upon our journey. You would oblige
me by bringing with you your very excellent field-glass.''

And so it happened that an hour or so later I found myself in the
corner of a first-class carriage flying along en route for Exeter,
while Sherlock Holmes, with his sharp, eager face framed in his ear-flapped
travelling-cap, dipped rapidly into the bundle of fresh papers which
he had procured at Paddington. We had left Reading far behind us before
he thrust the last one of them under the seat, and offered me his
cigar-case.

{}``We are going well,'' said he, looking out the window and glancing
at his watch. {}``Our rate at present is fifty-three and a half miles
an hour.''

{}``I have not observed the quarter-mile posts,'' said I.

{}``Nor have I.\  But the telegraph posts upon this line are sixty
yards apart, and the calculation is a simple one. I presume that you
have looked into this matter of the murder of John Straker and the
disappearance of Silver Blaze?''

{}``I have seen what the \emph{Telegraph} and the \emph{Chronicle}
have to say.''

{}``It is one of those cases where the art of the reasoner should
be used rather for the sifting of details than for the acquiring of
fresh evidence. The tragedy has been so uncommon, so complete and
of such personal importance to so many people, that we are suffering
from a plethora of surmise, conjecture, and hypothesis. The difficulty
is to detach the framework of fact\mdsh{---}of absolute undeniable
fact\mdsh{---}from the embellishments of theorists and reporters.
Then, having established ourselves upon this sound basis, it is our
duty to see what inferences may be drawn and what are the special
points upon which the whole mystery turns. On Tuesday evening I received
telegrams from both Colonel Ross, the owner of the horse, and from
Inspector Gregory, who is looking after the case, inviting my cooperation.

{}``Tuesday evening!'' I exclaimed. {}``And this is Thursday morning.
Why didn't you go down yesterday?''

{}``Because I made a blunder, my dear Watson\mdsh{---}which is,
I am afraid, a more common occurrence than any one would think who
only knew me through your memoirs. The fact is that I could not believe
is possible that the most remarkable horse in England could long remain
concealed, especially in so sparsely inhabited a place as the north
of Dartmoor. From hour to hour yesterday I expected to hear that he
had been found, and that his abductor was the murderer of John Straker.
When, however, another morning had come, and I found that beyond the
arrest of young Fitzroy Simpson nothing had been done, I felt that
it was time for me to take action. Yet in some ways I feel that yesterday
has not been wasted.''

{}``You have formed a theory, then?''

{}``At least I have got a grip of the essential facts of the case.
I shall enumerate them to you, for nothing clears up a case so much
as stating it to another person, and I can hardly expect your co-operation
if I do not show you the position from which we start.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-silv-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Holmes gave me a sketch of the
events.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
I lay back against the cushions, puffing at my cigar, while Holmes,
leaning forward, with his long, thin forefinger checking off the points
upon the palm of his left hand, gave me a sketch of the events which
had led to our journey.

{}``Silver Blaze,'' said he, {}``is from the Somomy stock, and
holds as brilliant a record as his famous ancestor. He is now in his
fifth year, and has brought in turn each of the prizes of the turf
to Colonel Ross, his fortunate owner. Up to the time of the catastrophe
he was the first favorite for the Wessex Cup, the betting being three
to one on him. He has always, however, been a prime favorite with
the racing public, and has never yet disappointed them, so that even
at those odds enormous sums of money have been laid upon him. It is
obvious, therefore, that there were many people who had the strongest
interest in preventing Silver Blaze from being there at the fall of
the flag next Tuesday.

{}``The fact was, of course, appreciated at King's Pyland, where
the Colonel's training-stable is situated. Every precaution was taken
to guard the favorite. The trainer, John Straker, is a retired jockey
who rode in Colonel Ross's colors before he became too heavy for the
weighing-chair. He has served the Colonel for five years as jockey
and for seven as trainer, and has always shown himself to be a zealous
and honest servant. Under him were three lads; for the establishment
was a small one, containing only four horses in all. One of these
lads sat up each night in the stable, while the others slept in the
loft. All three bore excellent characters. John Straker, who is a
married man, lived in a small villa about two hundred yards from the
stables. He has no children, keeps one maid-servant, and is comfortably
off. The country round is very lonely, but about half a mile to the
north there is a small cluster of villas which have been built by
a Tavistock contractor for the use of invalids and others who may
wish to enjoy the pure Dartmoor air. Tavistock itself lies two miles
to the west, while across the moor, also about two miles distant,
is the larger training establishment of Mapleton, which belongs to
Lord Backwater, and is managed by Silas Brown. In every other direction
the moor is a complete wilderness, inhabited only by a few roaming
gypsies. Such was the general situation last Monday night when the
catastrophe occurred.

{}``On that evening the horses had been exercised and watered as
usual, and the stables were locked up at nine o'clock. Two of the
lads walked up to the trainer's house, where they had supper in the
kitchen, while the third, Ned Hunter, remained on guard. At a few
minutes after nine the maid, Edith Baxter, carried down to the stables
his supper, which consisted of a dish of curried mutton. She took
no liquid, as there was a water-tap in the stables, and it was the
rule that the lad on duty should drink nothing else. The maid carried
a lantern with her, as it was very dark and the path ran across the
open moor.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-silv-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small A man appeared out of the darkness.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Edith Baxter was within thirty yards of the stables, when a man
appeared out of the darkness and called to her to stop. As he stepped
into the circle of yellow light thrown by the lantern she saw that
he was a person of gentlemanly bearing, dressed in a gray suit of
tweeds, with a cloth cap. He wore gaiters, and carried a heavy stick
with a knob to it. She was most impressed, however, by the extreme
pallor of his face and by the nervousness of his manner. His age,
she thought, would be rather over thirty than under it.

{}```Can you tell me where I am?' he asked. `I had almost made up
my mind to sleep on the moor, when I saw the light of your lantern.'

{}```You are close to the King's Pyland training-stables,' said she.

{}```Oh, indeed! What a stroke of luck!' he cried. `I understand
that a stable-boy sleeps there alone every night. Perhaps that is
his supper which you are carrying to him. Now I am sure that you would
not be too proud to earn the price of a new dress, would you?' He
took a piece of white paper folded up out of his waistcoat pocket.
`See that the boy has this to-night, and you shall have the prettiest
frock that money can buy.'

{}``She was frightened by the earnestness of his manner, and ran
past him to the window through which she was accustomed to hand the
meals. It was already opened, and Hunter was seated at the small table
inside. She had begun to tell him of what had happened, when the stranger
came up again.

{}```Good-evening,' said he, looking through the window. `I wanted
to have a word with you.' The girl has sworn that as he spoke she
noticed the corner of the little paper packet protruding from his
closed hand.

{}```What business have you here?' asked the lad.

{}```It's business that may put something into your pocket,' said
the other. `You've two horses in for the Wessex Cup\mdsh{---}Silver
Blaze and Bayard. Let me have the straight tip and you won't be a
loser. Is it a fact that at the weights Bayard could give the other
a hundred yards in five furlongs, and that the stable have put their
money on him?'

{}```So, you're one of those damned touts!' cried the lad. `I'll
show you how we serve them in King's Pyland.' He sprang up and rushed
across the stable to unloose the dog. The girl fled away to the house,
but as she ran she looked back and saw that the stranger was leaning
through the window. A minute later, however, when Hunter rushed out
with the hound he was gone, and though he ran all round the buildings
he failed to find any trace of him.''

{}``One moment,'' I asked. {}``Did the stable-boy, when he ran
out with the dog, leave the door unlocked behind him?''

{}``Excellent, Watson, excellent!'' murmured my companion. {}``The
importance of the point struck me so forcibly that I sent a special
wire to Dartmoor yesterday to clear the matter up. The boy locked
the door before he left it. The window, I may add, was not large enough
for a man to get through.

{}``Hunter waited until his fellow-grooms had returned, when he sent
a message to the trainer and told him what had occurred. Straker was
excited at hearing the account, although he does not seem to have
quite realized its true significance. It left him, however, vaguely
uneasy, and Mrs.\ Straker, waking at one in the morning, found that
he was dressing. In reply to her inquiries, he said that he could
not sleep on account of his anxiety about the horses, and that he
intended to walk down to the stables to see that all was well. She
begged him to remain at home, as she could hear the rain pattering
against the window, but in spite of her entreaties he pulled on his
large mackintosh and left the house.

{}``Mrs.\ Straker awoke at seven in the morning, to find that her
husband had not yet returned. She dressed herself hastily, called
the maid, and set off for the stables. The door was open; inside,
huddled together upon a chair, Hunter was sunk in a state of absolute
stupor, the favorite's stall was empty, and there were no signs of
his trainer.

{}``The two lads who slept in the chaff-cutting loft above the harness-room
were quickly aroused. They had heard nothing during the night, for
they are both sound sleepers. Hunter was obviously under the influence
of some powerful drug, and as no sense could be got out of him, he
was left to sleep it off while the two lads and the two women ran
out in search of the absentees. They still had hopes that the trainer
had for some reason taken out the horse for early exercise, but on
ascending the knoll near the house, from which all the neighboring
moors were visible, they not only could see no signs of the missing
favorite, but they perceived something which warned them that they
were in the presence of a tragedy.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-silv-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small They found the dead body of the
unfortunate trainer.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``About a quarter of a mile from the stables John Straker's overcoat
was flapping from a furze-bush. Immediately beyond there was a bowl-shaped
depression in the moor, and at the bottom of this was found the dead
body of the unfortunate trainer. His head had been shattered by a
savage blow from some heavy weapon, and he was wounded on the thigh,
where there was a long, clean cut, inflicted evidently by some very
sharp instrument. It was clear, however, that Straker had defended
himself vigorously against his assailants, for in his right hand he
held a small knife, which was clotted with blood up to the handle,
while in his left he clasped a red and black silk cravat, which was
recognized by the maid as having been worn on the preceding evening
by the stranger who had visited the stables. Hunter, on recovering
from his stupor, was also quite positive as to the ownership of the
cravat. He was equally certain that the same stranger had, while standing
at the window, drugged his curried mutton, and so deprived the stables
of their watchman. As to the missing horse, there were abundant proofs
in the mud which lay at the bottom of the fatal hollow that he had
been there at the time of the struggle. But from that morning he has
disappeared, and although a large reward has been offered, and all
the gypsies of Dartmoor are on the alert, no news has come of him.
Finally, an analysis has shown that the remains of his supper left
by the stable-lad contain an appreciable quantity of powdered opium,
while the people at the house partook of the same dish on the same
night without any ill effect.

{}``Those are the main facts of the case, stripped of all surmise,
and stated as baldly as possible. I shall now recapitulate what the
police have done in the matter.

{}``Inspector Gregory, to whom the case has been committed, is an
extremely competent officer. Were he but gifted with imagination he
might rise to great heights in his profession. On his arrival he promptly
found and arrested the man upon whom suspicion naturally rested. There
was little difficulty in finding him, for he inhabited one of those
villas which I have mentioned. His name, it appears, was Fitzroy Simpson.
He was a man of excellent birth and education, who had squandered
a fortune upon the turf, and who lived now by doing a little quiet
and genteel book-making in the sporting clubs of London. An examination
of his betting-book shows that bets to the amount of five thousand
pounds had been registered by him against the favorite. On being arrested
he volunteered that statement that he had come down to Dartmoor in
the hope of getting some information about the King's Pyland horses,
and also about Desborough, the second favorite, which was in charge
of Silas Brown at the Mapleton stables. He did not attempt to deny
that he had acted as described upon the evening before, but declared
that he had no sinister designs, and had simply wished to obtain first-hand
information. When confronted with his cravat, he turned very pale,
and was utterly unable to account for its presence in the hand of
the murdered man. His wet clothing showed that he had been out in
the storm of the night before, and his stick, which was a Penang-lawyer
weighted with lead, was just such a weapon as might, by repeated blows,
have inflicted the terrible injuries to which the trainer had succumbed.
On the other hand, there was no wound upon his person, while the state
of Straker's knife would show that one at least of his assailants
must bear his mark upon him. There you have it all in a nutshell,
Watson, and if you can give me any light I shall be infinitely obliged
to you.''

I had listened with the greatest interest to the statement which Holmes,
with characteristic clearness, had laid before me. Though most of
the facts were familiar to me, I had not sufficiently appreciated
their relative importance, nor their connection to each other.

{}``Is in not possible,'' I suggested, {}``that the incised wound
upon Straker may have been caused by his own knife in the convulsive
struggles which follow any brain injury?''

{}``It is more than possible; it is probable,'' said Holmes. {}``In
that case one of the main points in favor of the accused disappears.''

{}``And yet,'' said I, {}``even now I fail to understand what the
theory of the police can be.''

{}``I am afraid that whatever theory we state has very grave objections
to it,'' returned my companion. {}``The police imagine, I take it,
that this Fitzroy Simpson, having drugged the lad, and having in some
way obtained a duplicate key, opened the stable door and took out
the horse, with the intention, apparently, of kidnapping him altogether.
His bridle is missing, so that Simpson must have put this on. Then,
having left the door open behind him, he was leading the horse away
over the moor, when he was either met or overtaken by the trainer.
A row naturally ensued. Simpson beat out the trainer's brains with
his heavy stick without receiving any injury from the small knife
which Straker used in self-defence, and then the thief either led
the horse on to some secret hiding-place, or else it may have bolted
during the struggle, and be now wandering out on the moors. That is
the case as it appears to the police, and improbable as it is, all
other explanations are more improbable still. However, I shall very
quickly test the matter when I am once upon the spot, and until then
I cannot really see how we can get much further than our present position.''

It was evening before we reached the little town of Tavistock, which
lies, like the boss of a shield, in the middle of the huge circle
of Dartmoor. Two gentlemen were awaiting us in the station\mdsh{---}the
one a tall, fair man with lion-like hair and beard and curiously penetrating
light blue eyes; the other a small, alert person, very neat and dapper,
in a frock-coat and gaiters, with trim little side-whiskers and an
eye-glass. The latter was Colonel Ross, the well-known sportsman;
the other, Inspector Gregory, a man who was rapidly making his name
in the English detective service.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-silv-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``I am delighted that you
have come down, Mr.\ Holmes.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``I am delighted that you have come down, Mr.\ Holmes,'' said
the Colonel. {}``The Inspector here has done all that could possibly
be suggested, but I wish to leave no stone unturned in trying to avenge
poor Straker and in recovering my horse.''

{}``Have there been any fresh developments?'' asked Holmes.

{}``I am sorry to say that we have made very little progress,''
said the Inspector. {}``We have an open carriage outside, and as
you would no doubt like to see the place before the light fails, we
might talk it over as we drive.''

A minute later we were all seated in a comfortable landau, and were
rattling through the quaint old Devonshire city. Inspector Gregory
was full of his case, and poured out a stream of remarks, while Holmes
threw in an occasional question or interjection. Colonel Ross leaned
back with his arms folded and his hat tilted over his eyes, while
I listened with interest to the dialogue of the two detectives. Gregory
was formulating his theory, which was almost exactly what Holmes had
foretold in the train.

{}``The net is drawn pretty close round Fitzroy Simpson,'' he remarked,
{}``and I believe myself that he is our man. At the same time I recognize
that the evidence is purely circumstantial, and that some new development
may upset it.''

{}``How about Straker's knife?''

{}``We have quite come to the conclusion that he wounded himself
in his fall.''

{}``My friend Dr.\ Watson made that suggestion to me as we came
down. If so, it would tell against this man Simpson.''

{}``Undoubtedly. He has neither a knife nor any sign of a wound.
The evidence against him is certainly very strong. He had a great
interest in the disappearance of the favorite. He lies under suspicion
of having poisoned the stable-boy, he was undoubtedly out in the storm,
he was armed with a heavy stick, and his cravat was found in the dead
man's hand. I really think we have enough to go before a jury.''

Holmes shook his head. {}``A clever counsel would tear it all to
rags,'' said he. {}``Why should he take the horse out of the stable?
If he wished to injure it why could he not do it there? Has a duplicate
key been found in his possession? What chemist sold him the powdered
opium? Above all, where could he, a stranger to the district, hide
a horse, and such a horse as this? What is his own explanation as
to the paper which he wished the maid to give to the stable-boy?''

{}``He says that it was a ten-pound note. One was found in his purse.
But your other difficulties are not so formidable as they seem. He
is not a stranger to the district. He has twice lodged at Tavistock
in the summer. The opium was probably brought from London. The key,
having served its purpose, would be hurled away. The horse may be
at the bottom of one of the pits or old mines upon the moor.''

{}``What does he say about the cravat?''

{}``He acknowledges that it is his, and declares that he had lost
it. But a new element has been introduced into the case which may
account for his leading the horse from the stable.''

Holmes pricked up his ears.

{}``We have found traces which show that a party of gypsies encamped
on Monday night within a mile of the spot where the murder took place.
On Tuesday they were gone. Now, presuming that there was some understanding
between Simpson and these gypsies, might he not have been leading
the horse to them when he was overtaken, and may they not have him
now?''

{}``It is certainly possible.''

{}``The moor is being scoured for these gypsies. I have also examined
every stable and out-house in Tavistock, and for a radius of ten miles.''

{}``There is another training-stable quite close, I understand?''

{}``Yes, and that is a factor which we must certainly not neglect.
As Desborough, their horse, was second in the betting, they had an
interest in the disappearance of the favorite. Silas Brown, the trainer,
is known to have had large bets upon the event, and he was no friend
to poor Straker. We have, however, examined the stables, and there
is nothing to connect him with the affair.''

{}``And nothing to connect this man Simpson with the interests of
the Mapleton stables?''

{}``Nothing at all.''

Holmes leaned back in the carriage, and the conversation ceased. A
few minutes later our driver pulled up at a neat little red-brick
villa with overhanging eaves which stood by the road. Some distance
off, across a paddock, lay a long gray-tiled out-building. In every
other direction the low curves of the moor, bronze-colored from the
fading ferns, stretched away to the sky-line, broken only by the steeples
of Tavistock, and by a cluster of houses away to the westward which
marked the Mapleton stables. We all sprang out with the exception
of Holmes, who continued to lean back with his eyes fixed upon the
sky in front of him, entirely absorbed in his own thoughts. It was
only when I touched his arm that he roused himself with a violent
start and stepped out of the carriage.

{}``Excuse me,'' said he, turning to Colonel Ross, who had looked
at him in some surprise. {}``I was day-dreaming.'' There was a gleam
in his eyes and a suppressed excitement in his manner which convinced
me, used as I was to his ways, that his hand was upon a clue, though
I could not imagine where he had found it.

{}``Perhaps you would prefer at once to go on to the scene of the
crime, Mr.\ Holmes?'' said Gregory.

{}``I think that I should prefer to stay here a little and go into
one or two questions of detail. Straker was brought back here, I presume?''

{}``Yes; he lies upstairs. The inquest is to-morrow.''

{}``He has been in your service some years, Colonel Ross?''

{}``I have always found him an excellent servant.''

{}``I presume that you made an inventory of what he had in this pockets
at the time of his death, Inspector?''

{}``I have the things themselves in the sitting-room, if you would
care to see them.''

{}``I should be very glad.'' We all filed into the front room and
sat round the central table while the Inspector unlocked a square
tin box and laid a small heap of things before us. There was a box
of vestas, two inches of tallow candle, an A D P brier-root pipe,
a pouch of seal-skin with half an ounce of long-cut Cavendish, a silver
watch with a gold chain, five sovereigns in gold, an aluminum pencil-case,
a few papers, and an ivory-handled knife with a very delicate, inflexible
blade marked Weiss \& Co., London.

{}``This is a very singular knife,'' said Holmes, lifting it up
and examining it minutely. {}``I presume, as I see blood-stains upon
it, that it is the one which was found in the dead man's grasp. Watson,
this knife is surely in your line?''

{}``It is what we call a cataract knife,'' said I.

{}``I thought so. A very delicate blade devised for very delicate
work. A strange thing for a man to carry with him upon a rough expedition,
especially as it would not shut in his pocket.''

{}``The tip was guarded by a disk of cork which we found beside his
body,'' said the Inspector. {}``His wife tells us that the knife
had lain upon the dressing-table, and that he had picked it up as
he left the room. It was a poor weapon, but perhaps the best that
he could lay his hands on at the moment.''

{}``Very possible. How about these papers?''

{}``Three of them are receipted hay-dealers' accounts. One of them
is a letter of instructions from Colonel Ross. This other is a milliner's
account for thirty-seven pounds fifteen made out by Madame Lesurier,
of Bond Street, to William Derbyshire. Mrs. Straker tells us that
Derbyshire was a friend of her husband's and that occasionally his
letters were addressed here.''

{}``Madam Derbyshire had somewhat expensive tastes,'' remarked Holmes,
glancing down the account. {}``Twenty-two guineas is rather heavy
for a single costume. However there appears to be nothing more to
learn, and we may now go down to the scene of the crime.''

As we emerged from the sitting-room a woman, who had been waiting
in the passage, took a step forward and laid her hand upon the Inspector's
sleeve. Her face was haggard and thin and eager, stamped with the
print of a recent horror.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-silv-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Have you found them?''\ she
panted.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Have you got them? Have you found them?''\ she panted.

{}``No, Mrs.\ Straker. But Mr.\ Holmes here has come from London
to help us, and we shall do all that is possible.''

{}``Surely I met you in Plymouth at a garden-party some little time
ago, Mrs.\ Straker?'' said Holmes.

{}``No, sir; you are mistaken.''

{}``Dear me! Why, I could have sworn to it. You wore a costume of
dove-colored silk with ostrich-feather trimming.''

{}``I never had such a dress, sir,'' answered the lady.

{}``Ah, that quite settles it,'' said Holmes. And with an apology
he followed the Inspector outside. A short walk across the moor took
us to the hollow in which the body had been found. At the brink of
it was the furze-bush upon which the coat had been hung.

{}``There was no wind that night, I understand,'' said Holmes.

{}``None; but very heavy rain.''

{}``In that case the overcoat was not blown against the furze-bush,
but placed there.''

{}``Yes, it was laid across the bush.''

{}``You fill me with interest, I perceive that the ground has been
trampled up a good deal. No doubt many feet have been here since Monday
night.''

{}``A piece of matting has been laid here at the side, and we have
all stood upon that.''

{}``Excellent.''

{}``In this bag I have one of the boots which Straker wore, one of
Fitzroy Simpson's shoes, and a cast horseshoe of Silver Blaze.''

{}``My dear Inspector, you surpass yourself!'' Homes took the bag,
and, descending into the hollow, he pushed the matting into a more
central position. Then stretching himself upon his face and leaning
his chin upon his hands, he made a careful study of the trampled mud
in front of him. {}``Hullo!''\ said he, suddenly. {}``What's this?''\ It
was a wax vesta half burned, which was so coated with mud that it
looked at first like a little chip of wood.

{}``I cannot think how I came to overlook it,'' said the Inspector,
with an expression of annoyance.

{}``It was invisible, buried in the mud. I only saw it because I
was looking for it.''

{}``What! You expected to find it?''

{}``I thought it not unlikely.''

He took the boots from the bag, and compared the impressions of each
of them with marks upon the ground. Then he clambered up to the rim
of the hollow, and crawled about among the ferns and bushes.

{}``I am afraid that there are no more tracks,'' said the Inspector.
{}``I have examined the ground very carefully for a hundred yards
in each direction.''

{}``Indeed!'' said Holmes, rising. {}``I should not have the impertinence
to do it again after what you say. But I should like to take a little
walk over the moor before it grows dark, that I may know my ground
to-morrow, and I think that I shall put this horseshoe into my pocket
for luck.''

Colonel Ross, who had shown some signs of impatience at my companion's
quiet and systematic method of work, glanced at his watch. {}``I
wish you would come back with me, Inspector,'' said he. {}``There
are several points on which I should like your advice, and especially
as to whether we do not owe it to the public to remove our horse's
name from the entries for the Cup.''

{}``Certainly not,'' cried Holmes, with decision. {}``I should
let the name stand.''

The Colonel bowed. {}``I am very glad to have had your opinion, sir,''
said he. {}``You will find us at poor Straker's house when you have
finished your walk, and we can drive together into Tavistock.''

He turned back with the Inspector, while Holmes and I walked slowly
across the moor. The sun was beginning to sink behind the stables
of Mapleton, and the long, sloping plain in front of us was tinged
with gold, deepening into rich, ruddy browns where the faded ferns
and brambles caught the evening light. But the glories of the landscape
were all wasted upon my companion, who was sunk in the deepest thought.

{}``It's this way, Watson,'' said he at last. {}``We may leave
the question of who killed John Straker for the instant, and confine
ourselves to finding out what has become of the horse. Now, supposing
that he broke away during or after the tragedy, where could he have
gone to? The horse is a very gregarious creature. If left to himself
his instincts would have been either to return to King's Pyland or
go over to Mapleton. Why should he run wild upon the moor? He would
surely have been seen by now. And why should gypsies kidnap him? These
people always clear out when they hear of trouble, for they do not
wish to be pestered by the police. They could not hope to sell such
a horse. They would run a great risk and gain nothing by taking him.
Surely that is clear.''

{}``Where is he, then?''

{}``I have already said that he must have gone to King's Pyland or
to Mapleton. He is not at King's Pyland. Therefore he is at Mapleton.
Let us take that as a working hypothesis and see what it leads us
to. This part of the moor, as the Inspector remarked, is very hard
and dry. But if falls away towards Mapleton, and you can see from
here that there is a long hollow over yonder, which must have been
very wet on Monday night. If our supposition is correct, then the
horse must have crossed that, and there is the point where we should
look for his tracks.''

We had been walking briskly during this conversation, and a few more
minutes brought us to the hollow in question. At Holmes' request I
walked down the bank to the right, and he to the left, but I had not
taken fifty paces before I heard him give a shout, and saw him waving
his hand to me. The track of a horse was plainly outlined in the soft
earth in front of him, and the shoe which he took from his pocket
exactly fitted the impression.

{}``See the value of imagination,'' said Holmes. {}``It is the
one quality which Gregory lacks. We imagined what might have happened,
acted upon the supposition, and find ourselves justified. Let us proceed.''

We crossed the marshy bottom and passed over a quarter of a mile of
dry, hard turf. Again the ground sloped, and again we came on the
tracks. Then we lost them for half a mile, but only to pick them up
once more quite close to Mapleton. It was Holmes who saw them first,
and he stood pointing with a look of triumph upon his face. A man's
track was visible beside the horse's.

{}``The horse was alone before,'' I cried.

{}``Quite so. It was alone before. Hullo, what is this?''

The double track turned sharp off and took the direction of King's
Pyland. Homes whistled, and we both followed along after it. His eyes
were on the trail, but I happened to look a little to one side, and
saw to my surprise the same tracks coming back again in the opposite
direction.

{}``One for you, Watson,'' said Holmes, when I pointed it out. {}``You
have saved us a long walk, which would have brought us back on our
own traces. Let us follow the return track.''

We had not to go far. It ended at the paving of asphalt which led
up to the gates of the Mapleton stables. As we approached, a groom
ran out from them.

{}``We don't want any loiterers about here,'' said he.

{}``I only wished to ask a question,'' said Holmes, with his finger
and thumb in his waistcoat pocket. {}``Should I be too early to see
your master, Mr.\ Silas Brown, if I were to call at five o'clock
to-morrow morning?''

{}``Bless you, sir, if any one is about he will be, for he is always
the first stirring. But here he is, sir, to answer your questions
for himself. No, sir, no; it is as much as my place is worth to let
him see me touch your money. Afterwards, if you like.''

As Sherlock Holmes replaced the half-crown which he had drawn from
his pocket, a fierce-looking elderly man strode out from the gate
with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand.

{}``What's this, Dawson!'' he cried. {}``No gossiping! Go about
your business! And you, what the devil do you want here?''

{}``Ten minutes' talk with you, my good sir,'' said Holmes in the
sweetest of voices.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-silv-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Be off!''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``I've no time to talk to every gadabout. We want no stranger here.
Be off, or you may find a dog at your heels.''

Holmes leaned forward and whispered something in the trainer's ear.
He started violently and flushed to the temples.

{}``It's a lie!'' he shouted, {}``an infernal lie!''

{}``Very good. Shall we argue about it here in public or talk it
over in your parlor?''

{}``Oh, come in if you wish to.''

Holmes smiled. {}``I shall not keep you more than a few minutes,
Watson,'' said he. {}``Now, Mr.\ Brown, I am quite at your disposal.''

It was twenty minutes, and the reds had all faded into grays before
Holmes and the trainer reappeared. Never have I seen such a change
as had been brought about in Silas Brown in that short time. His face
was ashy pale, beads of perspiration shone upon his brow, and his
hands shook until the hunting-crop wagged like a branch in the wind.
His bullying, overbearing manner was all gone too, and he cringed
along at my companion's side like a dog with its master.

{}``Your instructions will be done. It shall all be done,'' said
he.

{}``There must be no mistake,'' said Holmes, looking round at him.
The other winced as he read the menace in his eyes.

{}``Oh no, there shall be no mistake. It shall be there. Should I
change it first or not?''

Holmes thought a little and then burst out laughing. {}``No, don't,''
said he; {}``I shall write to you about it. No tricks, now, or\mdsh{---}''

{}``Oh, you can trust me, you can trust me!''

{}``Yes, I think I can. Well, you shall hear from me to-morrow.''
He turned upon his heel, disregarding the trembling hand which the
other held out to him, and we set off for King's Pyland.

{}``A more perfect compound of the bully, coward, and sneak than
Master Silas Brown I have seldom met with,'' remarked Holmes as we
trudged along together.

{}``He has the horse, then?''

{}``He tried to bluster out of it, but I described to him so exactly
what his actions had been upon that morning that he is convinced that
I was watching him. Of course you observed the peculiarly square toes
in the impressions, and that his own boots exactly corresponded to
them. Again, of course no subordinate would have dared to do such
a thing. I described to him how, when according to his custom he was
the first down, he perceived a strange horse wandering over the moor.
How he went out to it, and his astonishment at recognizing, from the
white forehead which has given the favorite its name, that chance
had put in his power the only horse which could beat the one upon
which he had put his money. Then I described how his first impulse
had been to lead him back to King's Pyland, and how the devil had
shown him how he could hide the horse until the race was over, and
how he had led it back and concealed it at Mapleton. When I told him
every detail he gave it up and thought only of saving his own skin.''

{}``But his stables had been searched?''

{}``Oh, an old horse-fakir like him has many a dodge.''

{}``But are you not afraid to leave the horse in his power now, since
he has every interest in injuring it?''

{}``My dear fellow, he will guard it as the apple of his eye. He
knows that his only hope of mercy is to produce it safe.''

{}``Colonel Ross did not impress me as a man who would be likely
to show much mercy in any case.''

{}``The matter does not rest with Colonel Ross. I follow my own methods,
and tell as much or as little as I choose. That is the advantage of
being unofficial. I don't know whether you observed it, Watson, but
the Colonel's manner has been just a trifle cavalier to me. I am inclined
now to have a little amusement at his expense. Say nothing to him
about the horse.''

{}``Certainly not without your permission.''

{}``And of course this is all quite a minor point compared to the
question of who killed John Straker.''

{}``And you will devote yourself to that?''

{}``On the contrary, we both go back to London by the night train.''

I was thunderstruck by my friend's words. We had only been a few hours
in Devonshire, and that he should give up an investigation which he
had begun so brilliantly was quite incomprehensible to me. Not a word
more could I draw from him until we were back at the trainer's house.
The Colonel and the Inspector were awaiting us in the parlor.

{}``My friend and I return to town by the night-express,'' said
Holmes. {}``We have had a charming little breath of your beautiful
Dartmoor air.''

The Inspector opened his eyes, and the Colonel's lip curled in a sneer.

{}``So you despair of arresting the murderer of poor Straker,''
said he.

Holmes shrugged his shoulders. {}``There are certainly grave difficulties
in the way,'' said he. {}``I have every hope, however, that your
horse will start upon Tuesday, and I beg that you will have your jockey
in readiness. Might I ask for a photograph of Mr.\ John Straker?''

The Inspector took one from an envelope and handed it to him.

{}``My dear Gregory, you anticipate all my wants. If I might ask
you to wait here for an instant, I have a question which I should
like to put to the maid.''

{}``I must say that I am rather disappointed in our London consultant,''
said Colonel Ross, bluntly, as my friend left the room. {}``I do
not see that we are any further than when he came.''

{}``At least you have his assurance that your horse will run,''
said I.

{}``Yes, I have his assurance,'' said the Colonel, with a shrug
of his shoulders. {}``I should prefer to have the horse.''

I was about to make some reply in defence of my friend when he entered
the room again.

{}``Now, gentlemen,'' said he, {}``I am quite ready for Tavistock.''

As we stepped into the carriage one of the stable-lads held the door
open for us. A sudden idea seemed to occur to Holmes, for he leaned
forward and touched the lad upon the sleeve.

{}``You have a few sheep in the paddock,'' he said. {}``Who attends
to them?''

{}``I do, sir.''

{}``Have you noticed anything amiss with them of late?''

{}``Well, sir, not of much account; but three of them have gone lame,
sir.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-silv-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Holmes was extremely pleased.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
I could see that Holmes was extremely pleased, for he chuckled and
rubbed his hands together.

{}``A long shot, Watson; a very long shot,'' said he, pinching my
arm. {}``Gregory, let me recommend to your attention this singular
epidemic among the sheep. Drive on, coachman!''

Colonel Ross still wore an expression which showed the poor opinion
which he had formed of my companion's ability, but I saw by the Inspector's
face that his attention had been keenly aroused.

{}``You consider that to be important?''\ he asked.

{}``Exceedingly so.''

{}``Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?''

{}``To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.''

{}``The dog did nothing in the night-time.''

{}``That was the curious incident,'' remarked Sherlock Holmes.

\bigskip{}
Four days later Holmes and I were again in the train, bound for Winchester
to see the race for the Wessex Cup. Colonel Ross met us by appointment
outside the station, and we drove in his drag to the course beyond
the town. His face was grave, and his manner was cold in the extreme.

{}``I have seen nothing of my horse,'' said he.

{}``I suppose that you would know him when you saw him?'' asked
Holmes.

The Colonel was very angry. {}``I have been on the turf for twenty
years, and never was asked such a question as that before,'' said
he. {}``A child would know Silver Blaze, with his white forehead
and his mottled off-foreleg.''

{}``How is the betting?''

{}``Well, that is the curious part of it. You could have got fifteen
to one yesterday, but the price has become shorter and shorter, until
you can hardly get three to one now.''

{}``Hum!''\ said Holmes. {}``Somebody knows something, that is
clear.''

As the drag drew up in the enclosure near the grand stand I glanced
at the card to see the entries.

\begin{quote} \small Wessex Plate {[}it ran{]} 50 sovs each h ft
with 1000 sovs added for four and five year olds. Second, \pounds300.
Third, \pounds200. New course (one mile and five furlongs). 

1. Mr.\ Heath Newton's The Negro. Red cap. Cinnamon jacket. 

2. Colonel Wardlaw's Pugilist. Pink cap. Blue and black jacket. 

3. Lord Backwater's Desborough. Yellow cap and sleeves. 

4. Colonel Ross's Silver Blaze. Black cap. Red jacket. 

5. Duke of Balmoral's Iris. Yellow and black stripes. 

6. Lord Singleford's Rasper. Purple cap. Black sleeves.

\end{quote}

{}``We scratched our other one, and put all hopes on your word,''
said the Colonel. {}``Why, what is that? Silver Blaze favorite?''

{}``Five to four against Silver Blaze!'' roared the ring. {}``Five
to four against Silver Blaze! Five to fifteen against Desborough!
Five to four on the field!''

{}``There are the numbers up,'' I cried. {}``They are all six there.''

{}``All six there? Then my horse is running,'' cried the Colonel
in great agitation. {}``But I don't see him. My colors have not passed.''

{}``Only five have passed. This must be he.''

As I spoke a powerful bay horse swept out from the weighting enclosure
and cantered past us, bearing on it back the well-known black and
red of the Colonel.

{}``That's not my horse,'' cried the owner. {}``That beast has
not a white hair upon its body. What is this that you have done, Mr.\ Holmes?''

{}``Well, well, let us see how he gets on,'' said my friend, imperturbably.
For a few minutes he gazed through my field-glass. {}``Capital! An
excellent start!''\ he cried suddenly. {}``There they are, coming
round the curve!''

From our drag we had a superb view as they came up the straight. The
six horses were so close together that a carpet could have covered
them, but half way up the yellow of the Mapleton stable showed to
the front. Before they reached us, however, Desborough's bolt was
shot, and the Colonel's horse, coming away with a rush, passed the
post a good six lengths before its rival, the Duke of Balmoral's Iris
making a bad third.

{}``It's my race, anyhow,'' gasped the Colonel, passing his hand
over his eyes. {}``I confess that I can make neither head nor tail
of it. Don't you think that you have kept up your mystery long enough,
Mr.\ Holmes?''

{}``Certainly, Colonel, you shall know everything. Let us all go
round and have a look at the horse together. Here he is,'' he continued,
as we made our way into the weighing enclosure, where only owners
and their friends find admittance. {}``You have only to wash his
face and his leg in spirits of wine, and you will find that he is
the same old Silver Blaze as ever.''

{}``You take my breath away!''

{}``I found him in the hands of a fakir, and took the liberty of
running him just as he was sent over.''

{}``My dear sir, you have done wonders. The horse looks very fit
and well. It never went better in its life. I owe you a thousand apologies
for having doubted your ability. You have done me a great service
by recovering my horse. You would do me a greater still if you could
lay your hands on the murderer of John Straker.''

{}``I have done so,'' said Holmes quietly.

The Colonel and I stared at him in amazement. {}``You have got him!
Where is he, then?''

{}``He is here.''

{}``Here! Where?''

{}``In my company at the present moment.''

The Colonel flushed angrily. {}``I quite recognize that I am under
obligations to you, Mr.\  Holmes,'' said he, {}``but I must regard
what you have just said as either a very bad joke or an insult.''

Sherlock Holmes laughed. {}``I assure you that I have not associated
you with the crime, Colonel,'' said he. {}``The real murderer is
standing immediately behind you.'' He stepped past and laid his hand
upon the glossy neck%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-silv-08.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He laid his hand upon the glossy
neck.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
 of the thoroughbred.

{}``The horse!''\ cried both the Colonel and myself.

{}``Yes, the horse. And it may lessen his guilt if I say that it
was done in self-defence, and that John Straker was a man who was
entirely unworthy of your confidence. But there goes the bell, and
as I stand to win a little on this next race, I shall defer a lengthy
explanation until a more fitting time.''

\bigskip{}
We had the corner of a Pullman car to ourselves that evening as we
whirled back to London, and I fancy that the journey was a short one
to Colonel Ross as well as to myself, as we listened to our companion's
narrative of the events which had occurred at the Dartmoor training-stables
upon the Monday night, and the means by which he had unravelled them.

{}``I confess,'' said he, {}``that any theories which I had formed
from the newspaper reports were entirely erroneous. And yet there
were indications there, had they not been overlaid by other details
which concealed their true import. I went to Devonshire with the conviction
that Fitzroy Simpson was the true culprit, although, of course, I
saw that the evidence against him was by no means complete. It was
while I was in the carriage, just as we reached the trainer's house,
that the immense significance of the curried mutton occurred to me.
You may remember that I was distrait, and remained sitting after you
had all alighted. I was marvelling in my own mind how I could possibly
have overlooked so obvious a clue.''

{}``I confess,'' said the Colonel, {}``that even now I cannot see
how it helps us.''

{}``It was the first link in my chain of reasoning. Powdered opium
is by no means tasteless. The flavor is not disagreeable, but it is
perceptible. Were it mixed with any ordinary dish the eater would
undoubtedly detect it, and would probably eat no more. A curry was
exactly the medium which would disguise this taste. By no possible
supposition could this stranger, Fitzroy Simpson, have caused curry
to be served in the trainer's family that night, and it is surely
too monstrous a coincidence to suppose that he happened to come along
with powdered opium upon the very night when a dish happened to be
served which would disguise the flavor. That is unthinkable. Therefore
Simpson becomes eliminated from the case, and our attention centers
upon Straker and his wife, the only two people who could have chosen
curried mutton for supper that night. The opium was added after the
dish was set aside for the stable-boy, for the others had the same
for supper with no ill effects. Which of them, then, had access to
that dish without the maid seeing them?

{}``Before deciding that question I had grasped the significance
of the silence of the dog, for one true inference invariably suggests
others. The Simpson incident had shown me that a dog was kept in the
stables, and yet, though some one had been in and had fetched out
a horse, he had not barked enough to arouse the two lads in the loft.
Obviously the midnight visitor was some one whom the dog knew well.

{}``I was already convinced, or almost convinced, that John Straker
went down to the stables in the dead of the night and took out Silver
Blaze. For what purpose? For a dishonest one, obviously, or why should
he drug his own stable-boy? And yet I was at a loss to know why. There
have been cases before now where trainers have made sure of great
sums of money by laying against their own horses, through agents,
and then preventing them from winning by fraud. Sometimes it is a
pulling jockey. Sometimes it is some surer and subtler means. What
was it here? I hoped that the contents of his pockets might help me
to form a conclusion.

{}``And they did so. You cannot have forgotten the singular knife
which was found in the dead man's hand, a knife which certainly no
sane man would choose for a weapon. It was, as Dr.\ Watson told us,
a form of knife which is used for the most delicate operations known
in surgery. And it was to be used for a delicate operation that night.
You must know, with your wide experience of turf matters, Colonel
Ross, that it is possible to make a slight nick upon the tendons of
a horse's ham, and to do it subcutaneously, so as to leave absolutely
no trace. A horse so treated would develop a slight lameness, which
would be put down to a strain in exercise or a touch of rheumatism,
but never to foul play.''

{}``Villain! Scoundrel!'' cried the Colonel.

{}``We have here the explanation of why John Straker wished to take
the horse out on to the moor. So spirited a creature would have certainly
roused the soundest of sleepers when it felt the prick of the knife.
It was absolutely necessary to do it in the open air.''

{}``I have been blind!'' cried the Colonel. {}``Of course that
was why he needed the candle, and struck the match.''

{}``Undoubtedly. But in examining his belongings I was fortunate
enough to discover not only the method of the crime, but even its
motives. As a man of the world, Colonel, you know that men do not
carry other people's bills about in their pockets. We have most of
us quite enough to do to settle our own. I at once concluded that
Straker was leading a double life, and keeping a second establishment.
The nature of the bill showed that there was a lady in the case, and
one who had expensive tastes. Liberal as you are with your servants,
one can hardly expect that they can buy twenty-guinea walking dresses
for their ladies. I questioned Mrs.\ Straker as to the dress without
her knowing it, and having satisfied myself that it had never reached
her, I made a note of the milliner's address, and felt that by calling
there with Straker's photograph I could easily dispose of the mythical
Derbyshire.

{}``From that time on all was plain. Straker had led out the horse
to a hollow where his light would be invisible. Simpson in his flight
had dropped his cravat, and Straker had picked it up\mdsh{---}with
some idea, perhaps, that he might use it in securing the horse's leg.
Once in the hollow, he had got behind the horse and had struck a light;
but the creature frightened at the sudden glare, and with the strange
instinct of animals feeling that some mischief was intended, had lashed
out, and the steel shoe had struck Straker full on the forehead. He
had already, in spite of the rain, taken off his overcoat in order
to do his delicate task, and so, as he fell, his knife gashed his
thigh. Do I make it clear?''

{}``Wonderful!''\ cried the Colonel. {}``Wonderful! You might
have been there!''

{}``My final shot was, I confess a very long one. It struck me that
so astute a man as Straker would not undertake this delicate tendon-nicking
without a little practice. What could he practice on? My eyes fell
upon the sheep, and I asked a question which, rather to my surprise,
showed that my surmise was correct.

{}``When I returned to London I called upon the milliner, who had
recognized Straker as an excellent customer of the name of Derbyshire,
who had a very dashing wife, with a strong partiality for expensive
dresses. I have no doubt that this woman had plunged him over head
and ears in debt, and so led him into this miserable plot.''

{}``You have explained all but one thing,'' cried the Colonel. {}``Where
was the horse?''

{}``Ah, it bolted, and was cared for by one of your neighbors. We
must have an amnesty in that direction, I think. This is Clapham Junction,
if I am not mistaken, and we shall be in Victoria in less than ten
minutes. If you care to smoke a cigar in our rooms, Colonel, I shall
be happy to give you any other details which might interest you.''%
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\end{figure}



\chapter*{\raggedright Adventure II. The Yellow Face}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Adventure II. The Yellow Face}

\markboth{Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes}{The Yellow Face}

{\small {[}In publishing these short sketches based upon the numerous
cases in which my companion's singular gifts have made us the listeners
to, and eventually the actors in, some strange drama, it is only natural
that I should dwell rather upon his successes than upon his failures.
And this not so much for the sake of his reputations\mdsh{---}for,
indeed, it was when he was at his wits' end that his energy and his
versatility were most admirable\mdsh{---}but because where he failed
it happened too often that no one else succeeded, and that the tale
was left forever without a conclusion. Now and again, however, it
chanced that even when he erred, the truth was still discovered. I
have noted of some half-dozen cases of the kind; the Adventure of
the Musgrave Ritual and that which I am about to recount are the two
which present the strongest features of interest.{]}}{\small \par}

Sherlock Holmes was a man who seldom took exercise for exercise's
sake. Few men were capable of greater muscular effort, and he was
undoubtedly one of the finest boxers of his weight that I have ever
seen; but he looked upon aimless bodily exertion as a waste of energy,
and he seldom bestirred himself save when there was some professional
object to be served. Then he was absolutely untiring and indefatigable.
That he should have kept himself in training under such circumstances
is remarkable, but his diet was usually of the sparest, and his habits
were simple to the verge of austerity. Save for the occasional use
of cocaine, he had no vices, and he only turned to the drug as a protest
against the monotony of existence when cases were scanty and the papers
uninteresting.

One day in early spring he had so far relaxed as to go for a walk
with me in the Park, where the first faint shoots of green were breaking
out upon the elms, and the sticky spear-heads of the chestnuts were
just beginning to burst into their five-fold leaves. For two hours
we rambled about together, in silence for the most part, as befits
two men who know each other intimately. It was nearly five before
we were back in Baker Street once more.

{}``Beg pardon, sir,'' said our page-boy, as he opened the door.
{}``There's been a gentleman here asking for you, sir.''

Holmes glanced reproachfully at me. {}``So much for afternoon walks!''
said he. {}``Has this gentleman gone, then?''

{}``Yes, sir.''

{}``Didn't you ask him in?''

{}``Yes, sir; he came in.''

{}``How long did he wait?''

{}``Half an hour, sir. He was a very restless gentleman, sir, a-walkin'
and a-stampin' all the time he was here. I was waitin' outside the
door, sir, and I could hear him. At last he outs into the passage,
and he cries, `Is that man never goin' to come?' Those were his very
words, sir. `You'll only need to wait a little longer,' says I. `Then
I'll wait in the open air, for I feel half choked,' says he. `I'll
be back before long.' And with that he ups and he outs, and all I
could say wouldn't hold him back.''

{}``Well, well, you did your best,'' said Holmes, as we walked into
our room. {}``It's very annoying, though, Watson. I was badly in
need of a case, and this looks, from the man's impatience, as if it
were of importance. Hullo! That's not your pipe on the table. He must
have left his behind him. A nice old brier with a good long stem of
what the tobacconists call amber. I wonder how many real amber mouthpieces
there are in London? Some people think that a fly in it is a sign.
Well, he must have been disturbed in his mind to leave a pipe behind
him which he evidently values highly.''

{}``How do you know that he values it highly?'' I asked.

{}``Well, I should put the original cost of the pipe at seven and
sixpence. Now it has, you see, been twice mended, once in the wooden
stem and once in the amber. Each of these mends, done, as you observe,
with silver bands, must have cost more than the pipe did originally.
The man must value the pipe highly when he prefers to patch it up
rather than buy a new one with the same money.''

{}``Anything else?'' I asked, for Holmes was turning the pipe about
in his hand, and staring at it in his peculiar pensive way.

%
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\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He held it up.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
He held it up and tapped on it with his long, thin fore-finger, as
a professor might who was lecturing on a bone.

{}``Pipes are occasionally of extraordinary interest,'' said he.
{}``Nothing has more individuality, save perhaps watches and bootlaces.
The indications here, however, are neither very marked nor very important.
The owner is obviously a muscular man, left-handed, with an excellent
set of teeth, careless in his habits, and with no need to practise
economy.''

My friend threw out the information in a very offhand way, but I saw
that he cocked his eye at me to see if I had followed his reasoning.

{}``You think a man must be well-to-do if he smokes a seven-shilling
pipe,'' said I.

{}``This is Grosvenor mixture at eightpence an ounce,'' Holmes answered,
knocking a little out on his palm. {}``As he might get an excellent
smoke for half the price, he has no need to practise economy.''

{}``And the other points?''

{}``He has been in the habit of lighting his pipe at lamps and gas-jets.
You can see that it is quite charred all down one side. Of course
a match could not have done that. Why should a man hold a match to
the side of his pipe? But you cannot light it at a lamp without getting
the bowl charred. And it is all on the right side of the pipe. From
that I gather that he is a left-handed man. You hold your own pipe
to the lamp, and see how naturally you, being right-handed, hold the
left side to the flame. You might do it once the other way, but not
as a constancy. This has always been held so. Then he has bitten through
his amber. It takes a muscular, energetic fellow, and one with a good
set of teeth, to do that. But if I am not mistaken I hear him upon
the stair, so we shall have something more interesting than his pipe
to study.''

An instant later our door opened, and a tall young man entered the
room. He was well but quietly dressed in a dark-gray suit, and carried
a brown wide-awake in his hand. I should have put him at about thirty,
though he was really some years older.

{}``I beg your pardon,'' said he, with some embarrassment; {}``I
suppose I should have knocked. Yes, of course I should have knocked.
The fact is that I am a little upset, and you must put it all down
to that.'' He passed his hand over his forehead like a man who is
half dazed, and then fell rather than sat down upon a chair.

{}``I can see that you have not slept for a night or two,'' said
Holmes, in his easy, genial way. {}``That tries a man's nerves more
than work, and more even than pleasure. May I ask how I can help you?''

{}``I wanted your advice, sir. I don't know what to do and my whole
life seems to have gone to pieces.''

{}``You wish to employ me as a consulting detective?''

{}``Not that only. I want your opinion as a judicious man\mdsh{---}as
a man of the world. I want to know what I ought to do next. I hope
to God you'll be able to tell me.''

He spoke in little, sharp, jerky outbursts, and it seemed to me that
to speak at all was very painful to him, and that his will all through
was overriding his inclinations.

{}``It's a very delicate thing,'' said he. {}``One does not like
to speak of one's domestic affairs to strangers. It seems dreadful
to discuss the conduct of one's wife with two men whom I have never
seen before. It's horrible to have to do it. But I've got to the end
of my tether, and I must have advice.''

{}``My dear Mr.\ Grant Munro\mdsh{---}'' began Holmes.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-yell-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Our visitor sprang from his char.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Our visitor sprang from his char. {}``What!'' he cried, {}``you
know my mane?''

{}``If you wish to preserve your incognito,' said Holmes, smiling,
{}``I would suggest that you cease to write your name upon the lining
of your hat, or else that you turn the crown towards the person whom
you are addressing. I was about to say that my friend and I have listened
to a good many strange secrets in this room, and that we have had
the good fortune to bring peace to many troubled souls. I trust that
we may do as much for you. Might I beg you, as time may prove to be
of importance, to furnish me with the facts of your case without further
delay?''

Our visitor again passed his hand over his forehead, as if he found
it bitterly hard. From every gesture and expression I could see that
he was a reserved, self-contained man, with a dash of pride in his
nature, more likely to hide his wounds than to expose them. Then suddenly,
with a fierce gesture of his closed hand, like one who throws reserve
to the winds, he began.

{}``The facts are these, Mr.\ Holmes,'' said he. {}``I am a married
man, and have been so for three years. During that time my wife and
I have loved each other as fondly and lived as happily as any two
that ever were joined. We have not had a difference, not one, in thought
or word or deed. And now, since last Monday, there has suddenly sprung
up a barrier between us, and I find that there is something in her
life and in her thought of which I know as little as if she were the
woman who brushes by me in the street. We are estranged, and I want
to know why.

{}``Now there is one thing that I want to impress upon you before
I go any further, Mr.\ Holmes. Effie loves me. Don't let there be
any mistake about that. She loves me with her whole heart and soul,
and never more than now. I know it. I feel it. I don't want to argue
about that. A man can tell easily enough when a woman loves him. But
there's this secret between us, and we can never be the same until
it is cleared.''

{}``Kindly let me have the facts, Mr.\ Munro,'' said Holmes, with
some impatience.

{}``I'll tell you what I know about Effie's history. She was a widow
when I met her first, though quite young\mdsh{---}only twenty-five.
Her name then was Mrs.\ Hebron. She went out to America when she
was young, and lived in the town of Atlanta, where she married this
Hebron, who was a lawyer with a good practice. They had one child,
but the yellow fever broke out badly in the place, and both husband
and child died of it. I have seen his death certificate. This sickened
her of America, and she came back to live with a maiden aunt at Pinner,
in Middlesex. I may mention that her husband had left her comfortably
off, and that she had a capital of about four thousand five hundred
pounds, which had been so well invested by him that it returned an
average of seven per cent. She had only been six months at Pinner
when I met her; we fell in love with each other, and we married a
few weeks afterwards.

{}``I am a hop merchant myself, and as I have an income of seven
or eight hundred, we found ourselves comfortably off, and took a nice
eighty-pound-a-year villa at Norbury. Our little place was very countrified,
considering that it is so close to town. We had an inn and two houses
a little above us, and a single cottage at the other side of the field
which faces us, and except those there were no houses until you got
half way to the station. My business took me into town at certain
seasons, but in summer I had less to do, and then in our country home
my wife and I were just as happy as could be wished. I tell you that
there never was a shadow between us until this accursed affair began.

{}``There's one thing I ought to tell you before I go further. When
we married, my wife made over all her property to me\mdsh{---}rather
against my will, for I saw how awkward it would be if my business
affairs went wrong. However, she would have it so, and it was done.
Well, about six weeks ago she came to me.

{}```Jack,' said she, `when you took my money you said that if ever
I wanted any I was to ask you for it.'

{}```Certainly,' said I. `It's all your own.'

{}```Well,' said she, `I want a hundred pounds.'

{}``I was a bit staggered at this, for I had imagined it was simply
a new dress or something of the kind that she was after.

{}```What on earth for?' I asked.

{}```Oh,' said she, in her playful way, `you said that you were only
my banker, and bankers never ask questions, you know.'

{}```If you really mean it, of course you shall have the money,'
said I.

{}```Oh, yes, I really mean it.'

{}```And you won't tell me what you want it for?'

{}```Some day, perhaps, but not just at present, Jack.'

{}``So I had to be content with that, though it was the first time
that there had ever been any secret between us. I gave her a check,
and I never thought any more of the matter. It may have nothing to
do with what came afterwards, but I thought it only right to mention
it.

{}``Well, I told you just now that there is a cottage not far from
our house. There is just a field between us, but to reach it you have
to go along the road and then turn down a lane. Just beyond it is
a nice little grove of Scotch firs, and I used to be very fond of
strolling down there, for trees are always a neighborly kind of things.
The cottage had been standing empty this eight months, and it was
a pity, for it was a pretty two storied place, with an old-fashioned
porch and honeysuckle about it. I have stood many a time and thought
what a neat little homestead it would make.

{}``Well, last Monday evening I was taking a stroll down that way,
when I met an empty van coming up the lane, and saw a pile of carpets
and things lying about on the grass-plot beside the porch. It was
clear that the cottage had at last been let. I walked past it, and
wondered what sort of folk they were who had come to live so near
us. And as I looked I suddenly became aware that a face was watching
me out of one of the upper windows.

{}``I don't know what there was about that face, Mr.\ Holmes, but
it seemed to send a chill right down my back. I was some little way
off, so that I could not make out the features, but there was something
unnatural and inhuman about the face. That was the impression that
I had, and I moved quickly forwards to get a nearer view of the person
who was watching me. But as I did so the face suddenly disappeared,
so suddenly that it seemed to have been plucked away into the darkness
of the room. I stood for five minutes thinking the business over,
and trying to analyze my impressions. I could not tell if the face
were that of a man or a woman. It had been too far from me for that.
But its color was what had impressed me most. It was of a livid chalky
white, and with something set and rigid about it which was shockingly
unnatural. So disturbed was I that I determined to see a little more
of the new inmates of the cottage. I approached and knocked at the
door, which was instantly opened by a tall, gaunt woman with a harsh,
forbidding face.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-yell-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``What may you be wantin'?''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```What may you be wantin'?' she asked, in a Northern accent.

{}```I am your neighbor over yonder,' said I, nodding towards my
house. `I see that you have only just moved in, so I thought that
if I could be of any help to you in any\mdsh{---}'

{}```Ay, we'll just ask ye when we want ye,' said she, and shut the
door in my face. Annoyed at the churlish rebuff, I turned my back
and walked home. All evening, though I tried to think of other things,
my mind would still turn to the apparition at the window and the rudeness
of the woman. I determined to say nothing about the former to my wife,
for she is a nervous, highly strung woman, and I had no wish that
she would share the unpleasant impression which had been produced
upon myself. I remarked to her, however, before I fell asleep, that
the cottage was now occupied, to which she returned no reply.

{}``I am usually an extremely sound sleeper. It has been a standing
jest in the family that nothing could ever wake me during the night.
And yet somehow on that particular night, whether it may have been
the slight excitement produced by my little adventure or not I know
not, but I slept much more lightly than usual. Half in my dreams I
was dimly conscious that something was going on in the room, and gradually
became aware that my wife had dressed herself and was slipping on
her mantle and her bonnet. My lips were parted to murmur out some
sleepy words of surprise or remonstrance at this untimely preparation,
when suddenly my half-opened eyes fell upon her face, illuminated
by the candle-light, and astonishment held me dumb. She wore an expression
such as I had never seen before\mdsh{---}such as I should have thought
her incapable of assuming. She was deadly pale and breathing fast,
glancing furtively towards the bed as she fastened her mantle, to
see if she had disturbed me. Then, thinking that I was still asleep,
she slipped noiselessly from the room, and an instant later I heard
a sharp creaking which could only come from the hinges of the front
door. I sat up in bed and rapped my knuckles against the rail to make
certain that I was truly awake. Then I took my watch from under the
pillow. It was three in the morning. What on this earth could my wife
be doing out on the country road at three in the morning?

{}``I had sat for about twenty minutes turning the thing over in
my mind and trying to find some possible explanation. The more I thought,
the more extraordinary and inexplicable did it appear. I was still
puzzling over it when I heard the door gently close again, and her
footsteps coming up the stairs.

{}```Where in the world have you been, Effie?' I asked as she entered.

{}``She gave a violent start and a kind of gasping cry when I spoke,
and that cry and start troubled me more than all the rest, for there
was something indescribably guilty about them. My wife had always
been a woman of a frank, open nature, and it gave me a chill to see
her slinking into her own room, and crying out and wincing when her
own husband spoke to her.

{}```You awake, Jack!' she cried, with a nervous laugh. `Why, I thought
that nothing could awake you.'

{}```Where have you been?'\ I asked, more sternly.

{}```I don't wonder that you are surprised,' said she, and I could
see that her fingers were trembling as she undid the fastenings of
her mantle. `Why, I never remember having done such a thing in my
life before. The fact is that I felt as though I were choking, and
had a perfect longing for a breath of fresh air. I really think that
I should have fainted if I had not gone out. I stood at the door for
a few minutes, and now I am quite myself again.'

{}``All the time that she was telling me this story she never once
looked in my direction, and her voice was quite unlike her usual tones.
It was evident to me that she was saying what was false. I said nothing
in reply, but turned my face to the wall, sick at heart, with my mind
filled with a thousand venomous doubts and suspicions. What was it
that my wife was concealing from me? Where had she been during that
strange expedition? I felt that I should have no peace until I knew,
and yet I shrank from asking her again after once she had told me
what was false. All the rest of the night I tossed and tumbled, framing
theory after theory, each more unlikely than the last.

{}``I should have gone to the City that day, but I was too disturbed
in my mind to be able to pay attention to business matters. My wife
seemed to be as upset as myself, and I could see from the little questioning
glances which she kept shooting at me that she understood that I disbelieved
her statement, and that she was at her wits' end what to do. We hardly
exchanged a word during breakfast, and immediately afterwards I went
out for a walk, that I might think the matter out in the fresh morning
air.

{}``I went as far as the Crystal Palace, spent an hour in the grounds,
and was back in Norbury by one o'clock. It happened that my way took
me past the cottage, and I stopped for an instant to look at the windows,
and to see if I could catch a glimpse of the strange face which had
looked out at me on the day before. As I stood there, imagine my surprise,
Mr.\ Holmes, when the door suddenly opened and my wife walked out.

{}``I was struck dumb with astonishment at the sight of her; but
my emotions were nothing to those which showed themselves upon her
face when our eyes met. She seemed for an instant to wish to shrink
back inside the house again; and then, seeing how useless all concealment
must be, she came forward, with a very white face and frightened eyes
which belied the smile upon her lips.

{}```Ah, Jack,' she said, `I have just been in to see if I can be
of any assistance to our new neighbors. Why do you look at me like
that, Jack? You are not angry with me?'

{}```So,' said I, `this is where you went during the night.'

{}```What do you mean?'' she cried.

{}```You came here. I am sure of it. Who are these people, that you
should visit them at such an hour?'

{}```I have not been here before.'

{}```How can you tell me what you know is false?' I cried. `Your
very voice changes as you speak. When have I ever had a secret from
you? I shall enter that cottage, and I shall probe the matter to the
bottom.'

{}```No, no, Jack, for God's sake!' she gasped, in uncontrollable
emotion. Then, as I approached the door, she seized my sleeve and
pulled me back with convulsive strength.

{}```I implore you not to do this, Jack,' she cried. `I swear that
I will tell you everything some day, but nothing but misery can come
of it if you enter that cottage.' Then, as I tried to shake her off,
she clung to me in a frenzy of entreaty.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-yell-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Trust me, Jack!'' she cried.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```Trust me, Jack!' she cried. `Trust me only this once. You will
never have cause to regret it. You know that I would not have a secret
from you if it were not for your own sake. Our whole lives are at
stake in this. If you come home with me, all will be well. If you
force your way into that cottage, all is over between us.'

{}``There was such earnestness, such despair, in her manner that
her words arrested me, and I stood irresolute before the door.

{}```I will trust you on one condition, and on one condition only,'
said I at last. `It is that this mystery comes to an end from now.
You are at liberty to preserve your secret, but you must promise me
that there shall be no more nightly visits, no more doings which are
kept from my knowledge. I am willing to forget those which are passed
if you will promise that there shall be no more in the future.'

{}```I was sure that you would trust me,' she cried, with a great
sigh of relief. `It shall be just as you wish. Come away\mdsh{---}oh,
come away up to the house.'

{}``Still pulling at my sleeve, she led me away from the cottage.
As we went I glanced back, and there was that yellow livid face watching
us out of the upper window. What link could there be between that
creature and my wife? Or how could the coarse, rough woman whom I
had seen the day before be connected with her? It was a strange puzzle,
and yet I knew that my mind could never know ease again until I had
solved it.

{}``For two days after this I stayed at home, and my wife appeared
to abide loyally by our engagement, for, as far as I know, she never
stirred out of the house. On the third day, however, I had ample evidence
that her solemn promise was not enough to hold her back from this
secret influence which drew her away from her husband and her duty.

{}``I had gone into town on that day, but I returned by the 2.40
instead of the 3.36, which is my usual train. As I entered the house
the maid ran into the hall with a startled face.

{}```Where is your mistress?' I asked.

{}```I think that she has gone out for a walk,' she answered.

{}``My mind was instantly filled with suspicion. I rushed upstairs
to make sure that she was not in the house. As I did so I happened
to glance out of one of the upper windows, and saw the maid with whom
I had just been speaking running across the field in the direction
of the cottage. Then of course I saw exactly what it all meant. My
wife had gone over there, and had asked the servant to call her if
I should return. Tingling with anger, I rushed down and hurried across,
determined to end the matter once and forever. I saw my wife and the
maid hurrying back along the lane, but I did not stop to speak with
them. In the cottage lay the secret which was casting a shadow over
my life. I vowed that, come what might, it should be a secret no longer.
I did not even knock when I reached it, but turned the handle and
rushed into the passage.

{}``It was all still and quiet upon the ground floor. In the kitchen
a kettle was singing on the fire, and a large black cat lay coiled
up in the basket; but there was no sign of the woman whom I had seen
before. I ran into the other room, but it was equally deserted. Then
I rushed up the stairs, only to find two other rooms empty and deserted
at the top. There was no one at all in the whole house. The furniture
and pictures were of the most common and vulgar description, save
in the one chamber at the window of which I had seen the strange face.
That was comfortable and elegant, and all my suspicions rose into
a fierce bitter flame when I saw that on the mantelpiece stood a copy
of a fell-length photograph of my wife, which had been taken at my
request only three months ago.

{}``I stayed long enough to make certain that the house was absolutely
empty. Then I left it, feeling a weight at my heart such as I had
never had before. My wife came out into the hall as I entered my house;
but I was too hurt and angry to speak with her, and pushing past her,
I made my way into my study. She followed me, however, before I could
close the door.

{}```I am sorry that I broke my promise, Jack,' said she; `but if
you knew all the circumstances I am sure that you would forgive me.'

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-yell-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}```Tell me everything, then,'
said I.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```Tell me everything, then,' said I.

{}```I cannot, Jack, I cannot,' she cried.

{}``'Until you tell me who it is that has been living in that cottage,
and who it is to whom you have given that photograph, there can never
be any confidence between us,' said I, and breaking away from her,
I left the house. That was yesterday, Mr.\ Holmes, and I have not
seen her since, nor do I know anything more about this strange business.
It is the first shadow that has come between us, and it has so shaken
me that I do not know what I should do for the best. Suddenly this
morning it occurred to me that you were the man to advise me, so I
have hurried to you now, and I place myself unreservedly in your hands.
If there is any point which I have not made clear, pray question me
about it. But, above all, tell me quickly what I am to do, for this
misery is more than I can bear.''

Holmes and I had listened with the utmost interest to this extraordinary
statement, which had been delivered in the jerky, broken fashion of
a man who is under the influence of extreme emotions. My companion
sat silent for some time, with his chin upon his hand, lost in thought.

{}``Tell me,'' said he at last, {}``could you swear that this was
a man's face which you saw at the window?''

{}``Each time that I saw it I was some distance away from it, so
that it is impossible for me to say.''

{}``You appear, however, to have been disagreeably impressed by it.''

{}``It seemed to be of an unnatural color, and to have a strange
rigidity about the features. When I approached, it vanished with a
jerk.''

{}``How long is it since your wife asked you for a hundred pounds?''

{}``Nearly two months.''

{}``Have you ever seen a photograph of her first husband?''

{}``No; there was a great fire at Atlanta very shortly after his
death, and all her papers were destroyed.''

{}``And yet she had a certificate of death. You say that you saw
it.''

{}``Yes; she got a duplicate after the fire.''

{}``Did you ever meet any one who knew her in America?''

{}``No.''

{}``Did she ever talk of revisiting the place?''

{}``No.''

{}``Or get letters from it?''

{}``No.''

{}``Thank you. I should like to think over the matter a little now.
If the cottage is now permanently deserted we may have some difficulty.
If, on the other hand, as I fancy is more likely, the inmates were
warned of you coming, and left before you entered yesterday, then
they may be back now, and we should clear it all up easily. Let me
advise you, then, to return to Norbury, and to examine the windows
of the cottage again. If you have reason to believe that is inhabited,
do not force your way in, but send a wire to my friend and me. We
shall be with you within an hour of receiving it, and we shall then
very soon get to the bottom of the business.''

{}``And if it is still empty?''

{}``In that case I shall come out to-morrow and talk it over with
you. Good-by; and, above all, do not fret until you know that you
really have a cause for it.''

{}``I am afraid that this is a bad business, Watson,'' said my companion,
as he returned after accompanying Mr.\ Grant Munro to the door. {}``What
do you make of it?''

{}``It had an ugly sound,'' I answered.

{}``Yes. There's blackmail in it, or I am much mistaken.''

{}``And who is the blackmailer?''

{}``Well, it must be the creature who lives in the only comfortable
room in the place, and has her photograph above his fireplace. Upon
my word, Watson, there is something very attractive about that livid
face at the window, and I would not have missed the case for worlds.''

{}``You have a theory?''

{}``Yes, a provisional one. But I shall be surprised if it does not
turn out to be correct. This woman's first husband is in that cottage.''

{}``Why do you think so?''

{}``How else can we explain her frenzied anxiety that her second
one should not enter it? The facts, as I read them, are something
like this: This woman was married in America. Her husband developed
some hateful qualities; or shall we say that he contracted some loathsome
disease, and became a leper or an imbecile? She flies from him at
last, returns to England, changes her name, and starts her life, as
she thinks, afresh. She has been married three years, and believes
that her position is quite secure, having shown her husband the death
certificate of some man whose name she has assumed, when suddenly
her whereabouts is discovered by her first husband; or, we may suppose,
by some unscrupulous woman who has attached herself to the invalid.
They write to the wife, and threaten to come and expose her. She asks
for a hundred pounds, and endeavors to buy them off. They come in
spite of it, and when the husband mentions casually to the wife that
there are new-comers in the cottage, she knows in some way that they
are her pursuers. She waits until her husband is asleep, and then
she rushes down to endeavor to persuade them to leave her in peace.
Having no success, she goes again next morning, and her husband meets
her, as he has told us, as she comes out. She promises him then not
to go there again, but two days afterwards the hope of getting rid
of those dreadful neighbors was too strong for her, and she made another
attempt, taking down with her the photograph which had probably been
demanded from her. In the midst of this interview the maid rushed
in to say that the master had come home, on which the wife, knowing
that he would come straight down to the cottage, hurried the inmates
out at the back door, into the grove of fir-trees, probably, which
was mentioned as standing near. In this way he found the place deserted.
I shall be very much surprised, however, if it still so when he reconnoitres
it this evening. What do you think of my theory?''

{}``It is all surmise.''

{}``But at least it covers all the facts. When new facts come to
our knowledge which cannot be covered by it, it will be time enough
to reconsider it. We can do nothing more until we have a message from
our friend at Norbury.''

But we had not a very long time to wait for that. It came just as
we had finished our tea. \begin{quote}{}``The cottage is still tenanted,''
it said. {}``Have seen the face again at the window. Will meet the
seven o'clock train, and will take no steps until you arrive.''\end{quote}

He was waiting on the platform when we stepped out, and we could see
in the light of the station lamps that he was very pale, and quivering
with agitation.

{}``They are still there, Mr.\ Holmes,'' said he, laying his hand
hard upon my friend's sleeve. {}``I saw lights in the cottage as
I came down. We shall settle it now once and for all.''

{}``What is your plan, then?''\ asked Holmes, as he walked down
the dark tree-lined road.

{}``I am going to force my way in and see for myself who is in the
house. I wish you both to be there as witnesses.''

{}``You are quite determined to do this, in spite of your wife's
warning that it is better that you should not solve the mystery?''

{}``Yes, I am determined.''

{}``Well, I think that you are in the right. Any truth is better
than indefinite doubt. We had better go up at once. Of course, legally,
we are putting ourselves hopelessly in the wrong; but I think that
it is worth it.''

It was a very dark night, and a thin rain began to fall as we turned
from the high road into a narrow lane, deeply rutted, with hedges
on either side. Mr.\ Grant Munro pushed impatiently forward, however,
and we stumbled after him as best we could.

{}``There are the lights of my house,'' he murmured, pointing to
a glimmer among the trees. {}``And here is the cottage which I am
going to enter.''

We turned a corner in the lane as he spoke, and there was the building
close beside us. A yellow bar falling across the black foreground
showed that the door was not quite closed, and one window in the upper
story was brightly illuminated. As we looked, we saw a dark blur moving
across the blind.

{}``There is that creature!''\ cried Grant Munro. {}``You can
see for yourselves that some one is there. Now follow me, and we shall
soon know all.''

We approached the door; but suddenly a woman appeared out of the shadow
and stood in the golden track of the lamp-light. I could not see her
face in the he darkness, but her arms were thrown out in an attitude
of entreaty.

{}``For God's sake, don't Jack!''\ she cried. {}``I had a presentiment
that you would come this evening. Think better of it, dear! Trust
me again, and you will never have cause to regret it.''

{}``I have trusted you too long, Effie,'' he cried, sternly. {}``Leave
go of me! I must pass you. My friends and I are going to settle this
matter once and forever!'' He pushed her to one side, and we followed
closely after him. As he threw the door open an old woman ran out
in front of him and tried to bar his passage, but he thrust her back,
and an instant afterwards we were all upon the stairs. Grant Munro
rushed into the lighted room at the top, and we entered at his heels.

It was a cosey, well-furnished apartment, with two candles burning
upon the table and two upon the mantelpiece. In the corner, stooping
over a desk, there sat what appeared to be a little girl. Her face
was turned away as we entered, but we could see that she was dressed
in a red frock, and that she had long white gloves on. As she whisked
round to us, I gave a cry of surprise and horror. The face which she
turned towards us was of the strangest livid tint, and the features
were absolutely devoid of any expression. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-yell-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small There was a little coal black
negress.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
An instant later the mystery was explained. Holmes, with a laugh,
passed his hand behind the child's ear, a mask peeled off from her
countenance, and there was a little coal black negress, with all her
white teeth flashing in amusement at our amazed faces. I burst out
laughing, out of sympathy with her merriment; but Grant Munro stood
staring, with his hand clutching his throat.

{}``My God!''\ he cried. {}``What can be the meaning of this?''

{}``I will tell you the meaning of it,'' cried the lady, sweeping
into the room with a proud, set face. {}``You have forced me, against
my own judgment, to tell you, and now we must both make the best of
it. My husband died at Atlanta. My child survived.''

{}``Your child?''

She drew a large silver locket from her bosom. {}``You have never
seen this open.''

{}``I understood that it did not open.''

She touched a spring, and the front hinged back. There was a portrait
within of a man strikingly handsome and intelligent-looking, but bearing
unmistakable signs upon his features of his African descent.

{}``That is John Hebron, of Atlanta,'' said the lady, {}``and a
nobler man never walked the earth. I cut myself off from my race in
order to wed him, but never once while he lived did I for an instant
regret it. It was our misfortune that our only child took after his
people rather than mine. It is often so in such matches, and little
Lucy is darker far than ever her father was. But dark or fair, she
is my own dear little girlie, and her mother's pet.'' The little
creature ran across at the words and nestled up against the lady's
dress. {}``When I left her in America,'' she continued, {}``it
was only because her health was weak, and the change might have done
her harm. She was given to the care of a faithful Scotch woman who
had once been our servant. Never for an instant did I dream of disowning
her as my child. But when chance threw you in my way, Jack, and I
learned to love you, I feared to tell you about my child. God forgive
me, I feared that I should lose you, and I had not the courage to
tell you. I had to choose between you, and in my weakness I turned
away from my own little girl. For three years I have kept her existence
a secret from you, but I heard from the nurse, and I knew that all
was well with her. At last, however, there came an overwhelming desire
to see the child once more. I struggled against it, but in vain. Though
I knew the danger, I determined to have the child over, if it were
but for a few weeks. I sent a hundred pounds to the nurse, and I gave
her instructions about this cottage, so that she might come as a neighbor,
without my appearing to be in any way connected with her. I pushed
my precautions so far as to order her to keep the child in the house
during the daytime, and to cover up her little face and hands so that
even those who might see her at the window should not gossip about
there being a black child in the neighborhood. If I had been less
cautious I might have been more wise, but I was half crazy with fear
that you should learn the truth.

{}``It was you who told me first that the cottage was occupied. I
should have waited for the morning, but I could not sleep for excitement,
and so at last I slipped out, knowing how difficult it is to awake
you. But you saw me go, and that was the beginning of my troubles.
Next day you had my secret at your mercy, but you nobly refrained
from pursuing your advantage. Three days later, however, the nurse
and child only just escaped from the back door as you rushed in at
the front one. And now to-night you at last know all, and I ask you
what is to become of us, my child and me?'' She clasped her hands
and waited for an answer.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-yell-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He lifted the little child.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
It was a long ten minutes before Grant Munro broke the silence, and
when his answer came it was one of which I love to think. He lifted
the little child, kissed her, and then, still carrying her, he held
his other hand out to his wife and turned towards the door.

{}``We can talk it over more comfortably at home,'' said he. {}``I
am not a very good man, Effie, but I think that I am a better one
than you have given me credit for being.''

Holmes and I followed them down the lane, and my friend plucked at
my sleeve as we came out.

{}``I think,'' said he, {}``that we shall be of more use in London
than in Norbury.''

Not another word did he say of the case until late that night, when
he was turning away, with his lighted candle, for his bedroom.

{}``Watson,'' said he, {}``if it should ever strike you that I
am getting a little over-confident in my powers, or giving less pains
to a case than it deserves, kindly whisper `Norbury' in my ear, and
I shall be infinitely obliged to you.''


\chapter*{\raggedright Adventure III. The Stock-Broker's Clerk}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Adventure III. The Stock-Brokers Clerk}

\markboth{Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes}{The Stock-Brokers Clerk}

Shortly after my marriage I had bought a connection in the Paddington
district. Old Mr.\ Farquhar, from whom I purchased it, had at one
time an excellent general practice; but his age, and an affliction
of the nature of St.\ Vitus's dance from which he suffered, had very
much thinned it. The public not unnaturally goes on the principle
that he who would heal others must himself be whole, and looks askance
at the curative powers of the man whose own case is beyond the reach
of his drugs. Thus as my predecessor weakened his practice declined,
until when I purchased it from him it had sunk from twelve hundred
to little more than three hundred a year. I had confidence, however,
in my own youth and energy, and was convinced that in a very few years
the concern would be as flourishing as ever.

For three months after taking over the practice I was kept very closely
at work, and saw little of my friend Sherlock Holmes, for I was too
busy to visit Baker Street, and he seldom went anywhere himself save
upon professional business. I was surprised, therefore, when, one
morning in June, as I sat reading the British Medical Journal after
breakfast, I heard a ring at the bell, followed by the high, somewhat
strident tones of my old companion's voice.

{}``Ah, my dear Watson,'' said he, striding into the room, {}``I
am very delighted to see you! I trust that Mrs.\ Watson has entirely
recovered from all the little excitements connected with our adventure
of the Sign of Four.''

{}``Thank you, we are both very well,'' said I, shaking him warmly
by the hand.

{}``And I hope, also,'' he continued, sitting down in the rocking-chair,
{}``that the cares of medical practice have not entirely obliterated
the interest which you used to take in our little deductive problems.''

{}``On the contrary,'' I answered, {}``it was only last night that
I was looking over my old notes, and classifying some of our past
results.''

{}``I trust that you don't consider your collection closed.''

{}``Not at all. I should wish nothing better than to have some more
of such experiences.''

{}``To-day, for example?''

{}``Yes, to-day, if you like.''

{}``And as far off as Birmingham?''

{}``Certainly, if you wish it.''

{}``And the practice?''

{}``I do my neighbor's when he goes. He is always ready to work off
the debt.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-stoc-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Nothing could be better,''
said Holmes.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Ha! Nothing could be better,'' said Holmes, leaning back in
his chair and looking keenly at me from under his half closed lids.
{}``I perceive that you have been unwell lately. Summer colds are
always a little trying.''

{}``I was confined to the house by a sever chill for three days last
week. I thought, however, that I had cast off every trace of it.''

{}``So you have. You look remarkably robust.''

{}``How, then, did you know of it?''

{}``My dear fellow, you know my methods.''

{}``You deduced it, then?''

{}``Certainly.''

{}``And from what?''

{}``From your slippers.''

I glanced down at the new patent leathers which I was wearing. {}``How
on earth\mdsh{---}'' I began, but Holmes answered my question before
it was asked.

{}``Your slippers are new,'' he said. {}``You could not have had
them more than a few weeks. The soles which you are at this moment
presenting to me are slightly scorched. For a moment I thought they
might have got wet and been burned in the drying. But near the instep
there is a small circular wafer of paper with the shopman's hieroglyphics
upon it. Damp would of course have removed this. You had, then, been
sitting with our feet outstretched to the fire, which a man would
hardly do even in so wet a June as this if he were in his full health.''

Like all Holmes's reasoning the thing seemed simplicity itself when
it was once explained. He read the thought upon my features, and his
smile had a tinge of bitterness.

{}``I am afraid that I rather give myself away when I explain,''
said he. {}``Results without causes are much more impressive. You
are ready to come to Birmingham, then?''

{}``Certainly. What is the case?''

{}``You shall hear it all in the train. My client is outside in a
four-wheeler. Can you come at once?''

{}``In an instant.'' I scribbled a note to my neighbor, rushed upstairs
to explain the matter to my wife, and joined Holmes upon the door-step.

{}``Your neighbor is a doctor,'' said he, nodding at the brass plate.

{}``Yes; he bought a practice as I did.''

{}``An old-established one?''

{}``Just the same as mine. Both have been ever since the houses were
built.''

{}``Ah! Then you got hold of the best of the two.''

{}``I think I did. But how do you know?''

{}``By the steps, my boy. Yours are worn three inches deeper than
his. But this gentleman in the cab is my client, Mr.\ Hall Pycroft.
Allow me to introduce you to him. Whip your horse up, cabby, for we
have only just time to catch our train.''

The man whom I found myself facing was a well built, fresh-complexioned
young fellow, with a frank, honest face and a slight, crisp, yellow
mustache. He wore a very shiny top hat and a neat suit of sober black,
which made him look what he was\mdsh{---}a smart young City man,
of the class who have been labeled cockneys, but who give us our crack
volunteer regiments, and who turn out more fine athletes and sportsmen
than any body of men in these islands. His round, ruddy face was naturally
full of cheeriness, but the corners of his mouth seemed to me to be
pulled down in a half-comical distress. It was not, however, until
we were all in a first-class carriage and well started upon our journey
to Birmingham that I was able to learn what the trouble was which
had driven him to Sherlock Holmes.

{}``We have a clear run here of seventy minutes,'' Holmes remarked.
{}``I want you, Mr.\ Hall Pycroft, to tell my friend your very interesting
experience exactly as you have told it to me, or with more detail
if possible. It will be of use to me to hear the succession of events
again. It is a case, Watson, which may prove to have something in
it, or may prove to have nothing, but which, at least, presents those
unusual and \emph{outr\'{e}} features which are as dear to you as
they are to me. Now, Mr.\ Pycroft, I shall not interrupt you again.''

Our young companion looked at me with a twinkle in his eye.

{}``The worst of the story is,'' said he, {}``that I show myself
up as such a confounded fool. Of course it may work out all right,
and I don't see that I could have done otherwise; but if I have lost
my crib and get nothing in exchange I shall feel what a soft Johnnie
I have been. I'm not very good at telling a story, Dr. Watson, but
it is like this with me:

{}``I used to have a billet at Coxon \& Woodhouse's, of Draper's
Gardens, but they were let in early in the spring through the Venezuelan
loan, as no doubt you remember, and came a nasty cropper. I had been
with them five years, and old Coxon gave me a ripping good testimonial
when the smash came, but of course we clerks were all turned adrift,
the twenty-seven of us. I tried here and tried there, but there were
lots of other chaps on the same lay as myself, and it was a perfect
frost for a long time. I had been taking three pounds a week at Coxon's,
and I had saved about seventy of them, but I soon worked my way through
that and out at the other end. I was fairly at the end of my tether
at last, and could hardly find the stamps to answer the advertisements
or the envelopes to stick them to. I had worn out my boots paddling
up office stairs, and I seemed just as far from getting a billet as
ever.

{}``At last I saw a vacancy at Mawson \& Williams's, the great stock-broking
firm in Lombard Street. I dare say E.\ C.\ is not much in your line,
but I can tell you that this is about the richest house in London.
The advertisement was to be answered by letter only. I sent in my
testimonial and application, but without the least hope of getting
it. Back came an answer by return, saying that if I would appear next
Monday I might take over my new duties at once, provided that my appearance
was satisfactory. No one knows how these things are worked. Some people
say that the manager just plunges his hand into the heap and takes
the first that comes. Anyhow it was my innings that time, and I don't
ever wish to feel better pleased. The screw was a pound a week rise,
and the duties just about the same as at Coxon's.

{}``And now I come to the queer part of the business. I was in diggings
out Hampstead way, 17 Potter's Terrace. Well, I was sitting doing
a smoke that very evening after I had been promised the appointment,
when up came my landlady with a card which had {}``Arthur Pinner,
Financial Agent,'' printed upon it. I had never heard the name before
and could not imagine what he wanted with me; but, of course, I asked
her to show him up. In he walked, a middle-sized, dark-haired, dark-eyed,
black-bearded man, with a touch of the Sheeny about his nose. He had
a brisk kind of way with him and spoke sharply, like a man who knew
the value of time.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-stoc-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}```Mr.\ Hall Pycroft, I believe?'\ said
he.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```Mr.\ Hall Pycroft, I believe?'\ said he.

{}```Yes, sir,' I answered, pushing a chair towards him.

{}```Lately engaged at Coxon \& Woodhouse's?'

{}```Yes, sir.'

{}```And now on the staff of Mawson's.'

{}```Quite so.'

{}```Well,' said he, `the fact is that I have heard some really extraordinary
stories about your financial ability. You remember Parker, who used
to be Coxon's manager? He can never say enough about it.'

{}``Of course I was pleased to hear this. I had always been pretty
sharp in the office, but I had never dreamed that I was talked about
in the City in this fashion.

{}```You have a good memory?'\ said he.

{}```Pretty fair,' I answered, modestly.

{}```Have you kept in touch with the market while you have been out
of work?' he asked.

{}```Yes. I read the stock exchange list every morning.'

{}```Now that shows real application!'\ he cried. `That is the way
to prosper! You won't mind my testing you, will you? Let me see. How
are Ayrshires?'

{}```A hundred and six and a quarter to a hundred and five and seven-eighths.'

{}```And New Zealand consolidated?'

{}```A hundred and four.'

{}```And British Broken Hills?'

{}```Seven to seven-and-six.'

{}```Wonderful!'\ he cried, with his hands up. `This quite fits
in with all that I had heard. My boy, my boy, you are very much too
good to be a clerk at Mawson's!'

{}``This outburst rather astonished me, as you can think. `Well,'
said I, `other people don't think quite so much of me as you seem
to do, Mr.\ Pinner. I had a hard enough fight to get this berth,
and I am very glad to have it.'

{}```Pooh, man; you should soar above it. You are not in your true
sphere. Now, I'll tell you how it stands with me. What I have to offer
is little enough when measured by your ability, but when compared
with Mawson's, it's light to dark. Let me see. When do you go to Mawson's?'

{}```On Monday.'

{}```Ha, ha! I think I would risk a little sporting flutter that
you don't go there at all.'

{}```Not go to Mawson's?'

{}```No, sir. By that day you will be the business manager of the
Franco-Midland Hardware Company, Limited, with a hundred and thirty-four
branches in the towns and villages of France, not counting one in
Brussels and one in San Remo.'

{}``This took my breath away. `I never heard of it,' said I.

{}```Very likely not. It has been kept very quiet, for the capital
was all privately subscribed, and it's too good a thing to let the
public into. My brother, Harry Pinner, is promoter, and joins the
board after allotment as managing director. He knew I was in the swim
down here, and asked me to pick up a good man cheap. A young, pushing
man with plenty of snap about him. Parker spoke of you, and that brought
me here tonight. We can only offer you a beggarly five hundred to
start with.'

{}```Five hundred a year!' I shouted.

{}```Only that at the beginning; but you are to have an overriding
commission of one per cent on all business done by your agents, and
you may take my word for it that this will come to more than your
salary.'

{}```But I know nothing about hardware.'

{}```Tut, my boy; you know about figures.'

{}``My head buzzed, and I could hardly sit still in my chair. But
suddenly a little chill of doubt came upon me.

{}```I must be frank with you,' said I. `Mawson only gives me two
hundred, but Mawson is safe. Now, really, I know so little about your
company that\mdsh{---}'

{}```Ah, smart, smart!' he cried, in a kind of ecstasy of delight.
`You are the very man for us. You are not to be talked over, and quite
right, too. Now, here's a note for a hundred pounds, and if you think
that we can do business you may just slip it into your pocket as an
advance upon your salary.'

{}```That is very handsome,' said I. `When should I take over my
new duties?'

{}```Be in Birmingham to-morrow at one,' said he. `I have a note
in my pocket here which you will take to my brother. You will find
him at \noun{126b} Corporation Street, where the temporary offices
of the company are situated. Of course he must confirm your engagement,
but between ourselves it will be all right.'

{}```Really, I hardly know how to express my gratitude, Mr.\ Pinner,'
said I.

{}```Not at all, my boy. You have only got your desserts. There are
one or two small things\mdsh{---}mere formalities\mdsh{---}which
I must arrange with you. You have a bit of paper beside you there.
Kindly write upon it {}``I am perfectly willing to act as business
manager to the Franco-Midland Hardware Company, Limited, at a minimum
salary of \pounds500.'''

{}``I did as he asked, and he put the paper in his pocket.

{}```There is one other detail,' said he. `What do you intend to
do about Mawson's?'

{}``I had forgotten all about Mawson's in my joy. `I'll write and
resign,' said I.

{}```Precisely what I don't want you to do. I had a row over you
with Mawson's manager. I had gone up to ask him about you, and he
was very offensive; accused me of coaxing you away from the service
of the firm, and that sort of thing. At last I fairly lost my temper.
{}``If you want good men you should pay them a good price,'' said
I.'

{}```{}``He would rather have our small price than your big one,''
said he.'

{}```{}``I'll lay you a fiver,'' said I, {}``that when he has
my offer you'll never so much as hear from him again.'''

{}```{}``Done!'' said he. {}``We picked him out of the gutter,
and he won't leave us so easily.'' Those were his very words.'

{}```The impudent scoundrel!' I cried. `I've never so much as seen
him in my life. Why should I consider him in any way? I shall certainly
not write if you would rather I didn't.'

{}```Good! That's a promise,' said he, rising from his chair. `Well,
I'm delighted to have got so good a man for my brother. Here's your
advance of a hundred pounds, and here is the letter. Make a note of
the address, \noun{126b} Corporation Street, and remember that one
o'clock to-morrow is your appointment. Good-night; and may you have
all the fortune that you deserve!'

{}``That's just about all that passed between us, as near as I can
remember. You can imagine, Dr.\ Watson, how pleased I was at such
an extraordinary bit of good fortune. I sat up half the night hugging
myself over it, and next day I was off to Birmingham in a train that
would take me in plenty time for my appointment. I took my things
to a hotel in New Street, and then I made my way to the address which
had been given me.

{}``It was a quarter of an hour before my time, but I thought that
would make no difference. \noun{126b} was a passage between two
large shops, which led to a winding stone stair, from which there
were many flats, let as offices to companies or professional men.
The names of the occupants were painted at the bottom on the wall,
but there was no such name as the Franco-Midland Hardware Company,
Limited. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-stoc-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Up came a man and addressed
me.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
I stood for a few minutes with my heart in my boots, wondering whether
the whole thing was an elaborate hoax or not, when up came a man and
addressed me. He was very like the chap I had seen the night before,
the same figure and voice, but he was clean shaven and his hair was
lighter.

{}```Are you Mr.\ Hall Pycroft?' he asked.

{}```Yes,' said I.

{}```Oh! I was expecting you, but you are a trifle before your time.
I had a note from my brother this morning in which he sang your praises
very loudly.'

{}```I was just looking for the offices when you came.'

{}```We have not got our name up yet, for we only secured these temporary
premises last week. Come up with me, and we will talk the matter over.'

{}``I followed him to the top of a very lofty stair, and there, right
under the slates, were a couple of empty, dusty little rooms, uncarpeted
and uncurtained, into which he led me. I had thought of a great office
with shining tables and rows of clerks, such as I was used to, and
I dare say I stared rather straight at the two deal chairs and one
little table, which, with a ledger and a waste paper basket, made
up the whole furniture.

{}```Don't be disheartened, Mr.\ Pycroft,' said my new acquaintance,
seeing the length of my face. `Rome was not built in a day, and we
have lots of money at our backs, though we don't cut much dash yet
in offices. Pray sit down, and let me have your letter.'

{}``I gave it to him, and her read it over very carefully.

{}```You seem to have made a vast impression upon my brother Arthur,'
said he; `and I know that he is a pretty shrewd judge. He swears by
London, you know; and I by Birmingham; but this time I shall follow
his advice. Pray consider yourself definitely engaged.'

{}```What are my duties?' I asked.

{}```You will eventually manage the great depot in Paris, which will
pour a flood of English crockery into the shops of a hundred and thirty-four
agents in France. The purchase will be completed in a week, and meanwhile
you will remain in Birmingham and make yourself useful.'

{}```How?'

{}``For answer, he took a big red book out of a drawer.

{}```This is a directory of Paris,' said he, `with the trades after
the names of the people. I want you to take it home with you, and
to mark off all the hardware sellers, with their addresses. It would
be of the greatest use to me to have them.'

{}```Surely there are classified lists?' I suggested.

{}```Not reliable ones. Their system is different from ours. Stick
at it, and let me have the lists by Monday, at twelve. Good-day, Mr.\ Pycroft.
If you continue to show zeal and intelligence you will find the company
a good master.'

{}``I went back to the hotel with the big book under my arm, and
with very conflicting feelings in my breast. On the one hand, I was
definitely engaged and had a hundred pounds in my pocket; on the other,
the look of the offices, the absence of name on the wall, and other
of the points which would strike a business man had left a bad impression
as to the position of my employers. However, come what might, I had
my money, so I settled down to my task. All Sunday I was kept hard
at work, and yet by Monday I had only got as far as H. I went round
to my employer, found him in the same dismantled kind of room, and
was told to keep at it until Wednesday, and then come again. On Wednesday
it was still unfinished, so I hammered away until Friday\mdsh{---}that
is, yesterday. Then I brought it round to Mr.\ Harry Pinner.

{}```Thank you very much,' said he; `I fear that I underrated the
difficulty of the task. This list will be of very material assistance
to me.'

{}```It took some time,' said I.

{}```And now,' said he, `I want you to make a list of the furniture
shops, for they all sell crockery.'

{}```Very good.'

{}```And you can come up to-morrow evening, at seven, and let me
know how you are getting on. Don't overwork yourself. A couple of
hours at Day's Music Hall in the evening would do you no harm after
your labors.' He laughed as he spoke, and I saw with a thrill that
his second tooth upon the left-hand side had been very badly stuffed
with gold.''

Sherlock Holmes rubbed his hands with delight, and I stared with astonishment
at our client.

{}``You may well look surprised, Dr.\ Watson; but it is this way,''
said he: {}``When I was speaking to the other chap in London, at
the time that he laughed at my not going to Mawson's, I happened to
notice that his tooth was stuffed in this very identical fashion.
The glint of the gold in each case caught my eye, you see. When I
put that with the voice and figure being the same, and only those
things altered which might be changed by a razor or a wig, I could
not doubt that it was the same man. Of course you expect two brothers
to be alike, but not that they should have the same tooth stuffed
in the same way. He bowed me out, and I found myself in the street,
hardly knowing whether I was on my head or my heels. Back I went to
my hotel, put my head in a basin of cold water, and tried to think
it out. Why had he sent me from London to Birmingham? Why had he got
there before me? And why had he written a letter from himself to himself?
It was altogether too much for me, and I could make no sense of it.
And then suddenly it struck me that what was dark to me might be very
light to Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes. I had just time to get up to town
by the night train to see him this morning, and to bring you both
back with me to Birmingham.''

There was a pause after the stock-broker's clerk had concluded his
surprising experience. Then Sherlock Holmes cocked his eye at me,
leaning back on the cushions with a pleased and yet critical face,
like a connoisseur who has just taken his first sip of a comet vintage.

{}``Rather fine, Watson, is it not?''\ said he. {}``There are
points in it which please me. I think that you will agree with me
that an interview with Mr.\ Arthur Harry Pinner in the temporary
offices of the Franco-Midland Hardware Company, Limited, would be
a rather interesting experience for both of us.''

{}``But how can we do it?'' I asked.

{}``Oh, easily enough,'' said Hall Pycroft, cheerily. {}``You are
two friends of mine who are in want of a billet, and what could be
more natural than that I should bring you both round to the managing
director?''

{}``Quite so, of course,'' said Holmes. {}``I should like to have
a look at the gentleman, and see if I can make anything of his little
game. What qualities have you, my friend, which would make your services
so valuable? or is it possible that\mdsh{---}'' He began biting
his nails and staring blankly out of the window, and we hardly drew
another word from him until we were in New Street.

At seven o'clock that evening we were walking, the three of us, down
Corporation Street to the company's offices.

{}``It is no use our being at all before our time,'' said our client.
{}``He only comes there to see me, apparently, for the place is deserted
up to the very hour he names.''

{}``That is suggestive,'' remarked Holmes.

{}``By Jove, I told you so!''\ cried the clerk. {}``That's he
walking ahead of us there.''

He pointed to a smallish, dark, well-dressed man who was bustling
along the other side of the road. As we watched him he looked across
at a boy who was bawling out the latest edition of the evening paper,
and running over among the cabs and busses, he bought one from him.
Then, clutching it in his hand, he vanished through a door-way.

{}``There he goes!''\ cried Hall Pycroft. {}``These are the company's
offices into which he has gone. Come with me, and I'll fix it up as
easily as possible.''

Following his lead, we ascended five stories, until we found ourselves
outside a half-opened door, at which our client tapped. A voice within
bade us enter, and we entered a bare, unfurnished room such as Hall
Pycroft had described. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-stoc-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He looked up at us.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
At the single table sat the man whom we had seen in the street, with
his evening paper spread out in front of him, and as he looked up
at us it seemed to me that I had never looked upon a face which bore
such marks of grief, and of something beyond grief\mdsh{---}of a
horror such as comes to few men in a lifetime. His brow glistened
with perspiration, his cheeks were of the dull, dead white of a fish's
belly, and his eyes were wild and staring. He looked at his clerk
as though he failed to recognize him, and I could see by the astonishment
depicted upon our conductor's face that this was by no means the usual
appearance of his employer.

{}``You look ill, Mr.\ Pinner!''\ he exclaimed.

{}``Yes, I am not very well,'' answered the other, making obvious
efforts to pull himself together, and licking his dry lips before
he spoke. {}``Who are these gentlemen whom you have brought with
you?''

{}``One is Mr.\ Harris, of Bermondsey, and the other is Mr.\ Price,
of this town,'' said our clerk, glibly. {}``They are friends of
mine and gentlemen of experience, but they have been out of a place
for some little time, and they hoped that perhaps you might find an
opening for them in the company's employment.''

{}``Very possibly! Very possibly!''\ cried Mr.\ Pinner with a
ghastly smile. {}``Yes, I have no doubt that we shall be able to
do something for you. What is your particular line, Mr.\ Harris?''

{}``I am an accountant,'' said Holmes.

{}``Ah yes, we shall want something of the sort. And you, Mr.\ Price?''

{}``A clerk,'' said I.

{}``I have every hope that the company may accommodate you. I will
let you know about it as soon as we come to any conclusion. And now
I beg that you will go. For God's sake leave me to myself!''

These last words were shot out of him, as though the constraint which
he was evidently setting upon himself had suddenly and utterly burst
asunder. Holmes and I glanced at each other, and Hall Pycroft took
a step towards the table.

{}``You forget, Mr.\ Pinner, that I am here by appointment to receive
some directions from you,'' said he.

{}``Certainly, Mr.\ Pycroft, certainly,'' the other resumed in
a calmer tone. {}``You may wait here a moment; and there is no reason
why your friends should not wait with you. I will be entirely at your
service in three minutes, if I might trespass upon your patience so
far.'' He rose with a very courteous air, and, bowing to us, he passed
out through a door at the farther end of the room, which he closed
behind him.

{}``What now?''\ whispered Holmes. {}``Is he giving us the slip?''

{}``Impossible,'' answered Pycroft.

{}``Why so?''

{}``That door leads into an inner room.''

{}``There is no exit?''

{}``None.''

{}``Is it furnished?''

{}``It was empty yesterday.''

{}``Then what on earth can he be doing? There is something which
I don't understand in his manner. If ever a man was three parts mad
with terror, that man's name is Pinner. What can have put the shivers
on him?''

{}``He suspects that we are detectives,'' I suggested.

{}``That's it,'' cried Pycroft.

Holmes shook his head. {}``He did not turn pale. He was pale when
we entered the room,'' said he. {}``It is just possible that\mdsh{---}''

His words were interrupted by a sharp rat-tat from the direction of
the inner door.

{}``What the deuce is he knocking at his own door for?''\ cried
the clerk.

Again and much louder came the rat-tat-tat. We all gazed expectantly
at the closed door. Glancing at Holmes, I saw his face turn rigid,
and he leaned forward in intense excitement. Then suddenly came a
low guggling, gargling sound, and a brisk drumming upon woodwork.
Holmes sprang frantically across the room and pushed at the door.
It was fastened on the inner side. Following his example, we threw
ourselves upon it with all our weight. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-stoc-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small We found ourselves in the inner
room.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
One hinge snapped, then the other, and down came the door with a crash.
Rushing over it, we found ourselves in the inner room. It was empty.

But it was only for a moment that we were at fault. At one corner,
the corner nearest the room which we had left, there was a second
door. Holmes sprang to it and pulled it open. A coat and waistcoat
were lying on the floor, and from a hook behind the door, with his
own braces round his neck, was hanging the managing director of the
Franco-Midland Hardware Company. His knees were drawn up, his head
hung at a dreadful angle to his body, and the clatter of his heels
against the door made the noise which had broken in upon our conversation.
In an instant I had caught him round the waist, and held him up while
Holmes and Pycroft untied the elastic bands which had disappeared
between the livid creases of skin. Then we carried him into the other
room, where he lay with a clay-colored face, puffing his purple lips
in and out with every breath\mdsh{---}a dreadful wreck of all that
he had been but five minutes before.

{}``What do you think of him, Watson?''\ asked Holmes.

I stooped over him and examined him. His pulse was feeble and intermittent,
but his breathing grew longer, and there was a little shivering of
his eyelids, which showed a thin white slit of ball beneath.

{}``It has been touch and go with him,'' said I, {}``but he'll
live now. Just open that window, and hand me the water carafe.''
I undid his collar, poured the cold water over his face, and raised
and sank his arms until he drew a long, natural breath. {}``It's
only a question of time now,'' said I, as I turned away from him.

Holmes stood by the table, with his hands deep in his trouser's pockets
and his chin upon his breast.

{}``I suppose we ought to call the police in now,'' said he. {}``And
yet I confess that I'd like to give them a complete case when they
come.''

{}``It's a blessed mystery to me,'' cried Pycroft, scratching his
head. {}``Whatever they wanted to bring me all the way up here for,
and then\mdsh{---}''

{}``Pooh! All that is clear enough,'' said Holmes impatiently. {}``It
is this last sudden move.''

{}``You understand the rest, then?''

{}``I think that it is fairly obvious. What do you say, Watson?''

I shrugged my shoulders. {}``I must confess that I am out of my depths,''
said I.

{}``Oh surely if you consider the events at first they can only point
to one conclusion.''

{}``What do you make of them?''

{}``Well, the whole thing hinges upon two points. The first is the
making of Pycroft write a declaration by which he entered the service
of this preposterous company. Do you not see how very suggestive that
is?''

{}``I am afraid I miss the point.''

{}``Well, why did they want him to do it? Not as a business matter,
for these arrangements are usually verbal, and there was no earthly
business reason why this should be an exception. Don't you see, my
young friend, that they were very anxious to obtain a specimen of
your handwriting, and had no other way of doing it?''

{}``And why?''

{}``Quite so. Why? When we answer that we have made some progress
with our little problem. Why? There can be only one adequate reason.
Some one wanted to learn to imitate your writing, and had to procure
a specimen of it first. And now if we pass on to the second point
we find that each throws light upon the other. That point is the request
made by Pinner that you should not resign your place, but should leave
the manager of this important business in the full expectation that
a Mr.\ Hall Pycroft, whom he had never seen, was about to enter the
office upon the Monday morning.''

{}``My God!''\ cried our client, {}``what a blind beetle I have
been!''

{}``Now you see the point about the handwriting. Suppose that some
one turned up in your place who wrote a completely different hand
from that in which you had applied for the vacancy, of course the
game would have been up. But in the interval the rogue had learned
to imitate you, and his position was therefore secure, as I presume
that nobody in the office had ever set eyes upon you.''

{}``Not a soul,'' groaned Hall Pycroft.

{}``Very good. Of course it was of the utmost importance to prevent
you from thinking better of it, and also to keep you from coming into
contact with any one who might tell you that your double was at work
in Mawson's office. Therefore they gave you a handsome advance on
your salary, and ran you off to the Midlands, where they gave you
enough work to do to prevent your going to London, where you might
have burst their little game up. That is all plain enough.''

{}``But why should this man pretend to be his own brother?''

{}``Well, that is pretty clear also. There are evidently only two
of them in it. The other is impersonating you at the office. This
one acted as your engager, and then found that he could not find you
an employer without admitting a third person into his plot. That he
was most unwilling to do. He changed his appearance as far as he could,
and trusted that the likeness, which you could not fail to observe,
would be put down to a family resemblance. But for the happy chance
of the gold stuffing, your suspicions would probably never have been
aroused.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-stoc-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Pycroft shook his clinched hands
in the air.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Hall Pycroft shook his clinched hands in the air. {}``Good Lord!''\ he
cried, {}``while I have been fooled in this way, what has this other
Hall Pycroft been doing at Mawson's? What should we do, Mr.\ Holmes?
Tell me what to do.''

{}``We must wire to Mawson's.''

{}``They shut at twelve on Saturdays.''

{}``Never mind. There may be some door-keeper or attendant\mdsh{---}''

{}``Ah yes, they keep a permanent guard there on account of the value
of the securities that they hold. I remember hearing it talked of
in the City.''

{}``Very good; we shall wire to him, and see if all is well, and
if a clerk of your name is working there. That is clear enough; but
what is not so clear is why at sight of us one of the rogues should
instantly walk out of the room and hang himself.''

{}``The paper!''\ croaked a voice behind us. The man was sitting
up, blanched and ghastly, with returning reason in his eyes, and hands
which rubbed nervously at the broad red band which still encircled
his throat.

{}``The paper! Of course!''\ yelled Holmes, in a paroxysm of excitement.
{}``Idiot that I was! I thought so much of our visit that the paper
never entered my head for an instant. To be sure, the secret must
be there.'' He flattened it out upon the table, and a cry of triumph
burst from his lips. {}``Look at this, Watson,'' he cried. {}``It
is a London paper, an early edition of the \emph{Evening Standard}.
Here is what we want. Look at the headlines: `Crime in the City. Murder
at Mawson \& Williams's. Gigantic attempted Robbery. Capture of the
Criminal.' Here, Watson, we are all equally anxious to hear it, so
kindly read it aloud to us.''

It appeared from its position in the paper to have been the one event
of importance in town, and the account of it ran in this way:

\begin{quotation}{}``A desperate attempt at robbery, culminating
in the death of one man and the capture of the criminal, occurred
this afternoon in the City. For some time back Mawson \& Williams,
the famous financial house, have been the guardians of securities
which amount in the aggregate to a sum of considerably over a million
sterling. So conscious was the manager of the responsibility which
devolved upon him in consequence of the great interests at stake that
safes of the very latest construction have been employed, and an armed
watchman has been left day and night in the building. It appears that
last week a new clerk named Hall Pycroft was engaged by the firm.
This person appears to have been none other than Beddington, the famous
forger and cracksman, who, with his brother, had only recently emerged
from a five years' spell of penal servitude. By some means, which
are not yet clear, he succeeded in winning, under a false name, this
official position in the office, which he utilized in order to obtain
mouldings of various locks, and a thorough knowledge of the position
of the strong room and the safes.

{}``It is customary at Mawson's for the clerks to leave at midday
on Saturday. Sergeant Tuson, of the City Police, was somewhat surprised,
therefore to see a gentleman with a carpet bag come down the steps
at twenty minutes past one. His suspicions being aroused, the sergeant
followed the man, and with the aid of Constable Pollack succeeded,
after a most desperate resistance, in arresting him. It was at once
clear that a daring and gigantic robbery had been committed. Nearly
a hundred thousand pounds' worth of American railway bonds, with a
large amount of scrip in mines and other companies, was discovered
in the bag. On examining the premises the body of the unfortunate
watchman was found doubled up and thrust into the largest of the safes,
where it would not have been discovered until Monday morning had it
not been for the prompt action of Sergeant Tuson. The man's skull
had been shattered by a blow from a poker delivered from behind. There
could be no doubt that Beddington had obtained entrance by pretending
that he had left something behind him, and having murdered the watchman,
rapidly rifled the large safe, and then made off with his booty. His
brother, who usually works with him, has not appeared in this job
as far as can at present be ascertained, although the police are making
energetic inquiries as to his whereabouts.''\end{quotation}

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-stoc-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Glancing at the haggard figure.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Well, we may save the police some little trouble in that direction,''
said Holmes, glancing at the haggard figure huddled up by the window.
{}``Human nature is a strange mixture, Watson. You see that even
a villain and murderer can inspire such affection that his brother
turns to suicide when he learns that his neck is forfeited. However,
we have no choice as to our action. The doctor and I will remain on
guard, Mr.\ Pycroft, if you will have the kindness to step out for
the police.''


\chapter*{\raggedright Adventure IV. The {}``Gloria Scott''}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Adventure IV. The {}``Gloria Scott''}

\markboth{Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes}{The "Gloria Scott"}

{}``I have some papers here,'' said my friend Sherlock Holmes, as
we sat one winter's night on either side of the fire, {}``which I
really think, Watson, that it would be worth your while to glance
over. These are the documents in the extraordinary case of the \emph{Gloria
Scott}, and this is the message which struck Justice of the Peace
Trevor dead with horror when he read it.''

He had picked from a drawer a little tarnished cylinder, and, undoing
the tape, he handed me a short note scrawled upon a half-sheet of
slate gray-paper.

\begin{quote}{}``The supply of game for London is going steadily
up,'' it ran. {}``Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, had been now told
to receive all orders for fly-paper and for preservation of your hen-pheasant's
life.''\end{quote}

As I glanced up from reading this enigmatical message, I saw Holmes
chuckling at the expression upon my face.

{}``You look a little bewildered,'' said he.

{}``I cannot see how such a message as this could inspire horror.
It seems to me to be rather grotesque than otherwise.''

{}``Very likely. Yet the fact remains that the reader, who was a
fine, robust old man, was knocked clean down by it as if it had been
the butt end of a pistol.''

{}``You arouse my curiosity,'' said I. {}``But why did you say
just now that there were very particular reasons why I should study
this case?''

{}``Because it was the first in which I was ever engaged.''

I had often endeavored to elicit from my companion what had first
turned his mind in the direction of criminal research, but had never
caught him before in a communicative humor. Now he sat forward in
this arm chair and spread out the documents upon his knees. Then he
lit his pipe and sat for some time smoking and turning them over.

{}``You never heard me talk of Victor Trevor?'' he asked. {}``He
was the only friend I made during the two years I was at college.
I was never a very sociable fellow, Watson, always rather fond of
moping in my rooms and working out my own little methods of thought,
so that I never mixed much with the men of my year. Bar fencing and
boxing I had few athletic tastes, and then my line of study was quite
distinct from that of the other fellows, so that we had no points
of contact at all. Trevor was the only man I knew, and that only through
the accident of his bull terrier freezing on to my ankle one morning
as I went down to chapel.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-glor-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Trevor used to come in to
inquire after me.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``It was a prosaic way of forming a friendship, but it was effective.
I was laid by the heels for ten days, but Trevor used to come in to
inquire after me. At first it was only a minute's chat, but soon his
visits lengthened, and before the end of the term we were close friends.
He was a hearty, full-blooded fellow, full of spirits and energy,
the very opposite to me in most respects, but we had some subjects
in common, and it was a bond of union when I found that he was as
friendless as I.\  Finally, he invited me down to his father's place
at Donnithorpe, in Norfolk, and I accepted his hospitality for a month
of the long vacation.

{}``Old Trevor was evidently a man of some wealth and consideration,
a J.P., and a landed proprietor. Donnithorpe is a little hamlet just
to the north of Langmere, in the country of the Broads. The house
was an old-fashioned, wide-spread, oak-beamed brick building, with
a fine lime-lined avenue leading up to it. There was excellent wild-duck
shooting in the fens, remarkably good fishing, a small but select
library, taken over, as I understood, from a former occupant, and
a tolerable cook, so that he would be a fastidious man who could not
put in a pleasant month there.

{}``Trevor senior was a widower, and my friend his only son.

{}``There had been a daughter, I heard, but she had died of diphtheria
while on a visit to Birmingham. The father interested me extremely.
He was a man of little culture, but with a considerable amount of
rude strength, both physically and mentally. He knew hardly any books,
but he had traveled far, had seen much of the world, and had remembered
all that he had learned. In person he was a thick-set, burly man with
a shock of grizzled hair, a brown, weather-beaten face, and blue eyes
which were keen to the verge of fierceness. Yet he had a reputation
for kindness and charity on the country-side, and was noted for the
leniency of his sentences from the bench.

{}``One evening, shortly after my arrival, we were sitting over a
glass of port after dinner, when young Trevor began to talk about
those habits of observation and inference which I had already formed
into a system, although I had not yet appreciated the part which they
were to play in my life. The old man evidently thought that his son
was exaggerating in his description of one or two trivial feats which
I had performed.

{}```Come, now, Mr.\ Holmes,' said he, laughing good-humoredly.
`I'm an excellent subject, if you can deduce anything from me.'

{}```I fear there is not very much,' I answered; `I might suggest
that you have gone about in fear of some personal attack within the
last twelvemonth.'

{}``The laugh faded from his lips, and he stared at me in great surprise.

{}```Well, that's true enough,' said he. `You know, Victor,' turning
to his son, `when we broke up that poaching gang they swore to knife
us, and Sir Edward Holly has actually been attacked. I've always been
on my guard since then, though I have no idea how you know it.'

{}```You have a very handsome stick,' I answered. `By the inscription
I observed that you had not had it more than a year. But you have
taken some pains to bore the head of it and pour melted lead into
the hole so as to make it a formidable weapon. I argued that you would
not take such precautions unless you had some danger to fear.'

{}```Anything else?' he asked, smiling.

{}```You have boxed a good deal in your youth.'

{}``'Right again. How did you know it? Is my nose knocked a little
out of the straight?'

{}```No,' said I. `It is your ears. They have the peculiar flattening
and thickening which marks the boxing man.'

{}```Anything else?'

{}```You have done a good deal of digging by your callosities.'

{}```Made all my money at the gold fields.'

{}```You have been in New Zealand.'

{}```Right again.'

{}```You have visited Japan.'

{}```Quite true.'

{}``'And you have been most intimately associated with some one whose
initials were J.\ A., and whom you afterwards were eager to entirely
forget.'

{}``Mr.\ Trevor stood slowly up, fixed his large blue eyes upon
me with a strange wild stare, and then pitched forward, with his face
among the nutshells which strewed the cloth, in a dead faint.

{}``You can imagine, Watson, how shocked both his son and I were.
His attack did not last long, however, for when we undid his collar,
and sprinkled the water from one of the finger-glasses over his face,
he gave a gasp or two and sat up.

{}```Ah, boys,' said he, forcing a smile, `I hope I haven't frightened
you. Strong as I look, there is a weak place in my heart, and it does
not take much to knock me over. I don't know how you manage this,
Mr.\ Holmes, but it seems to me that all the detectives of fact and
of fancy would be children in your hands. That's your line of life,
sir, and you may take the word of a man who has seen something of
the world.'

{}``And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my
ability with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson,
the very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might
be made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby. At
the moment, however, I was too much concerned at the sudden illness
of my host to think of anything else.

{}```I hope that I have said nothing to pain you?'\ said I.

{}```Well, you certainly touched upon rather a tender point. Might
I ask how you know, and how much you know?' He spoke now in a half-jesting
fashion, but a look of terror still lurked at the back of his eyes.

{}```It is simplicity itself,' said I. `When you bared your arm to
draw that fish into the boat I saw that J. A.\ Had been tattooed
in the bend of the elbow. The letters were still legible, but it was
perfectly clear from their blurred appearance, and from the staining
of the skin round them, that efforts had been made to obliterate them.
It was obvious, then, that those initials had once been very familiar
to you, and that you had afterwards wished to forget them.'

{}```What an eye you have!'\ he cried, with a sigh of relief. `It
is just as you say. But we won't talk of it. Of all ghosts the ghosts
of our old lovers are the worst. Come into the billiard-room and have
a quiet cigar.'

\bigskip{}
{}``From that day, amid all his cordiality, there was always a touch
of suspicion in Mr.\ Trevor's manner towards me. Even his son remarked
it. `You've given the governor such a turn,' said he, `that he'll
never be sure again of what you know and what you don't know.' He
did not mean to show it, I am sure, but it was so strongly in his
mind that it peeped out at every action. At last I became so convinced
that I was causing him uneasiness that I drew my visit to a close.
On the very day, however, before I left, and incident occurred which
proved in the sequel to be of importance.

{}``We were sitting out upon the lawn on garden chairs, the three
of us, basking in the sun and admiring the view across the Broads,
when a maid came out to say that there was a man at the door who wanted
to see Mr.\ Trevor.

{}```What is his name?' asked my host.

{}```He would not give any.'

{}```What does he want, then?'

{}```He says that you know him, and that he only wants a moment's
conversation.'

{}```Show him round here.' An instant afterwards there appeared a
little wizened fellow with a cringing manner and a shambling style
of walking. He wore an open jacket, with a splotch of tar on the sleeve,
a red-and-black check shirt, dungaree trousers, and heavy boots badly
worn. His face was thin and brown and crafty, with a perpetual smile
upon it, which showed an irregular line of yellow teeth, and his crinkled
hands were half closed in a way that is distinctive of sailors. As
he came slouching across the lawn I heard Mr.\ Trevor make a sort
of hiccoughing noise in his throat, and jumping out of his chair,
he ran into the house. He was back in a moment, and I smelt a strong
reek of brandy as he passed me.

{}```Well, my man,' said he. `What can I do for you?'

{}``The sailor stood looking at him with puckered eyes, and with
the same loose-lipped smile upon his face.

{}```You don't know me?' he asked.

{}```Why, dear me, it is surely Hudson,' said Mr.\ Trevor in a tone
of surprise.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-glor-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}```Hudson it is, sir,' said
the seaman.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```Hudson it is, sir,' said the seaman. `Why, it's thirty year
and more since I saw you last. Here you are in your house, and me
still picking my salt meat out of the harness cask.'

{}```Tut, you will find that I have not forgotten old times,' cried
Mr.\ Trevor, and, walking towards the sailor, he said something in
a low voice. `Go into the kitchen,' he continued out loud, `and you
will get food and drink. I have no doubt that I shall find you a situation.'

{}```Thank you, sir,' said the seaman, touching his fore-lock. `I'm
just off a two-yearer in an eight-knot tramp, short-handed at that,
and I wants a rest. I thought I'd get it either with Mr.\ Beddoes
or with you.'

{}```Ah!' cried Trevor. `You know where Mr.\ Beddoes is?'

{}```Bless you, sir, I know where all my old friends are,' said the
fellow with a sinister smile, and he slouched off after the maid to
the kitchen. Mr.\ Trevor mumbled something to us about having been
shipmate with the man when he was going back to the diggings, and
then, leaving us on the lawn, he went indoors. An hour later, when
we entered the house, we found him stretched dead drunk upon the dining-room
sofa. The whole incident left a most ugly impression upon my mind,
and I was not sorry next day to leave Donnithorpe behind me, for I
felt that my presence must be a source of embarrassment to my friend.

{}``All this occurred during the first month of the long vacation.
I went up to my London rooms, where I spent seven weeks working out
a few experiments in organic chemistry. One day, however, when the
autumn was far advanced and the vacation drawing to a close, I received
a telegram from my friend imploring me to return to Donnithorpe, and
saying that he was in great need of my advice and assistance. Of course
I dropped everything and set out for the North once more.

{}``He met me with the dog-cart at the station, and I saw at a glance
that the last two months had been very trying ones for him. He had
grown thin and careworn, and had lost the loud, cheery manner for
which he had been remarkable.

{}```The governor is dying,' were the first words he said.

{}```Impossible!' I cried. `What is the matter?'

{}```Apoplexy. Nervous shock, He's been on the verge all day. I doubt
if we shall find him alive.'

{}``I was, as you may think, Watson, horrified at this unexpected
news.

{}```What has caused it?' I asked.

{}```Ah, that is the point. Jump in and we can talk it over while
we drive. You remember that fellow who came upon the evening before
you left us?'

{}```Perfectly.'

{}```Do you know who it was that we let into the house that day?'

{}```I have no idea.'

{}```It was the devil, Holmes,' he cried.

{}``I stared at him in astonishment.

{}```Yes, it was the devil himself. We have not had a peaceful hour
since\mdsh{---}not one. The governor has never held up his head from
that evening, and now the life has been crushed out of him and his
heart broken, all through this accursed Hudson.'

{}```What power had he, then?'

{}```Ah, that is what I would give so much to know. The kindly, charitable,
good old governor\mdsh{---}how could he have fallen into the clutches
of such a ruffian! But I am so glad that you have come, Holmes. I
trust very much to your judgment and discretion, and I know that you
will advise me for the best.'

{}``We were dashing along the smooth white country road, with the
long stretch of the Broads in front of us glimmering in the red light
of the setting sun. From a grove upon our left I could already see
the high chimneys and the flag-staff which marked the squire's dwelling.

{}```My father made the fellow gardener,' said my companion, `and
then, as that did not satisfy him, he was promoted to be butler. The
house seemed to be at his mercy, and he wandered about and did what
he chose in it. The maids complained of his drunken habits and his
vile language. The dad raised their wages all round to recompense
them for the annoyance. The fellow would take the boat and my father's
best gun and treat himself to little shooting trips. And all this
with such a sneering, leering, insolent face that I would have knocked
him down twenty times over if he had been a man of my own age. I tell
you, Holmes, I have had to keep a tight hold upon myself all this
time; and now I am asking myself whether, if I had let myself go a
little more, I might not have been a wiser man.

{}``'Well, matters went from bad to worse with us, and this animal
Hudson became more and more intrusive, until at last, on making some
insolent reply to my father in my presence one day, I took him by
the shoulders and turned him out of the room. He slunk away with a
livid face and two venomous eyes which uttered more threats than his
tongue could do. I don't know what passed between the poor dad and
him after that, but the dad came to me next day and asked me whether
I would mind apologizing to Hudson. I refused, as you can imagine,
and asked my father how he could allow such a wretch to take such
liberties with himself and his household.

{}`````Ah, my boy,'' said he, {}``it is all very well to talk,
but you don't know how I am placed. But you shall know, Victor. I'll
see that you shall know, come what may. You wouldn't believe harm
of your poor old father, would you, lad?'' He was very much moved,
and shut himself up in the study all day, where I could see through
the window that he was writing busily.

{}```That evening there came what seemed to me to be a grand release,
for Hudson told us that he was going to leave us. He walked into the
dining-room as we sat after dinner, and announced his intention in
the thick voice of a half-drunken man.

{}`````I've had enough of Norfolk,'' said he. {}``I'll run down
to Mr.\ Beddoes in Hampshire. He'll be as glad to see me as you were,
I dare say.''

{}`````You're not going away in any kind of spirit, Hudson, I hope,''
said my father, with a tameness which mad my blood boil.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-glor-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}```I've not had my 'pology,'
said he sulkily.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}`````I've not had my 'pology,'' said he sulkily, glancing in my
direction.

{}`````Victor, you will acknowledge that you have used this worthy
fellow rather roughly,'' said the dad, turning to me.

{}`````On the contrary, I think that we have both shown extraordinary
patience towards him,'' I answered.

{}`````Oh, you do, do you?''\ he snarls. {}``Very good, mate.
We'll see about that!''

{}```He slouched out of the room, and half an hour afterwards left
the house, leaving my father in a state of pitiable nervousness. Night
after night I heard him pacing his room, and it was just as he was
recovering his confidence that the blow did at last fall.'

{}```And how?' I asked eagerly.

{}```In a most extraordinary fashion. A letter arrived for my father
yesterday evening, bearing the Fordingbridge post-mark. My father
read it, clapped both his hands to his head, and began running round
the room in little circles like a man who has been driven out of his
senses. When I at last drew him down on to the sofa, his mouth and
eyelids were all puckered on one side, and I saw that he had a stroke.
Dr.\ Fordham came over at once. We put him to bed; but the paralysis
has spread, he has shown no sign of returning consciousness, and I
think that we shall hardly find him alive.'

{}```You horrify me, Trevor!'\ I cried. `What then could have been
in this letter to cause so dreadful a result?'

{}```Nothing. There lies the inexplicable part of it. The message
was absurd and trivial. Ah, my God, it is as I feared!'

{}``As he spoke we came round the curve of the avenue, and saw in
the fading light that every blind in the house had been drawn down.
As we dashed up to the door, my friend's face convulsed with grief,
a gentleman in black emerged from it.

{}```When did it happen, doctor?'\ asked Trevor.

{}```Almost immediately after you left.'

{}```Did he recover consciousness?'

{}```For an instant before the end.'

{}```Any message for me?'

{}```Only that the papers were in the back drawer of the Japanese
cabinet.'

{}``My friend ascended with the doctor to the chamber of death, while
I remained in the study, turning the whole matter over and over in
my head, and feeling as sombre as ever I had done in my life. What
was the past of this Trevor, pugilist, traveler, and gold-digger,
and how had he placed himself in the power of this acid-faced seaman?
Why, too, should he faint at an allusion to the half-effaced initials
upon his arm, and die of fright when he had a letter from Fordingham?
Then I remembered that Fordingham was in Hampshire, and that this
Mr.\ Beddoes, whom the seaman had gone to visit and presumably to
blackmail, had also been mentioned as living in Hampshire. The letter,
then, might either come from Hudson, the seaman, saying that he had
betrayed the guilty secret which appeared to exist, or it might come
from Beddoes, warning an old confederate that such a betrayal was
imminent. So far it seemed clear enough. But then how could this letter
be trivial and grotesque, as describe by the son? He must have misread
it. If so, it must have been one of those ingenious secret codes which
mean one thing while they seem to mean another. I must see this letter.
If there were a hidden meaning in it, I was confident that I could
pluck it forth. For an hour I sat pondering over it in the gloom,
until at last a weeping maid brought in a lamp, and close at her heels
came my friend Trevor, pale but composed, with these very papers which
lie upon my knee held in his grasp. He sat down opposite to me, drew
the lamp to the edge of the table, and handed me a short note scribbled,
as you see, upon a single sheet of gray paper. `The supply of game
for London is going steadily up,' it ran. `Head-keeper Hudson, we
believe, has been now told to receive all orders for fly-paper and
for preservation of your hen-pheasant's life.'

{}``I dare say my face looked as bewildered as your did just now
when first I read this message. Then I reread it very carefully. It
was evidently as I had thought, and some secret meaning must lie buried
in this strange combination of words. Or could it be that there was
a prearranged significance to such phrases as `fly-paper' and `hen-pheasant'?
Such a meaning would be arbitrary and could not be deduced in any
way. And yet I was loath to believe that this was the case, and the
presence of the word Hudson seemed to show that the subject of the
message was as I had guessed, and that it was from Beddoes rather
than the sailor. I tried it backwards, but the combination `life pheasant's
hen' was not encouraging. Then I tried alternate words, but neither
`the of for' nor `supply game London' promised to throw any light
upon it.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-glor-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``The key of the riddle was
in my hands.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``And then in an instant the key of the riddle was in my hands,
and I saw that every third word, beginning with the first, would give
a message which might well drive old Trevor to despair.

{}``It was short and terse, the warning, as I now read it to my companion:

{}```The game is up. Hudson has told all. Fly for your life.'

{}``Victor Trevor sank his face into his shaking hands, `It must
be that, I suppose,' said he. `This is worse than death, for it means
disgrace as well. But what is the meaning of these {}``head-keepers''
and {}``hen-pheasants''?'

{}```It means nothing to the message, but it might mean a good deal
to us if we had no other means of discovering the sender. You see
that he has begun by writing {}``The\ldots game\ldots is,'' and
so on. Afterwards he had, to fulfill the prearranged cipher, to fill
in any two words in each space. He would naturally use the first words
which came to his mind, and if there were so many which referred to
sport among them, you may be tolerably sure that he is either an ardent
shot or interested in breeding. Do you know anything of this Beddoes?'

{}```Why, now that you mention it,' said he, `I remember that my
poor father used to have an invitation from him to shoot over his
preserves every autumn.'

{}```Then it is undoubtedly from him that the note comes,' said I.
`It only remains for us to find out what this secret was which the
sailor Hudson seems to have held over the heads of these two wealthy
and respected men.'

{}```Alas, Holmes, I fear that it is one of sin and shame!' cried
my friend. `But from you I shall have no secrets. Here is the statement
which was drawn up by my father when he knew that the danger from
Hudson had become imminent. I found it in the Japanese cabinet, as
he told the doctor. Take it and read it to me, for I have neither
the strength nor the courage to do it myself.'

{}``These are the very papers, Watson, which he handed to me, and
I will read them to you, as I read them in the old study that night
to him. They are endorsed outside, as you see, `Some particulars of
the voyage of the bark \emph{Gloria Scott}, from her leaving Falmouth
on the 8th October, 1855, to her destruction in N.\ Lat.\ 15$^\circ$
20', W.\ Long.\ 25$^\circ$ 14' on Nov.\ 6th.' It is in the form
of a letter, and runs in this way:

\begin{quotation}
{}```My dear, dear son, now that approaching disgrace begins to darken
the closing years of my life, I can write with all truth and honesty
that it is not the terror of the law, it is not the loss of my position
in the county, nor is it my fall in the eyes of all who have known
me, which cuts me to the heart; but it is the thought that you should
come to blush for me\mdsh{---}you who love me and who have seldom,
I hope, had reason to do other than respect me. But if the blow falls
which is forever hanging over me, then I should wish you to read this,
that you may know straight from me how far I have been to blame. On
the other hand, if all should go well (which may kind God Almighty
grant!), then if by any chance this paper should be still undestroyed
and should fall into your hands, I conjure you, by all you hold sacred,
by the memory of your dear mother, and by the love which had been
between us, to hurl it into the fire and to never give one thought
to it again.

{}```If then your eye goes onto read this line, I know that I shall
already have been exposed and dragged from my home, or as is more
likely, for you know that my heart is weak, by lying with my tongue
sealed forever in death. In either case the time for suppression is
past, and every word which I tell you is the naked truth, and this
I swear as I hope for mercy.

{}```My name, dear lad, is not Trevor. I was James Armitage in my
younger days, and you can understand now the shock that it was to
me a few weeks ago when your college friend addressed me in words
which seemed to imply that he had surprised my secret. As Armitage
it was that I entered a London banking-house, and as Armitage I was
convicted of breaking my country's laws, and was sentenced to transportation.
Do not think very harshly of me, laddie. It was a debt of honor, so
called, which I had to pay, and I used money which was not my own
to do it, in the certainty that I could replace it before there could
be any possibility of its being missed. But the most dreadful ill-luck
pursued me. The money which I had reckoned upon never came to hand,
and a premature examination of accounts exposed my deficit. The case
might have been dealt leniently with, but the laws were more harshly
administered thirty years ago than now, and on my twenty-third birthday
I found myself chained as a felon with thirty-seven other convicts
in 'tween-decks of the bark \emph{Gloria Scott}, bound for Australia.

{}```It was the year '55 when the Crimean war was at its height,
and the old convict ships had been largely used as transports in the
Black Sea. The government was compelled, therefore, to use smaller
and less suitable vessels for sending out their prisoners. The \emph{Gloria
Scott} had been in the Chinese tea-trade, but she was an old-fashioned,
heavy-bowed, broad-beamed craft, and the new clippers had cut her
out. She was a five-hundred-ton boat; and besides her thirty-eight
jail-birds, she carried twenty-six of a crew, eighteen soldiers, a
captain, three mates, a doctor, a chaplain, and four warders. Nearly
a hundred souls were in her, all told, when we set said from Falmouth.

{}```The partitions between the cells of the convicts, instead of
being of thick oak, as is usual in convict-ships, were quite thin
and frail. The man next to me, upon the aft side, was one whom I had
particularly noticed when we were led down the quay. He was a young
man with a clear, hairless face, a long, thin nose, and rather nut-cracker
jaws. He carried his head very jauntily in the air, had a swaggering
style of walking, and was, above all else, remarkable for his extraordinary
height. I don't think any of our heads would have come up to his shoulder,
and I am sure that he could not have measured less than six and a
half feet. It was strange among so many sad and weary faces to see
one which was full of energy and resolution. The sight of it was to
me like a fire in a snow-storm. I was glad, then, to find that he
was my neighbor, and gladder still when, in the dead of the night,
I heard a whisper close to my ear, and found that he had managed to
cut an opening in the board which separated us.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{memho11-glor-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Jack Prendergast.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}`````Hullo, chummy!''\ said he, {}``what's your name, and what
are you here for?''

{}```I answered him, and asked in turn who I was talking with.

{}`````I'm Jack Prendergast,'' said he, {}``and by God! You'll
learn to bless my name before you've done with me.''

{}```I remembered hearing of his case, for it was one which had made
an immense sensation throughout the country some time before my own
arrest. He was a man of good family and of great ability, but on incurably
vicious habits, who had by an ingenious system of fraud obtained huge
sums of money from the leading London merchants.

{}`````Ha, ha! You remember my case!''\ said he proudly.

{}`````Very well, indeed.''

{}`````Then maybe you remember something queer about it?''

{}`````What was that, then?''

{}`````I'd had nearly a quarter of a million, hadn't I?''

{}`````So it was said.''

{}`````But none was recovered, eh?''

{}`````No.''

{}`````Well, where d'ye suppose the balance is?''\ he asked.

{}`````I have no idea,'' said I.

{}`````Right between my finger and thumb,'' he cried. {}``By God!
I've got more pounds to my name than you've hairs on your head. And
if you've money, my son, and know how to handle it and spread it,
you can do anything. Now, you don't think it likely that a man who
could do anything is going to wear his breeches out sitting in the
stinking hold of a rat-gutted, beetle-ridden, mouldy old coffin of
a Chin China coaster. No, sir, such a man will look after himself
and will look after his chums. You may lay to that! You hold on to
him, and you may kiss the book that he'll haul you through.''

{}```That was his style of talk, and at first I thought it meant
nothing; but after a while, when he had tested me and sworn me in
with all possible solemnity, he let me understand that there really
was a plot to gain command of the vessel. A dozen of the prisoners
had hatched it before they came aboard, Prendergast was the leader,
and his money was the motive power.

{}`````I'd a partner,'' said he, {}``a rare good man, as true as
a stock to a barrel. He's got the dibbs, he has, and where do you
think he is at this moment? Why, he's the chaplain of this ship\mdsh{---}the
chaplain, no less! He came aboard with a black coat, and his papers
right, and money enough in his box to buy the thing right up from
keel to main-truck. The crew are his, body and soul. He could buy
'em at so much a gross with a cash discount, and he did it before
ever they signed on. He's got two of the warders and Mereer, the second
mate, and he'd get the captain himself, if he thought him worth it.''

{}`````What are we to do, then?'' I asked.

{}`````What do you think?'' said he. {}``We'll make the coats of
some of these soldiers redder than ever the tailor did.''

{}`````But they are armed,'' said I.

{}`````And so shall we be, my boy. There's a brace of pistols for
every mother's son of us, and if we can't carry this ship, with the
crew at our back, it's time we were all sent to a young misses' boarding-school.
You speak to your mate upon the left to-night, and see if he is to
be trusted.''

{}```I did so, and found my other neighbor to be a young fellow in
much the same position as myself, whose crime had been forgery. His
name was Evans, but he afterwards changed it, like myself, and his
is now a rich and prosperous man in the south of England. He was ready
enough to join the conspiracy, as the only means of saving ourselves,
and before we had crossed the Bay there were only two of the prisoners
who were not in the secret. One of these was of weak mind, and we
did not dare to trust him, and the other was suffering from jaundice,
and could not be of any use to us.

{}```From the beginning there was really nothing to prevent us from
taking possession of the ship. The crew were a set of ruffians, specially
picked for the job. The sham chaplain came into our cells to exhort
us, carrying a black bag, supposed to be full of tracts, and so often
did he come that by the third day we had each stowed away at the foot
of our beds a file, a brace of pistols, a pound of powder, and twenty
slugs. Two of the warders were agents of Prendergast, and the second
mate was his right-hand man. The captain, the two mates, two warders,
Lieutenant Martin, his eighteen soldiers, and the doctor were all
that we had against us. Yet, safe as it was, we determined to neglect
no precaution, and to make our attack suddenly by night. It came,
however, more quickly than we expected, and in this way.

{}```One evening, about the third week after our start, the doctor
had come down to see one of the prisoners who was ill, and putting
his hand down on the bottom of his bunk he felt the outline of the
pistols. If he had been silent he might have blown the whole thing,
but he was a nervous little chap, so he gave a cry of surprise and
turned so pale that the man knew what was up in an instant and seized
him. He was gagged before he could give the alarm, and tied down upon
the bed. He had unlocked the door that led to the deck, and we were
through it in a rush. The two sentries were shot down, and so was
a corporal who came running to see what was the matter. There were
two more soldiers at the door of the state-room, and their muskets
seemed not to be loaded, for they never fired upon us, and they were
shot while trying to fix their bayonets. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-glor-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``The chaplain stood with
a smoking pistol in his hand.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Then we rushed on into the captain's cabin, but as we pushed open
the door there was an explosion from within, and there he lay wit
his brains smeared over the chart of the Atlantic which was pinned
upon the table, while the chaplain stood with a smoking pistol in
his hand at his elbow. The two mates had both been seized by the crew,
and the whole business seemed to be settled.

{}```The state-room was next the cabin, and we flocked in there and
flopped down on the settees, all speaking together, for we were just
mad with the feeling that we were free once more. There were lockers
all round, and Wilson, the sham chaplain, knocked one of them in,
and pulled out a dozen of brown sherry. We cracked off the necks of
the bottles, poured the stuff out into tumblers, and were just tossing
them off, when in an instant without warning there came the roar of
muskets in our ears, and the saloon was so full of smoke that we could
not see across the table. When it cleared again the place was a shambles.
Wilson and eight others were wriggling on the top of each other on
the floor, and the blood and the brown sherry on that table turn me
sick now when I think of it. We were so cowed by the sight that I
think we should have given the job up if had not been for Prendergast.
He bellowed like a bull and rushed for the door with all that were
left alive at his heels. Out we ran, and there on the poop were the
lieutenent and ten of his men. The swing skylights above the saloon
table had been a bit open, and they had fired on us through the slit.
We got on them before they could load, and they stood to it like men;
but we had the upper hand of them, and in five minutes it was all
over. My God! Was there ever a slaughter-house like that ship! Predergast
was like a raging deveil, and he picked the soldiers up as if they
had been children and threw them overboard alive or dead. There was
one sergeant that was horribly wounded and yet kept on swimming for
a surprising time, until some one in mercy blew out his brains. When
the fighting was over there was no one left of our enemies except
just the warders the mates, and the doctor.

{}```It was over them that the great quarrel arose. There were many
of us who were glad enough to win back our freedom, and yet who had
no wish to have murder on our souls. It was one thing to knock the
soldiers over with their muskets in their hands, and it was another
to stand by while men were being killed in cold blood. Eight of us,
five convicts and three sailors, said that we would not see it done.
But there was no moving Predergast and those who were with him. Our
only chance of safety lay in making a clean job of it, said he, and
he would not leave a tongue with power to wag in a witness-box. It
nearly came to our sharing the fate of the prisoners, but at last
he said that if we wished we might take a boat and go. We jumped at
the offer, for we were already sick of these blookthirsty doings,
and we saw that there would be worse before it was done. We were given
a suit of sailor togs each, a barrel of water, two casks, one of junk
and one of biscuits, and a compass. Prendergast threw us over a chart,
told us that we were shipwrecked mariners whose ship had foundered
in Lat.\ 15$^\circ$ and Long.\ 25$^\circ$ west, and then cut the
painter and let us go.

{}```And now I come to the most surprising part of my story, my dear
son. The seamen had hauled the fore-yard aback during the rising,
but now as we left them they brought it square again, and as there
was a light wind from the north and east the bark began to draw slowly
away from us. Our boat lay, rising and falling, upon the long, smooth
rollers, and Evans and I, who were the most educated of the party,
were sitting in the sheets working out our position and planning what
coast we should make for. It was a nice question, for the Cape de
Verds were about five hundred miles to the north of us, and the African
coast about seven hundred to the east. On the whole, as the wind was
coming round to the north, we thought that Sierra Leone might be best,
and turned our head in that direction, the bark being at that time
nearly hull down on our starboard quarter. Suddenly as we looked at
her we saw a dense black cloud of smoke shoot up from her, which hung
like a monstrous tree upon the sky line. A few seconds later a roar
like thunder burst upon our ears, and as the smoke thinned away there
was no sign left of the \emph{Gloria Scott}. In an instant we swept
the boat's head round again and pulled with all our strength for the
place where the haze still trailing over the water marked the scene
of this catastrophe.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-glor-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``We pulled him aboard the
boat.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```It was a long hour before we reached it, and at first we feared
that we had come too late to save any one. A splintered boat and a
number of crates and fragments of spars rising and falling on the
waves showed us where the vessel had foundered; but there was no sign
of life, and we had turned away in despair when we heard a cry for
help, and saw at some distance a piece of wreckage with a man lying
stretched across it. When we pulled him aboard the boat he proved
to be a young seaman of the name of Hudson, who was so burned and
exhausted that he could give us no account of what had happened until
the following morning.

{}```It seemed that after we had left, Prendergast and his gang had
proceeded to put to death the five remaining prisoners. The two warders
had been shot and thrown overboard, and so also had the third mate.
Prendergast then descended into the 'tween-decks and with his own
hands cut the throat of the unfortunate surgeon. There only remained
the first mate, who was a bold and active man. When he saw the convict
approaching him with the bloody knife in his hand he kicked off his
bonds, which he had somehow contrived to loosen, and rushing down
the deck he plunged into the after-hold. A dozen convicts, who descended
with their pistols in search of him, found him with a match-box in
his hand seated beside an open powder-barrel, which was one of a hundred
carried on board, and swearing that he would blow all hands up if
he were in any way molested. An instant later the explosion occurred,
though Hudson thought it was caused by the misdirected bullet of one
of the convicts rather than the mate's match. Be the cause what it
may, it was the end of the \emph{Gloria Scott} and of the rabble who
held command of her.

{}```Such, in a few words, my dear boy, is the history of this terrible
business in which I was involved. Next day we were picked up by the
brig Hotspur, bound for Australia, whose captain found no difficulty
in believing that we were the survivors of a passenger ship which
had foundered. The transport ship \emph{Gloria Scott} was set down
by the Admiralty as being lost at sea, and no word has ever leaked
out as to her true fate. After an excellent voyage the Hotspur landed
us at Sydney, where Evans and I changed our names and made our way
to the diggings, where, among the crowds who were gathered from all
nations, we had no difficulty in losing our former identities. The
rest I need not relate. We prospered, we traveled, we came back as
rich colonials to England, and we bought country estates. For more
than twenty years we have led peaceful and useful lives, and we hoped
that our past was forever buried. Imagine, then, my feelings when
in the seaman who came to us I recognized instantly the man who had
been picked off the wreck. He had tracked us down somehow, and had
set himself to live upon our fears. You will understand now how it
was that I strove to keep the peace with him, and you will in some
measure sympathize with me in the fears which fill me, now that he
has gone from me to his other victim with threats upon his tongue.'
\end{quotation}
{}``Underneath is written in a hand so shaky as to be hardly legible,
`Beddoes writes in cipher to say H. has told all. Sweet Lord, have
mercy on our souls!'

{}``That was the narrative which I read that night to young Trevor,
and I think, Watson, that under the circumstances it was a dramatic
one. The good fellow was heart-broken at it, and went out to the Terai
tea planting, where I hear that he is doing well. As to the sailor
and Beddoes, neither of them was ever heard of again after that day
on which the letter of warning was written. They both disappeared
utterly and completely. No complaint had been lodged with he police,
so that Beddoes had mistaken a threat for a deed. Hudson had been
seen lurking about, and it was believed by the police that he had
done away with Beddoes and had fled. For myself I believe that the
truth was exactly the opposite. I think that it is most probable that
Beddoes, pushed to desperation and believing himself to have been
already betrayed, had revenged himself upon Hudson, and had fled from
the country with as much money as he could lay his hands on. Those
are the facts of the case, Doctor, and if they are of any use to your
collection, I am sure that they are very heartily at your service.''


\chapter*{\raggedright Adventure V.\  The Musgrave Ritual}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Adventure V. The Musgrave Ritual}

\markboth{Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes}{The Musgrave Ritual}

An anomaly which often struck me in the character of my friend Sherlock
Holmes was that, although in his methods of thought he was the neatest
and most methodical of mankind, and although also he affected a certain
quiet primness of dress, he was none the less in his personal habits
one of the most untidy men that ever drove a fellow-lodger to distraction.
Not that I am in the least conventional in that respect myself. The
rough-and-tumble work in Afghanistan, coming on the top of a natural
Bohemianism of disposition, has made me rather more lax than befits
a medical man. But with me there is a limit, and when I find a man
who keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end
of a Persian slipper, and his unanswered correspondence transfixed
by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden mantelpiece, then
I begin to give myself virtuous airs. I have always held, too, that
pistol practice should be distinctly an open-air pastime; and when
Holmes, in one of his queer humors, would sit in an arm-chair with
his hair-trigger and a hundred Boxer cartridges, and proceed to adorn
the opposite wall with a patriotic V.\ R.\ done in bullet-pocks,
I felt strongly that neither the atmosphere nor the appearance of
our room was improved by it.

Our chambers were always full of chemicals and of criminal relics
which had a way of wandering into unlikely positions, and of turning
up in the butter-dish or in even less desirable places. But his papers
were my great crux. He had a horror of destroying documents, especially
those which were connected with his past cases, and yet it was only
once in every year or two that he would muster energy to docket and
arrange them; for, as I have mentioned somewhere in these incoherent
memoirs, the outbursts of passionate energy when he performed the
remarkable feats with which his name is associated were followed by
reactions of lethargy during which he would lie about with his violin
and his books, hardly moving save from the sofa to the table. Thus
month after month his papers accumulated, until every corner of the
room was stacked with bundles of manuscript which were on no account
to be burned, and which could not be put away save by their owner.
One winter's night, as we sat together by the fire, I ventured to
suggest to him that, as he had finished pasting extracts into his
common-place book, he might employ the next two hours in making our
room a little more habitable. He could not deny the justice of my
request, so with a rather rueful face went off to his bedroom, from
which he returned presently pulling a large tin box behind him. This
he placed in the middle of the floor and, squatting down upon a stool
in front of it, he threw back the lid. I could see that it was already
a third full of bundles of paper tied up with red tape into separate
packages.

{}``There are cases enough here, Watson,'' said he, looking at me
with mischievous eyes. {}``I think that if you knew all that I had
in this box you would ask me to pull some out instead of putting others
in.''

{}``These are the records of your early work, then?''\ I asked.
{}``I have often wished that I had notes of those cases.''

{}``Yes, my boy, these were all done prematurely before my biographer
had come to glorify me.'' He lifted bundle after bundle in a tender,
caressing sort of way. {}``They are not all successes, Watson,''
said he. {}``But there are some pretty little problems among them.
Here's the record of the Tarleton murders, and the case of Vamberry,
the wine merchant, and the adventure of the old Russian woman, and
the singular affair of the aluminium crutch, as well as a full account
of Ricoletti of the club-foot, and his abominable wife. And here\mdsh{---}ah,
now, this really is something a little \emph{recherch\'{e}}.''

He dived his arm down to the bottom of the chest, and brought up a
small wooden box with a sliding lid, such as children's toys are kept
in. From within he produced a crumpled piece of paper, and old-fashioned
brass key, a peg of wood with a ball of string attached to it, and
three rusty old disks of metal.

{}``Well, my boy, what do you make of this lot?'' he asked, smiling
at my expression.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-musg-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``A curious collection.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``It is a curious collection.''

{}``Very curious, and the story that hangs round it will strike you
as being more curious still.''

{}``These relics have a history then?''

{}``So much so that they are history.''

{}``What do you mean by that?''

Sherlock Holmes picked them up one by one, and laid them along the
edge of the table. Then he reseated himself in his chair and looked
them over with a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes.

{}``These,'' said he, {}``are all that I have left to remind me
of the adventure of the Musgrave Ritual.''

I had heard him mention the case more than once, though I had never
been able to gather the details. {}``I should be so glad,'' said
I, {}``if you would give me an account of it.''

{}``And leave the litter as it is?'' he cried, mischievously. {}``Your
tidiness won't bear much strain after all, Watson. But I should be
glad that you should add this case to your annals, for there are points
in it which make it quite unique in the criminal records of this or,
I believe, of any other country. A collection of my trifling achievements
would certainly be incomplete which contained no account of this very
singular business.

{}``You may remember how the affair of the \emph{Gloria Scott}, and
my conversation with the unhappy man whose fate I told you of, first
turned my attention in the direction of the profession which has become
my life's work. You see me now when my name has become known far and
wide, and when I am generally recognized both by the public and by
the official force as being a final court of appeal in doubtful cases.
Even when you knew me first, at the time of the affair which you have
commemorated in `A Study in Scarlet,' I had already established a
considerable, though not a very lucrative, connection. You can hardly
realize, then, how difficult I found it at first, and how long I had
to wait before I succeeded in making any headway.

{}``When I first came up to London I had rooms in Montague Street,
just round the corner from the British Museum, and there I waited,
filling in my too abundant leisure time by studying all those branches
of science which might make me more efficient. Now and again cases
came in my way, principally through the introduction of old fellow-students,
for during my last years at the University there was a good deal of
talk there about myself and my methods. The third of these cases was
that of the Musgrave Ritual, and it is to the interest which was aroused
by that singular chain of events, and the large issues which proved
to be at stake, that I trace my first stride towards the position
which I now hold.

{}``Reginald Musgrave had been in the same college as myself, and
I had some slight acquaintance with him. He was not generally popular
among the undergraduates, though it always seemed to me that what
was set down as pride was really an attempt to cover extreme natural
diffidence. In appearance he was a man of exceedingly aristocratic
type, thin, high-nosed, and large-eyed, with languid and yet courtly
manners. He was indeed a scion of one of the very oldest families
in the kingdom, though his branch was a cadet one which had separated
from the northern Musgraves some time in the sixteenth century, and
had established itself in western Sussex, where the Manor House of
Hurlstone is perhaps the oldest inhabited building in the county.
Something of his birth place seemed to cling to the man, and I never
looked at his pale, keen face or the poise of his head without associating
him with gray archways and mullioned windows and all the venerable
wreckage of a feudal keep. Once or twice we drifted into talk, and
I can remember that more than once he expressed a keen interest in
my methods of observation and inference.

{}``For four years I had seen nothing of him until one morning he
walked into my room in Montague Street. He had changed little, was
dressed like a young man of fashion\mdsh{---}he was always a bit
of a dandy\mdsh{---}and preserved the same quiet, suave manner which
had formerly distinguished him.

{}```How has all gone with you Musgrave?'' I asked, after we had
cordially shaken hands.

{}```You probably heard of my poor father's death,' said he; `he
was carried off about two years ago. Since then I have of course had
the Hurlstone estates to manage, and as I am member for my district
as well, my life has been a busy one. But I understand, Holmes, that
you are turning to practical ends those powers with which you used
to amaze us?''

{}```Yes,' said I, `I have taken to living by my wits.'

{}```I am delighted to hear it, for your advice at present would
be exceedingly valuable to me. We have had some very strange doings
at Hurlstone, and the police have been able to throw no light upon
the matter. It is really the most extraordinary and inexplicable business.'

{}``You can imagine with what eagerness I listened to him, Watson,
for the very chance for which I had been panting during all those
months of inaction seemed to have come within my reach. In my inmost
heart I believed that I could succeed where others failed, and now
I had the opportunity to test myself.

{}```Pray, let me have the details,' I cried.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-musg-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Reginald Musgrave.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Reginald Musgrave sat down opposite to me, and lit the cigarette
which I had pushed towards him.

{}```You must know,' said he, `that though I am a bachelor, I have
to keep up a considerable staff of servants at Hurlstone, for it is
a rambling old place, and takes a good deal of looking after. I preserve,
too, and in the pheasant months I usually have a house-party, so that
it would not do to be short-handed. Altogether there are eight maids,
the cook, the butler, two footmen, and a boy. The garden and the stables
of course have a separate staff.

{}```Of these servants the one who had been longest in our service
was Brunton the butler. He was a young school-master out of place
when he was first taken up by my father, but he was a man of great
energy and character, and he soon became quite invaluable in the household.
He was a well-grown, handsome man, with a splendid forehead, and though
he has been with us for twenty years he cannot be more than forty
now. With his personal advantages and his extraordinary gifts\mdsh{---}for
he can speak several languages and play nearly every musical instrument\mdsh{---}it
is wonderful that he should have been satisfied so long in such a
position, but I suppose that he was comfortable, and lacked energy
to make any change. The butler of Hurlstone is always a thing that
is remembered by all who visit us.

{}```But this paragon has one fault. He is a bit of a Don Juan, and
you can imagine that for a man like him it is not a very difficult
part to play in a quiet country district. When he was married it was
all right, but since he has been a widower we have had no end of trouble
with him. A few months ago we were in hopes that he was about to settle
down again for he became engaged to Rachel Howells, our second house-maid;
but he has thrown her over since then and taken up with Janet Tregellis,
the daughter of the head game-keeper. Rachel\mdsh{---}who is a very
good girl, but of an excitable Welsh temperament\mdsh{---}had a sharp
touch of brain-fever, and goes about the house now\mdsh{---}or did
until yesterday\mdsh{---}like a black-eyed shadow of her former self.
That was our first drama at Hurlstone; but a second one came to drive
it from our minds, and it was prefaced by the disgrace and dismissal
of butler Brunton.

{}```This was how it came about. I have said that the man was intelligent,
and this very intelligence has caused his ruin, for it seems to have
led to an insatiable curiosity about things which did not in the least
concern him. I had no idea of the lengths to which this would carry
him, until the merest accident opened my eyes to it.

{}```I have said that the house is a rambling one. One day last week\mdsh{---}on
Thursday night, to be more exact\mdsh{---}I found that I could not
sleep, having foolishly taken a cup of strong \emph{caf\'{e} noir}
after my dinner. After struggling against it until two in the morning,
I felt that it was quite hopeless, so I rose and lit the candle with
the intention of continuing a novel which I was reading. The book,
however, had been left in the billiard-room, so I pulled on my dressing-gown
and started off to get it.

{}```In order to reach the billiard-room I had to descend a flight
of stairs and then to cross the head of a passage which led to the
library and the gun-room. You can imagine my surprise when, as I looked
down this corridor, I saw a glimmer of light coming from the open
door of the library. I had myself extinguished the lamp and closed
the door before coming to bed. Naturally my first thought was of burglars.
The corridors at Hurlstone have their walls largely decorated with
trophies of old weapons. From one of these I picked a battle-axe,
and then, leaving my candle behind me, I crept on tiptoe down the
passage and peeped in at the open door.

{}```Brunton, the butler, was in the library. He was sitting, fully
dressed, in an easy-chair, with a slip of paper which looked like
a map upon his knee, and his forehead sunk forward upon his hand in
deep thought. I stood dumb with astonishment, watching him from the
darkness. A small taper on the edge of the table shed a feeble light
which sufficed to show me that he was fully dressed. Suddenly, as
I looked, he rose from his chair, and walking over to a bureau at
the side, he unlocked it and drew out one of the drawers. From this
he took a paper, and returning to his seat he flattened it out beside
the taper on the edge of the table, and began to study it with minute
attention. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-musg-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He sprang to his feet.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
My indignation at this calm examination of our family documents overcame
me so far that I took a step forward, and Brunton, looking up, saw
me standing in the doorway. He sprang to his feet, his face turned
livid with fear, and he thrust into his breast the chart-like paper
which he had been originally studying.

{}`````So!'' said I. {}``This is how you repay the trust which
we have reposed in you. You will leave my service to-morrow.''

{}```He bowed with the look of a man who is utterly crushed, and
slunk past me without a word. The taper was still on the table, and
by its light I glanced to see what the paper was which Brunton had
taken from the bureau. To my surprise it was nothing of any importance
at all, but simply a copy of the questions and answers in the singular
old observance called the Musgrave Ritual. It is a sort of ceremony
peculiar to our family, which each Musgrave for centuries past has
gone through on his coming of age\mdsh{---}a thing of private interest,
and perhaps of some little importance to the archaeologist, like our
own blazonings and charges, but of no practical use whatever.'

{}```We had better come back to the paper afterwards,' said I.

{}```If you think it really necessary,' he answered, with some hesitation.
`To continue my statement, however: I relocked the bureau, using the
key which Brunton had left, and I had turned to go when I was surprised
to find that the butler had returned, and was standing before me.

{}`````Mr.\ Musgrave, sir,'' he cried, in a voice which was hoarse
with emotion, {}``I can't bear disgrace, sir. I've always been proud
above my station in life, and disgrace would kill me. My blood will
be on your head, sir\mdsh{---}it will, indeed\mdsh{---}if you drive
me to despair. If you cannot keep me after what has passed, then for
God's sake let me give you notice and leave in a month, as if of my
own free will. I could stand that, Mr.\ Musgrave, but not to be cast
out before all the folk that I know so well.''

{}`````You don't deserve much consideration, Brunton,'' I answered.
{}``Your conduct has been most infamous. However, as you have been
a long time in the family, I have no wish to bring public disgrace
upon you. A month, however is too long. Take yourself away in a week,
and give what reason you like for going.''

{}`````Only a week, sir?''\ he cried, in a despairing voice. {}``A
fortnight\mdsh{---}say at least a fortnight!''

{}`````A week,'' I repeated, {}``and you may consider yourself
to have been very leniently dealt with.''

{}```He crept away, his face sunk upon his breast, like a broken
man, while I put out the light and returned to my room.

{}```For two days after this Brunton was most assiduous in his attention
to his duties. I made no allusion to what had passed, and waited with
some curiosity to see how he would cover his disgrace. On the third
morning, however he did not appear, as was his custom, after breakfast
to receive my instructions for the day. As I left the dining-room
I happened to meet Rachel Howells, the maid. I have told you that
she had only recently recovered from an illness, and was looking so
wretchedly pale and wan that I remonstrated with her for being at
work.

{}`````You should be in bed,'' I said. {}``Come back to your duties
when you are stronger.''

{}```She looked at me with so strange an expression that I began
to suspect that her brain was affected.

{}`````I am strong enough, Mr.\ Musgrave,'' said she.

{}`````We will see what the doctor says,'' I answered. {}``You
must stop work now, and when you go downstairs just say that I wish
to see Brunton.''

{}`````The butler is gone,'' said she.

{}`````Gone! Gone where?''

{}`````He is gone. No one has seen him. He is not in his room. Oh,
yes, he is gone, he is gone!'' She fell back against the wall with
shriek after shriek of laughter, while I, horrified at this sudden
hysterical attack, rushed to the bell to summon help. The girl was
taken to her room, still screaming and sobbing, while I made inquiries
about Brunton. There was no doubt about it that he had disappeared.
His bed had not been slept in, he had been seen by no one since he
had retired to his room the night before, and yet it was difficult
to see how he could have left the house, as both windows and doors
were found to be fastened in the morning. His clothes, his watch,
and even his money were in his room, but the black suit which he usually
wore was missing. His slippers, too, were gone, but his boots were
left behind. Where then could butler Brunton have gone in the night,
and what could have become of him now?

{}```Of course we searched the house from cellar to garret, but there
was no trace of him. It is, as I have said, a labyrinth of an old
house, especially the original wing, which is now practically uninhabited;
but we ransacked every room and cellar without discovering the least
sign of the missing man. It was incredible to me that he could have
gone away leaving all his property behind him, and yet where could
he be? I called in the local police, but without success. Rain had
fallen on the night before and we examined the lawn and the paths
all round the house, but in vain. Matters were in this state, when
a new development quite drew our attention away from the original
mystery.

{}```For two days Rachel Howells had been so ill, sometimes delirious,
sometimes hysterical, that a nurse had been employed to sit up with
her at night. On the third night after Brunton's disappearance, the
nurse, finding her patient sleeping nicely, had dropped into a nap
in the arm-chair, when she woke in the early morning to find the bed
empty, the window open, and no signs of the invalid. I was instantly
aroused, and, with the two footmen, started off at once in search
of the missing girl. It was not difficult to tell the direction which
she had taken, for, starting from under her window, we could follow
her footmarks easily across the lawn to the edge of the mere, where
they vanished close to the gravel path which leads out of the grounds.
The lake there is eight feet deep, and you can imagine our feelings
when we saw that the trail of the poor demented girl came to an end
at the edge of it.

{}```Of course, we had the drags at once, and set to work to recover
the remains, but no trace of the body could we find. On the other
hand, we brought to the surface an object of a most unexpected kind.
It was a linen bag which contained within it a mass of old rusted
and discolored metal and several dull-colored pieces of pebble or
glass. This strange find was all that we could get from the mere,
and, although we made every possible search and inquiry yesterday,
we know nothing of the fate either of Rachel Howells or of Richard
Brunton. The county police are at their wits' end, and I have come
up to you as a last resource.'

{}``You can imagine, Watson, with what eagerness I listened to this
extraordinary sequence of events, and endeavored to piece them together,
and to devise some common thread upon which they might all hang. The
butler was gone. The maid was gone. The maid had loved the butler,
but had afterwards had cause to hate him. She was of Welsh blood,
fiery and passionate. She had been terribly excited immediately after
his disappearance. She had flung into the lake a bag containing some
curious contents. These were all factors which had to be taken into
consideration, and yet none of them got quite to the heart of the
matter. What was the starting-point of this chain of events? There
lay the end of this tangled line.

{}```I must see that paper, Musgrave,' said I, `which this butler
of your thought it worth his while to consult, even at the risk of
the loss of his place.'

{}```It is rather an absurd business, this ritual of ours,' he answered.
`But it has at least the saving grace of antiquity to excuse it. I
have a copy of the questions and answers here if you care to run your
eye over them.'

{}``He handed me the very paper which I have here, Watson, and this
is the strange catechism to which each Musgrave had to submit when
he came to man's estate. I will read you the questions and answers
as they stand.

{}```Whose was it?'

{}```His who is gone.'

{}```Who shall have it?'

{}```He who will come.'

{}```Where was the sun?'

{}```Over the oak.'

{}```Where was the shadow?'

{}```Under the elm.'

{}```How was it stepped?'

{}```North by ten and by ten, east by five and by five, south by
two and by two, west by one and by one, and so under.'

{}```What shall we give for it?'

{}```All that is ours.'

{}```Why should we give it?'

{}```For the sake of the trust.'

{}```The original has no date, but is in the spelling of the middle
of the seventeenth century,' remarked Musgrave. `I am afraid, however,
that it can be of little help to you in solving this mystery.'

{}```At least,' said I, `it gives us another mystery, and one which
is even more interesting than the first. It may be that the solution
of the one may prove to be the solution of the other. You will excuse
me, Musgrave, if I say that your butler appears to me to have been
a very clever man, and to have had a clearer insight than ten generations
of his masters.'

{}```I hardly follow you,' said Musgrave. `The paper seems to me
to be of no practical importance.'

{}```But to me it seems immensely practical, and I fancy that Brunton
took the same view. He had probably seen it before that night on which
you caught him.'

{}```It is very possible. We took no pains to hide it.'

{}```He simply wished, I should imagine, to refresh his memory upon
that last occasion. He had, as I understand, some sort of map or chart
which he was comparing with the manuscript, and which he thrust into
his pocket when you appeared.'

{}```That is true. But what could he have to do with this old family
custom of ours, and what does this rigmarole mean?'

{}```I don't think that we should have much difficulty in determining
that,' said I; `with your permission we will take the first train
down to Sussex, and go a little more deeply into the matter upon the
spot.'

{}``The same afternoon saw us both at Hurlstone. Possibly you have
seen pictures and read descriptions of the famous old building, so
I will confine my account of it to saying that it is built in the
shape of an L, the long arm being the more modern portion, and the
shorter the ancient nucleus, from which the other had developed. Over
the low, heavily-lintelled door, in the centre of this old part, is
chiseled the date, 1607, but experts are agreed that the beams and
stone-work are really much older than this. The enormously thick walls
and tiny windows of this part had in the last century driven the family
into building the new wing, and the old one was used now as a store-house
and a cellar, when it was used at all. A splendid park with fine old
timber surrounds the house, and the lake, to which my client had referred,
lay close to the avenue, about two hundred yards from the building.

{}``I was already firmly convinced, Watson, that there were not three
separate mysteries here, but one only, and that if I could read the
Musgrave Ritual aright I should hold in my hand the clue which would
lead me to the truth concerning both the butler Brunton and the maid
Howells. To that then I turned all my energies. Why should this servant
be so anxious to master this old formula? Evidently because he saw
something in it which had escaped all those generations of country
squires, and from which he expected some personal advantage. What
was it then, and how had it affected his fate?

{}``It was perfectly obvious to me, on reading the ritual, that the
measurements must refer to some spot to which the rest of the document
alluded, and that if we could find that spot, we should be in a fair
way towards finding what the secret was which the old Musgraves had
thought it necessary to embalm in so curious a fashion. There were
two guides given us to start with, an oak and an elm. As to the oak
there could be no question at all. Right in front of the house, upon
the left-hand side of the drive, there stood a patriarch among oaks,
one of the most magnificent trees that I have ever seen.

{}```That was there when your ritual was drawn up,' said I, as we
drove past it.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-musg-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``It has a girth of twenty-three
feet.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```It was there at the Norman Conquest in all probability,' he
answered. `It has a girth of twenty-three feet.'

{}```Have you any old elms?' I asked.

{}```There used to be a very old one over yonder but it was struck
by lightning ten years ago, and we cut down the stump,'

{}```You can see where it used to be?'

{}```Oh, yes.'

{}```There are no other elms?'

{}```No old ones, but plenty of beeches.'

{}```I should like to see where it grew.'

{}``We had driven up in a dogcart, and my client led me away at once,
without our entering the house, to the scar on the lawn where the
elm had stood. It was nearly midway between the oak and the house.
My investigation seemed to be progressing.

{}```I suppose it is impossible to find out how high the elm was?'
I asked.

{}```I can give you it at once. It was sixty-four feet.'

{}```How do you come to know it?' I asked, in surprise.

{}```When my old tutor used to give me an exercise in trigonometry,
it always took the shape of measuring heights. When I was a lad I
worked out every tree and building in the estate.'

{}``This was an unexpected piece of luck. My data were coming more
quickly than I could have reasonably hoped.

{}```Tell me,' I asked, `did your butler ever ask you such a question?'

{}``Reginald Musgrave looked at me in astonishment. `Now that you
call it to my mind,' he answered, `Brunton did ask me about the height
of the tree some months ago, in connection with some little argument
with the groom.'

{}``This was excellent news, Watson, for it showed me that I was
on the right road. I looked up at the sun. It was low in the heavens,
and I calculated that in less than an hour it would lie just above
the topmost branches of the old oak. One condition mentioned in the
Ritual would then be fulfilled. And the shadow of the elm must mean
the farther end of the shadow, otherwise the trunk would have been
chosen as the guide. I had, then, to find where the far end of the
shadow would fall when the sun was just clear of the oak.''

{}``That must have been difficult, Holmes, when the elm was no longer
there.''

{}``Well, at least I knew that if Brunton could do it, I could also.
Besides, there was no real difficulty. I went with Musgrave to his
study and whittled myself this peg, to which I tied this long string
with a knot at each yard. Then I took two lengths of a fishing-rod,
which came to just six feet, and I went back with my client to where
the elm had been. The sun was just grazing the top of the oak. I fastened
the rod on end, marked out the direction of the shadow, and measured
it. It was nine feet in length.

{}``Of course the calculation now was a simple one. If a rod of six
feet threw a shadow of nine, a tree of sixty-four feet would throw
one of ninety-six, and the line of the one would of course the line
of the other. I measured out the distance, which brought me almost
to the wall of the house, and I thrust a peg into the spot. You can
imagine my exultation, Watson, when within two inches of my peg I
saw a conical depression in the ground. I knew that it was the mark
made by Brunton in his measurements, and that I was still upon his
trail.

{}``From this starting-point I proceeded to step, having first taken
the cardinal points by my pocket-compass. Ten steps with each foot
took me along parallel with the wall of the house, and again I marked
my spot with a peg. Then I carefully paced off five to the east and
two to the south. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-musg-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``This was the place indicated.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
It brought me to the very threshold of the old door. Two steps to
the west meant now that I was to go two paces down the stone-flagged
passage, and this was the place indicated by the Ritual.

{}``Never have I felt such a cold chill of disappointment, Watson.
For a moment is seemed to me that there must be some radical mistake
in my calculations. The setting sun shone full upon the passage floor,
and I could see that the old, foot-worn gray stones with which it
was paved were firmly cemented together, and had certainly not been
moved for many a long year. Brunton had not been at work here. I tapped
upon the floor, but it sounded the same all over, and there was no
sign of any crack or crevice. But, fortunately, Musgrave, who had
begun to appreciate the meaning of my proceedings, and who was now
as excited as myself, took out his manuscript to check my calculation.

{}```And under,' he cried. `You have omitted the {}``and under.'''

{}``I had thought that it meant that we were to dig, but now, of
course, I saw at once that I was wrong. `There is a cellar under this
then?'\ I cried.

{}```Yes, and as old as the house. Down here, through this door.'

{}``We went down a winding stone stair, and my companion, striking
a match, lit a large lantern which stood on a barrel in the corner.
In an instant it was obvious that we had at last come upon the true
place, and that we had not been the only people to visit the spot
recently.

{}``It had been used for the storage of wood, but the billets, which
had evidently been littered over the floor, were now piled at the
sides, so as to leave a clear space in the middle. In this space lay
a large and heavy flagstone with a rusted iron ring in the centre
to which a thick shepherd's-check muffler was attached.

{}```By Jove!'\ cried my client. `That's Brunton's muffler. I have
seen it on him, and could swear to it. What has the villain been doing
here?'

{}``At my suggestion a couple of the county police were summoned
to be present, and I then endeavored to raise the stone by pulling
on the cravat. I could only move it slightly, and it was with the
aid of one of the constables that I succeeded at last in carrying
it to one side. A black hole yawned beneath into which we all peered,
while Musgrave, kneeling at the side, pushed down the lantern.

{}``A small chamber about seven feet deep and four feet square lay
open to us. At one side of this was a squat, brass-bound wooden box,
the lid of which was hinged upwards, with this curious old-fashioned
key projecting from the lock. It was furred outside by a thick layer
of dust, and damp and worms had eaten through the wood, so that a
crop of livid fungi was growing on the inside of it. Several discs
of metal, old coins apparently, such as I hold here, were scattered
over the bottom of the box, but it contained nothing else.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-musg-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``It was the figure of a man.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``At the moment, however, we had no thought for the old chest,
for our eyes were riveted upon that which crouched beside it. It was
the figure of a man, clad in a suit of black, who squatted down upon
his hams with his forehead sunk upon the edge of the box and his two
arms thrown out on each side of it. The attitude had drawn all the
stagnant blood to the face, and no man could have recognized that
distorted liver-colored countenance; but his height, his dress, and
his hair were all sufficient to show my client, when we had drawn
the body up, that it was indeed his missing butler. He had been dead
some days, but there was no wound or bruise upon his person to show
how he had met his dreadful end. When his body had been carried from
the cellar we found ourselves still confronted with a problem which
was almost as formidable as that with which we had started.

{}``I confess that so far, Watson, I had been disappointed in my
investigation. I had reckoned upon solving the matter when once I
had found the place referred to in the Ritual; but now I was there,
and was apparently as far as ever from knowing what it was which the
family had concealed with such elaborate precautions. It is true that
I had thrown a light upon the fate of Brunton, but now I had to ascertain
how that fate had come upon him, and what part had been played in
the matter by the woman who had disappeared. I sat down upon a keg
in the corner and thought the whole matter carefully over.

{}``You know my methods in such cases, Watson. I put myself in the
man's place and, having first gauged his intelligence, I try to imagine
how I should myself have proceeded under the same circumstances. In
this case the matter was simplified by Brunton's intelligence being
quite first-rate, so that it was unnecessary to make any allowance
for the personal equation, as the astronomers have dubbed it. He knew
that something valuable was concealed. He had spotted the place. He
found that the stone which covered it was just too heavy for a man
to move unaided. What would he do next? He could not get help from
outside, even if he had some one whom he could trust, without the
unbarring of doors and considerable risk of detection. It was better,
if he could, to have his helpmate inside the house. But whom could
he ask? This girl had been devoted to him. A man always finds it hard
to realize that he may have finally lost a woman's love, however badly
he may have treated her. He would try by a few attentions to make
his peace with the girl Howells, and then would engage her as his
accomplice. Together they would come at night to the cellar, and their
united force would suffice to raise the stone. So far I could follow
their actions as if I had actually seen them.

{}``But for two of them, and one a woman, it must have been heavy
work the raising of that stone. A burly Sussex policeman and I had
found it no light job. What would they do to assist them? Probably
what I should have done myself. I rose and examined carefully the
different billets of wood which were scattered round the floor. Almost
at once I came upon what I expected. One piece, about three feet in
length, had a very marked indentation at one end, while several were
flattened at the sides as if they had been compressed by some considerable
weight. Evidently, as they had dragged the stone up they had thrust
the chunks of wood into the chink, until at last, when the opening
was large enough to crawl through, they would hold it open by a billet
placed lengthwise, which might very well become indented at the lower
end, since the whole weight of the stone would press it down on to
the edge of this other slab. So far I was still on safe ground.

{}``And now how was I to proceed to reconstruct this midnight drama?
Clearly, only one could fit into the hole, and that one was Brunton.
The girl must have waited above. Brunton then unlocked the box, handed
up the contents presumably\mdsh{---}since they were not to be found\mdsh{---}and
then\mdsh{---}and then what happened?

{}``What smouldering fire of vengeance had suddenly sprung into flame
in this passionate Celtic woman's soul when she saw the man who had
wronged her\mdsh{---}wronged her, perhaps, far more than we suspected\mdsh{---}in
her power? Was it a chance that the wood had slipped, and that the
stone had shut Brunton into what had become his sepulchre? Had she
only been guilty of silence as to his fate? Or had some sudden blow
from her hand dashed the support away and sent the slab crashing down
into its place? Be that as it might, I seemed to see that woman's
figure still clutching at her treasure trove and flying wildly up
the winding stair, with her ears ringing perhaps with the muffled
screams from behind her and with the drumming of frenzied hands against
the slab of stone which was choking her faithless lover's life out.

{}``Here was the secret of her blanched face, her shaken nerves,
her peals of hysterical laughter on the next morning. But what had
been in the box? What had she done with that? Of course, it must have
been the old metal and pebbles which my client had dragged from the
mere. She had thrown them in there at the first opportunity to remove
the last trace of her crime.

{}``For twenty minutes I had sat motionless, thinking the matter
out. Musgrave still stood with a very pale face, swinging his lantern
and peering down into the hole.

{}```These are coins of Charles the First,' said he, holding out
the few which had been in the box; `you see we were right in fixing
our date for the Ritual.'

{}```We may find something else of Charles the First,' I cried, as
the probable meaning of the first two question of the Ritual broke
suddenly upon me. `Let me see the contents of the bag which you fished
from the mere.'

{}``We ascended to his study, and he laid the debris before me. I
could understand his regarding it as of small importance when I looked
at it, for the metal was almost black and the stones lustreless and
dull. I rubbed one of them on my sleeve, however, and it glowed afterwards
like a spark in the dark hollow of my hand. The metal work was in
the form of a double ring, but it had been bent and twisted out of
its original shape.

{}```You must bear in mind,' said I, `that the royal party made head
in England even after the death of the king, and that when they at
last fled they probably left many of their most precious possessions
buried behind them, with the intention of returning for them in more
peaceful times.'

{}```My ancestor, Sir Ralph Musgrave, was a prominent Cavalier and
the right-hand man of Charles the Second in his wanderings,' said
my friend.

{}```Ah, indeed!'\ I answered. `Well now, I think that really should
give us the last link that we wanted. I must congratulate you on coming
into the possession, though in rather a tragic manner of a relic which
is of great intrinsic value, but of even greater importance as an
historical curiosity.'

{}```What is it, then?'\ he gasped in astonishment.

{}```It is nothing less than the ancient crown of the kings of England.'

{}```The crown!'

{}```Precisely. Consider what the Ritual says: How does it run? {}``Whose
was it?'' {}``His who is gone.'' That was after the execution of
Charles. Then, {}``Who shall have it?'' {}``He who will come.''
That was Charles the Second, whose advent was already foreseen. There
can, I think, be no doubt that this battered and shapeless diadem
once encircled the brows of the royal Stuarts.'

{}```And how came it in the pond?'

{}```Ah, that is a question that will take some time to answer.'
And with that I sketched out to him the whole long chain of surmise
and of proof which I had constructed. The twilight had closed in and
the moon was shining brightly in the sky before my narrative was finished.

{}```And how was it then that Charles did not get his crown when
he returned?' asked Musgrave, pushing back the relic into its linen
bag.

{}```Ah, there you lay your finger upon the one point which we shall
probably never be able to clear up. It is likely that the Musgrave
who held the secret died in the interval, and by some oversight left
this guide to his descendant without explaining the meaning of it.
From that day to this it has been handed down from father to son,
until at last it came within reach of a man who tore its secret out
of it and lost his life in the venture.'

{}``And that's the story of the Musgrave Ritual, Watson. They have
the crown down at Hurlstone\mdsh{---}though they had some legal bother
and a considerable sum to pay before they were allowed to retain it.
I am sure that if you mentioned my name they would be happy to show
it to you. Of the woman nothing was ever heard, and the probability
is that she got away out of England and carried herself and the memory
of her crime to some land beyond the seas.''


\chapter*{\raggedright Adventure VI. The Reigate Puzzle}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Adventure VI. The Reigate Puzzle}

\markboth{Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes}{The Reigate Puzzle}

It was some time before the health of my friend Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes
recovered from the strain caused by his immense exertions in the spring
of '87. The whole question of the Netherland-Sumatra Company and of
the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis are too recent in the minds
of the public, and are too intimately concerned with politics and
finance to be fitting subjects for this series of sketches. They led,
however, in an indirect fashion to a singular and complex problem
which gave my friend an opportunity of demonstrating the value of
a fresh weapon among the many with which he waged his life-long battle
against crime.

On referring to my notes I see that it was upon the 14th of April
that I received a telegram from Lyons which informed me that Holmes
was lying ill in the Hotel Dulong. Within twenty-four hours I was
in his sick-room, and was relieved to find that there was nothing
formidable in his symptoms. Even his iron constitution, however, had
broken down under the strain of an investigation which had extended
over two months, during which period he had never worked less than
fifteen hours a day, and had more than once, as he assured me, kept
to his task for five days at a stretch. Even the triumphant issue
of his labors could not save him from reaction after so terrible an
exertion, and at a time when Europe was ringing with his name and
when his room was literally ankle-deep with congratulatory telegrams
I found him a prey to the blackest depression. Even the knowledge
that he had succeeded where the police of three countries had failed,
and that he had outman\oe uvred at every point the most accomplished
swindler in Europe, was insufficient to rouse him from his nervous
prostration.

Three days later we were back in Baker Street together; but it was
evident that my friend would be much the better for a change, and
the thought of a week of spring time in the country was full of attractions
to me also. My old friend, Colonel Hayter, who had come under my professional
care in Afghanistan, had now taken a house near Reigate in Surrey,
and had frequently asked me to come down to him upon a visit. On the
last occasion he had remarked that if my friend would only come with
me he would be glad to extend his hospitality to him also. A little
diplomacy was needed, but when Holmes understood that the establishment
was a bachelor one, and that he would be allowed the fullest freedom,
he fell in with my plans and a week after our return from Lyons we
were under the Colonel's roof. Hayter was a fine old soldier who had
seen much of the world, and he soon found, as I had expected, that
Holmes and he had much in common.

On the evening of our arrival we were sitting in the Colonel's gun-room
after dinner, Holmes stretched upon the sofa, while Hayter and I looked
over his little armory of Eastern weapons.

{}``By the way,'' said he suddenly, {}``I think I'll take one of
these pistols upstairs with me in case we have an alarm.''

{}``An alarm!''\ said I.

{}``Yes, we've had a scare in this part lately. Old Acton, who is
one of our county magnates, had his house broken into last Monday.
No great damage done, but the fellows are still at large.''

{}``No clue?''\ asked Holmes, cocking his eye at the Colonel.

{}``None as yet. But the affair is a pretty one, one of our little
country crimes, which must seem too small for your attention, Mr.\ Holmes,
after this great international affair.''

Holmes waved away the compliment, though his smile showed that it
had pleased him.

{}``Was there any feature of interest?''

{}``I fancy not. The thieves ransacked the library and got very little
for their pains. The whole place was turned upside down, drawers burst
open, and presses ransacked, with the result that an odd volume of
Pope's `Homer,' two plated candlesticks, an ivory letter-weight, a
small oak barometer, and a ball of twine are all that have vanished.''

{}``What an extraordinary assortment!''\ I exclaimed.

{}``Oh, the fellows evidently grabbed hold of everything they could
get.''

Holmes grunted from the sofa.

{}``The county police ought to make something of that,'' said he;
{}``why, it is surely obvious that\mdsh{---}''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-reig-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small I held up a warning finger.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
But I held up a warning finger.

{}``You are here for a rest, my dear fellow. For Heaven's sake don't
get started on a new problem when your nerves are all in shreds.''

Holmes shrugged his shoulders with a glance of comic resignation towards
the Colonel, and the talk drifted away into less dangerous channels.

It was destined, however, that all my professional caution should
be wasted, for next morning the problem obtruded itself upon us in
such a way that it was impossible to ignore it, and our country visit
took a turn which neither of us could have anticipated. We were at
breakfast when the Colonel's butler rushed in with all his propriety
shaken out of him.

{}``Have you heard the news, sir?'' he gasped. {}``At the Cunningham's
sir!''

{}``Burglary!''\ cried the Colonel, with his coffee-cup in mid-air.

{}``Murder!''

The Colonel whistled. {}``By Jove!''\ said he. {}``Who's killed,
then? The J.P.\ or his son?''

{}``Neither, sir. It was William the coachman. Shot through the heart,
sir, and never spoke again.''

{}``Who shot him, then?''

{}``The burglar, sir. He was off like a shot and got clean away.
He'd just broke in at the pantry window when William came on him and
met his end in saving his master's property.''

{}``What time?''

{}``It was last night, sir, somewhere about twelve.''

{}``Ah, then, we'll step over afterwards,'' said the Colonel, coolly
settling down to his breakfast again. {}``It's a baddish business,''
he added when the butler had gone; {}``he's our leading man about
here, is old Cunningham, and a very decent fellow too. He'll be cut
up over this, for the man has been in his service for years and was
a good servant. It's evidently the same villains who broke into Acton's.''

{}``And stole that very singular collection,'' said Holmes, thoughtfully.

{}``Precisely.''

{}``Hum! It may prove the simplest matter in the world, but all the
same at first glance this is just a little curious, is it not? A gang
of burglars acting in the country might be expected to vary the scene
of their operations, and not to crack two cribs in the same district
within a few days. When you spoke last night of taking precautions
I remember that it passed through my mind that this was probably the
last parish in England to which the thief or thieves would be likely
to turn their attention\mdsh{---}which shows that I have still much
to learn.''

{}``I fancy it's some local practitioner,'' said the Colonel. {}``In
that case, of course, Acton's and Cunningham's are just the places
he would go for, since they are far the largest about here.''

{}``And richest?''

{}``Well, they ought to be, but they've had a lawsuit for some years
which has sucked the blood out of both of them, I fancy. Old Acton
has some claim on half Cunningham's estate, and the lawyers have been
at it with both hands.''

{}``If it's a local villain there should not be much difficulty in
running him down,'' said Holmes with a yawn. {}``All right, Watson,
I don't intend to meddle.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-reig-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Inspector Forrester.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Inspector Forrester, sir,'' said the butler, throwing open the
door.

The official, a smart, keen-faced young fellow, stepped into the room.
{}``Good-morning, Colonel,'' said he; {}``I hope I don't intrude,
but we hear that Mr.\ Holmes of Baker Street is here.''

The Colonel waved his hand towards my friend, and the Inspector bowed.

{}``We thought that perhaps you would care to step across, Mr.\ Holmes.''

{}``The fates are against you, Watson,'' said he, laughing. {}``We
were chatting about the matter when you came in, Inspector. Perhaps
you can let us have a few details.'' As he leaned back in his chair
in the familiar attitude I knew that the case was hopeless.

{}``We had no clue in the Acton affair. But here we have plenty to
go on, and there's no doubt it is the same party in each case. The
man was seen.''

{}``Ah!''

{}``Yes, sir. But he was off like a deer after the shot that killed
poor William Kirwan was fired. Mr.\ Cunningham saw him from the bedroom
window, and Mr.\ Alec Cunningham saw him from the back passage. It
was quarter to twelve when the alarm broke out. Mr.\ Cunningham had
just got into bed, and Mr.\ Alec was smoking a pipe in his dressing-gown.
They both heard William the coachman calling for help, and Mr.\ Alec
ran down to see what was the matter. The back door was open, and as
he came to the foot of the stairs he saw two men wrestling together
outside. One of them fired a shot, the other dropped, and the murderer
rushed across the garden and over the hedge. Mr.\ Cunningham, looking
out of his bedroom, saw the fellow as he gained the road, but lost
sight of him at once. Mr.\ Alec stopped to see if he could help the
dying man, and so the villain got clean away. Beyond the fact that
he was a middle-sized man and dressed in some dark stuff, we have
no personal clue; but we are making energetic inquiries, and if he
is a stranger we shall soon find him out.''

{}``What was this William doing there? Did he say anything before
he died?''

{}``Not a word. He lives at the lodge with his mother, and as he
was a very faithful fellow we imagine that he walked up to the house
with the intention of seeing that all was right there. Of course this
Acton business has put every one on their guard. The robber must have
just burst open the door\mdsh{---}the lock has been forced\mdsh{---}when
William came upon him.''

{}``Did William say anything to his mother before going out?''

{}``She is very old and deaf, and we can get no information from
her. The shock has made her half-witted, but I understand that she
was never very bright. There is one very important circumstance, however.
Look at this!''

He took a small piece of torn paper from a note-book and spread it
out upon his knee.

{}``This was found between the finger and thumb of the dead man.
It appears to be a fragment torn from a larger sheet. You will observe
that the hour mentioned upon it is the very time at which the poor
fellow met his fate. You see that his murderer might have torn the
rest of the sheet from him or he might have taken this fragment from
the murderer. It reads almost as though it were an appointment.''

Holmes took up the scrap of paper, a fac-simile of which is here reproduced.

\begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-1.jpg}\end{center}

{}``Presuming that it is an appointment,'' continued the Inspector,
{}``it is of course a conceivable theory that this William Kirwan\mdsh{---}though
he had the reputation of being an honest man, may have been in league
with the thief. He may have met him there, may even have helped him
to break in the door, and then they may have fallen out between themselves.''

{}``This writing is of extraordinary interest,'' said Holmes, who
had been examining it with intense concentration. {}``These are much
deeper waters than I had though.'' He sank his head upon his hands,
while the Inspector smiled at the effect which his case had had upon
the famous London specialist.

{}``Your last remark,'' said Holmes, presently, {}``as to the possibility
of there being an understanding between the burglar and the servant,
and this being a note of appointment from one to the other, is an
ingenious and not entirely impossible supposition. But this writing
opens up\mdsh{---}'' He sank his head into his hands again and remained
for some minutes in the deepest thought. When he raised his face again,
I was surprised to see that his cheek was tinged with color, and his
eyes as bright as before his illness. He sprang to his feet with all
his old energy.

{}``I'll tell you what,'' said he, {}``I should like to have a
quiet little glance into the details of this case. There is something
in it which fascinates me extremely. If you will permit me, Colonel,
I will leave my friend Watson and you, and I will step round with
the Inspector to test the truth of one or two little fancies of mine.
I will be with you again in half an hour.''

An hour and half had elapsed before the Inspector returned alone.

{}``Mr.\ Holmes is walking up and down in the field outside,''
said he. {}``He wants us all four to go up to the house together.''

{}``To Mr.\ Cunningham's?''

{}``Yes, sir.''

{}``What for?''

The Inspector shrugged his shoulders. {}``I don't quite know, sir.
Between ourselves, I think Mr.\ Holmes had not quite got over his
illness yet. He's been behaving very queerly, and he is very much
excited.''

{}``I don't think you need alarm yourself,'' said I. {}``I have
usually found that there was method in his madness.''

{}``Some folks might say there was madness in his method,'' muttered
the Inspector. {}``But he's all on fire to start, Colonel, so we
had best go out if you are ready.''

We found Holmes pacing up and down in the field, his chin sunk upon
his breast, and his hands thrust into his trousers pockets.

{}``The matter grows in interest,'' said he. {}``Watson, your country-trip
has been a distinct success. I have had a charming morning.''

{}``You have been up to the scene of the crime, I understand,''
said the Colonel.

{}``Yes; the Inspector and I have made quite a little reconnaissance
together.''

{}``Any success?''

{}``Well, we have seen some very interesting things. I'll tell you
what we did as we walk. First of all, we saw the body of this unfortunate
man. He certainly died from a revolved wound as reported.''

{}``Had you doubted it, then?''

{}``Oh, it is as well to test everything. Our inspection was not
wasted. We then had an interview with Mr.\ Cunningham and his son,
who were able to point out the exact spot where the murderer had broken
through the garden-hedge in his flight. That was of great interest.''

{}``Naturally.''

{}``Then we had a look at this poor fellow's mother. We could get
no information from her, however, as she is very old and feeble.''

{}``And what is the result of your investigations?''

{}``The conviction that the crime is a very peculiar one. Perhaps
our visit now may do something to make it less obscure. I think that
we are both agreed, Inspector that the fragment of paper in the dead
man's hand, bearing, as it does, the very hour of his death written
upon it, is of extreme importance.''

{}``It should give a clue, Mr.\ Holmes.''

{}``It does give a clue. Whoever wrote that note was the man who
brought William Kirwan out of his bed at that hour. But where is the
rest of that sheet of paper?''

{}``I examined the ground carefully in the hope of finding it,''
said the Inspector.

{}``It was torn out of the dead man's hand. Why was some one so anxious
to get possession of it? Because it incriminated him. And what would
he do with it? Thrust it into his pocket, most likely, never noticing
that a corner of it had been left in the grip of the corpse. If we
could get the rest of that sheet it is obvious that we should have
gone a long way towards solving the mystery.''

{}``Yes, but how can we get at the criminal's pocket before we catch
the criminal?''

{}``Well, well, it was worth thinking over. Then there is another
obvious point. The note was sent to William. The man who wrote it
could not have taken it; otherwise, of course, he might have delivered
his own message by word of mouth. Who brought the note, then? Or did
it come through the post?''

{}``I have made inquiries,'' said the Inspector. {}``William received
a letter by the afternoon post yesterday. The envelope was destroyed
by him.''

{}``Excellent!'' cried Holmes, clapping the Inspector on the back.
{}``You've seen the postman. It is a pleasure to work with you. Well,
here is the lodge, and if you will come up, Colonel, I will show you
the scene of the crime.''

We passed the pretty cottage where the murdered man had lived, and
walked up an oak-lined avenue to the fine old Queen Anne house, which
bears the date of Malplaquet upon the lintel of the door. Holmes and
the Inspector led us round it until we came to the side gate, which
is separated by a stretch of garden from the hedge which lines the
road. A constable was standing at the kitchen door.

{}``Throw the door open, officer,'' said Holmes. {}``Now, it was
on those stairs that young Mr.\ Cunningham stood and saw the two
men struggling just where we are. Old Mr.\ Cunningham was at that
window\mdsh{---}the second on the left\mdsh{---}and he saw the fellow
get away just to the left of that bush. Then Mr.\ Alec ran out and
knelt beside the wounded man. The ground is very hard, you see, and
there are no marks to guide us.'' As he spoke two men came down the
garden path, from round the angle of the house. The one was an elderly
man, with a strong, deep-lined, heavy-eyed face; the other a dashing
young fellow, whose bright, smiling expression and showy dress were
in strange contract with the business which had brought us there.

{}``Still at it, then?''\ said he to Holmes. {}``I thought you
Londoners were never at fault. You don't seem to be so very quick,
after all.''

{}``Ah, you must give us a little time,'' said Holmes good-humoredly.

{}``You'll want it,'' said young Alec Cunningham. {}``Why, I don't
see that we have any clue at all.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-reig-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Good heavens! What is the
matter?''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``There's only one,'' answered the Inspector. {}``We thought
that if we could only find\mdsh{---} Good heavens, Mr.\ Holmes!
What is the matter?''

My poor friend's face had suddenly assumed the most dreadful expression.
His eyes rolled upwards, his features writhed in agony, and with a
suppressed groan he dropped on his face upon the ground. Horrified
at the suddenness and severity of the attack, we carried him into
the kitchen, where he lay back in a large chair, and breathed heavily
for some minutes. Finally, with a shamefaced apology for his weakness,
he rose once more.

{}``Watson would tell you that I have only just recovered from a
severe illness,'' he explained. {}``I am liable to these sudden
nervous attacks.''

{}``Shall I send you home in my trap?'' asked old Cunningham.

{}``Well, since I am here, there is one point on which I should like
to feel sure. We can very easily verify it.''

{}``What was it?''

{}``Well, it seems to me that it is just possible that the arrival
of this poor fellow William was not before, but after, the entrance
of the burglar into the house. You appear to take it for granted that,
although the door was forced, the robber never got in.''

{}``I fancy that is quite obvious,'' said Mr.\ Cunningham, gravely.
{}``Why, my son Alec had not yet gone to bed, and he would certainly
have heard any one moving about.''

{}``Where was he sitting?''

{}``I was smoking in my dressing-room.''

{}``Which window is that?''

{}``The last on the left next my father's.''

{}``Both of your lamps were lit, of course?''

{}``Undoubtedly.''

{}``There are some very singular points here,'' said Holmes, smiling.
{}``Is it not extraordinary that a burglary\mdsh{---}and a burglar
who had had some previous experience\mdsh{---}should deliberately
break into a house at a time when he could see from the lights that
two of the family were still afoot?''

{}``He must have been a cool hand.''

{}``Well, of course, if the case were not an odd one we should not
have been driven to ask you for an explanation,'' said young Mr.\ Alec.
{}``But as to your ideas that the man had robbed the house before
William tackled him, I think it a most absurd notion. Wouldn't we
have found the place disarranged, and missed the things which he had
taken?''

{}``It depends on what the things were,'' said Holmes. {}``You
must remember that we are dealing with a burglar who is a very peculiar
fellow, and who appears to work on lines of his own. Look, for example,
at the queer lot of things which he took from Acton's\mdsh{---}what
was it?\mdsh{---}a ball of string, a letter-weight, and I don't know
what other odds and ends.''

{}``Well, we are quite in your hands, Mr.\ Holmes,'' said old Cunningham.
{}``Anything which you or the Inspector may suggest will most certainly
be done.''

{}``In the first place,'' said Holmes, {}``I should like you to
offer a reward\mdsh{---}coming from yourself, for the officials may
take a little time before they would agree upon the sum, and these
things cannot be done too promptly. I have jotted down the form here,
if you would not mind signing it. Fifty pounds was quite enough, I
thought.''

{}``I would willingly give five hundred,'' said the J.P., taking
the slip of paper and the pencil which Holmes handed to him. {}``This
is not quite correct, however,'' he added, glancing over the document.

{}``I wrote it rather hurriedly.''

{}``You see you begin, `Whereas, at about a quarter to one on Tuesday
morning an attempt was made,' and so on. It was at a quarter to twelve,
as a matter of fact.''

I was pained at the mistake, for I knew how keenly Holmes would feel
any slip of the kind. It was his specialty to be accurate as to fact,
but his recent illness had shaken him, and this one little incident
was enough to show me that he was still far from being himself. He
was obviously embarrassed for an instant, while the Inspector raised
his eyebrows, and Alec Cunningham burst into a laugh. The old gentleman
corrected the mistake, however, and handed the paper back to Holmes.

{}``Get it printed as soon as possible,'' he said; {}``I think
your idea is an excellent one.''

Holmes put the slip of paper carefully away into his pocket-book.

{}``And now,'' said he, {}``it really would be a good thing that
we should all go over the house together and make certain that this
rather erratic burglar did not, after all, carry anything away with
him.''

Before entering, Holmes made an examination of the door which had
been forced. It was evident that a chisel or strong knife had been
thrust in, and the lock forced back with it. We could see the marks
in the wood where it had been pushed in.

{}``You don't use bars, then?'' he asked.

{}``We have never found it necessary.''

{}``You don't keep a dog?''

{}``Yes, but he is chained on the other side of the house.''

{}``When do the servants go to bed?''

{}``About ten.''

{}``I understand that William was usually in bed also at that hour.''

{}``Yes.''

{}``It is singular that on this particular night he should have been
up. Now, I should be very glad if you would have the kindness to show
us over the house, Mr.\ Cunningham.''

A stone-flagged passage, with the kitchens branching away from it,
led by a wooden staircase directly to the first floor of the house.
It came out upon the landing opposite to a second more ornamental
stair which came up from the front hall. Out of this landing opened
the drawing-room and several bedrooms, including those of Mr.\ Cunningham
and his son. Holmes walked slowly, taking keen note of the architecture
of the house. I could tell from his expression that he was on a hot
scent, and yet I could not in the least imagine in what direction
his inferences were leading him.

{}``My good sir,'' said Mr.\ Cunningham with some impatience, {}``this
is surely very unnecessary. That is my room at the end of the stairs,
and my son's is the one beyond it. I leave it to your judgment whether
it was possible for the thief to have come up here without disturbing
us.''

{}``You must try round and get on a fresh scent, I fancy,'' said
the son with a rather malicious smile.

{}``Still, I must ask you to humor me a little further. I should
like, for example, to see how far the windows of the bedrooms command
the front. This, I understand is your son's room''---he pushed open
the door\mdsh{---}``and that, I presume, is the dressing-room in
which he sat smoking when the alarm was given. Where does the window
of that look out to?'' He stepped across the bedroom, pushed open
the door, and glanced round the other chamber.

{}``I hope that you are satisfied now?''\ said Mr.\ Cunningham,
tartly.

{}``Thank you, I think I have seen all that I wished.''

{}``Then if it is really necessary we can go into my room.''

{}``If it is not too much trouble.''

The J.\ P.\ shrugged his shoulders, and led the way into his own
chamber, which was a plainly furnished and commonplace room. As we
moved across it in the direction of the window, Holmes fell back until
he and I were the last of the group. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-reig-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He deliberately knocked the whole
thing over.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Near the foot of the bed stood a dish of oranges and a carafe of water.
As we passed it Holmes, to my unutterable astonishment, leaned over
in front of me and deliberately knocked the whole thing over. The
glass smashed into a thousand pieces and the fruit rolled about into
every corner of the room.

{}``You've done it now, Watson,'' said he, coolly. {}``A pretty
mess you've made of the carpet.''

I stooped in some confusion and began to pick up the fruit, understanding
for some reason my companion desired me to take the blame upon myself.
The others did the same, and set the table on its legs again.

{}``Hullo!''\ cried the Inspector, {}``where's he got to?''

Holmes had disappeared.

{}``Wait here an instant,'' said young Alec Cunningham. {}``The
fellow is off his head, in my opinion. Come with me, father, and see
where he has got to!''

They rushed out of the room, leaving the Inspector, the Colonel, and
me staring at each other.

{}``'Pon my word, I am inclined to agree with Master Alec,'' said
the official. {}``It may be the effect of this illness, but it seems
to me that\mbox{----}''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-reig-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Bending over the prostrate figure
of Sherlock Holmes.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
His words were cut short by a sudden scream of {}``Help! Help! Murder!''
With a thrill I recognized the voice of that of my friend. I rushed
madly from the room on to the landing. The cries, which had sunk down
into a hoarse, inarticulate shouting, came from the room which we
had first visited. I dashed in, and on into the dressing-room beyond.
The two Cunninghams were bending over the prostrate figure of Sherlock
Holmes, the younger clutching his throat with both hands, while the
elder seemed to be twisting one of his wrists. In an instant the three
of us had torn them away from him, and Holmes staggered to his feet,
very pale and evidently greatly exhausted.

{}``Arrest these men, Inspector,'' he gasped.

{}``On what charge?''

{}``That of murdering their coachman, William Kirwan.''

The Inspector stared about him in bewilderment. {}``Oh, come now,
Mr.\ Holmes,'' said he at last, {}``I'm sure you don't really mean
\mdsh{to\mdsh{---}''}

{}``Tut, man, look at their faces!''\ cried Holmes, curtly.

Never certainly have I seen a plainer confession of guilt upon human
countenances. The older man seemed numbed and dazed with a heavy,
sullen expression upon his strongly-marked face. The son, on the other
hand, had dropped all that jaunty, dashing style which had characterized
him, and the ferocity of a dangerous wild beast gleamed in his dark
eyes and distorted his handsome features. The Inspector said nothing,
but, stepping to the door, he blew his whistle. Two of his constables
came at the call.

{}``I have no alternative, Mr.\ Cunningham,'' said he. {}``I trust
that this may all prove to be an absurd mistake, but you can see that\mdsh{---}
Ah, would you? Drop it!'' He struck out with his hand, and a revolver
which the younger man was in the act of cocking clattered down upon
the floor.

{}``Keep that,'' said Holmes, quietly putting his foot upon it;
{}``you will find it useful at the trial. But this is what we really
wanted.'' He held up a little crumpled piece of paper.

{}``The remainder of the sheet!'' cried the Inspector.

{}``Precisely.''

{}``And where was it?''

{}``Where I was sure it must be. I'll make the whole matter clear
to you presently. I think, Colonel, that you and Watson might return
now, and I will be with you again in an hour at the furthest. The
Inspector and I must have a word with the prisoners, but you will
certainly see me back at luncheon time.''

\bigskip{}
Sherlock Holmes was as good as his word, for about one o'clock he
rejoined us in the Colonel's smoking-room. He was accompanied by a
little elderly gentleman, who was introduced to me as the Mr.\ Acton
whose house had been the scene of the original burglary.

{}``I wished Mr.\ Acton to be present while I demonstrated this
small matter to you,'' said Holmes, {}``for it is natural that he
should take a keen interest in the details. I am afraid, my dear Colonel,
that you must regret the hour that you took in such a stormy petrel
as I am.''

{}``On the contrary,'' answered the Colonel, warmly, {}``I consider
it the greatest privilege to have been permitted to study your methods
of working. I confess that they quite surpass my expectations, and
that I am utterly unable to account for your result. I have not yet
seen the vestige of a clue.''

{}``I am afraid that my explanation may disillusion you but it has
always been my habit to hide none of my methods, either from my friend
Watson or from any one who might take an intelligent interest in them.
But, first, as I am rather shaken by the knocking about which I had
in the dressing-room, I think that I shall help myself to a dash of
your brandy, Colonel. My strength had been rather tried of late.''

{}``I trust that you had no more of those nervous attacks.''

Sherlock Holmes laughed heartily. {}``We will come to that in its
turn,'' said he. {}``I will lay an account of the case before you
in its due order, showing you the various points which guided me in
my decision. Pray interrupt me if there is any inference which is
not perfectly clear to you.

{}``It is of the highest importance in the art of detection to be
able to recognize, out of a number of facts, which are incidental
and which vital. Otherwise your energy and attention must be dissipated
instead of being concentrated. Now, in this case there was not the
slightest doubt in my mind from the first that the key of the whole
matter must be looked for in the scrap of paper in the dead man's
hand.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-reig-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``The point is a simple one.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Before going into this, I would draw your attention to the fact
that, if Alec Cunningham's narrative was correct, and if the assailant,
after shooting William Kirwan, had instantly fled, then it obviously
could not be he who tore the paper from the dead man's hand. But if
it was not he, it must have been Alec Cunningham himself, for by the
time that the old man had descended several servants were upon the
scene. The point is a simple one, but the Inspector had overlooked
it because he had started with the supposition that these county magnates
had had nothing to do with the matter. Now, I make a point of never
having any prejudices, and of following docilely wherever fact may
lead me, and so, in the very first stage of the investigation, I found
myself looking a little askance at the part which had been played
by Mr.\ Alec Cunningham.

{}``And now I made a very careful examination of the corner of paper
which the Inspector had submitted to us. It was at once clear to me
that it formed part of a very remarkable document. Here it is. Do
you not now observed something very suggestive about it?''

{}``It has a very irregular look,'' said the Colonel.

{}``My dear sir,'' cried Holmes, {}``there cannot be the least
doubt in the world that it has been written by two persons doing alternate
words. When I draw your attention to the strong \emph{t}'s of `at'
and `to', and ask you to compare them with the weak ones of `quarter'
and `twelve,' you will instantly recognize the fact. A very brief
analysis of these four words would enable you to say with the utmost
confidence that the `learn' and the `maybe' are written in the stronger
hand, and the `what' in the weaker.''

{}``By Jove, it's as clear as day!''\ cried the Colonel. {}``Why
on earth should two men write a letter in such a fashion?''

{}``Obviously the business was a bad one, and one of the men who
distrusted the other was determined that, whatever was done, each
should have an equal hand in it. Now, of the two men, it is clear
that the one who wrote the `at' and `to' was the ringleader.''

{}``How do you get at that?''

{}``We might deduce it from the mere character of the one hand as
compared with the other. But we have more assured reasons than that
for supposing it. If you examine this scrap with attention you will
come to the conclusion that the man with the stronger hand wrote all
his words first, leaving blanks for the other to fill up. These blanks
were not always sufficient, and you can see that the second man had
a squeeze to fit his `quarter' in between the `at' and the `to,' showing
that the latter were already written. The man who wrote all his words
first is undoubtedly the man who planned the affair.''

{}``Excellent!'' cried Mr.\ Acton.

{}``But very superficial,'' said Holmes. {}``We come now, however,
to a point which is of importance. You may not be aware that the deduction
of a man's age from his writing is one which has brought to considerable
accuracy by experts. In normal cases one can place a man in his true
decade with tolerable confidence. I say normal cases, because ill-health
and physical weakness reproduce the signs of old age, even when the
invalid is a youth. In this case, looking at the bold, strong hand
of the one, and the rather broken-backed appearance of the other,
which still retains its legibility although the \emph{t}'s have begun
to lose their crossing, we can say that the one was a young man and
the other was advanced in years without being positively decrepit.''

{}``Excellent!'' cried Mr.\ Acton again.

{}``There is a further point, however, which is subtler and of greater
interest. There is something in common between these hands. They belong
to men who are blood-relatives. It may be most obvious to you in the
Greek \emph{e}'s, but to me there are many small points which indicate
the same thing. I have no doubt at all that a family mannerism can
be traced in these two specimens of writing. I am only, of course,
giving you the leading results now of my examination of the paper.
There were twenty-three other deductions which would be of more interest
to experts than to you. They all tend to deepen the impression upon
my mind that the Cunninghams, father and son, had written this letter.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-reig-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``There was no powder-blackening
on the clothes.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Having got so far, my next step was, of course, to examine into
the details of the crime, and to see how far they would help us. I
went up to the house with the Inspector, and saw all that was to be
seen. The wound upon the dead man was, as I was able to determine
with absolute confidence, fired from a revolver at the distance of
something over four yards. There was no powder-blackening on the clothes.
Evidently, therefore, Alec Cunningham had lied when he said that the
two men were struggling when the shot was fired. Again, both father
and son agreed as to the place where the man escaped into the road.
At that point, however, as it happens, there is a broadish ditch,
moist at the bottom. As there were no indications of bootmarks about
this ditch, I was absolutely sure not only that the Cunninghams had
again lied, but that there had never been any unknown man upon the
scene at all.

{}``And now I have to consider the motive of this singular crime.
To get at this, I endeavored first of all to solve the reason of the
original burglary at Mr.\ Acton's. I understood, from something which
the Colonel told us, that a lawsuit had been going on between you,
Mr.\ Acton, and the Cunninghams. Of course, it instantly occurred
to me that they had broken into your library with the intention of
getting at some document which might be of importance in the case.''

{}``Precisely so,'' said Mr.\ Acton. {}``There can be no possible
doubt as to their intentions. I have the clearest claim upon half
of their present estate, and if they could have found a single paper\mdsh{---}which,
fortunately, was in the strong-box of my solicitors\mdsh{---}they
would undoubtedly have crippled our case.''

{}``There you are,'' said Holmes, smiling. {}``It was a dangerous,
reckless attempt, in which I seem to trace the influence of young
Alec. Having found nothing they tried to divert suspicion by making
it appear to be an ordinary burglary, to which end they carried off
whatever they could lay their hands upon. That is all clear enough,
but there was much that was still obscure. What I wanted above all
was to get the missing part of that note. I was certain that Alec
had torn it out of the dead man's hand, and almost certain that he
must have thrust it into the pocket of his dressing-gown. Where else
could he have put it? The only question was whether it was still there.
It was worth an effort to find out, and for that object we all went
up to the house.

{}``The Cunninghams joined us, as you doubtless remember, outside
the kitchen door. It was, of course, of the very first importance
that they should not be reminded of the existence of this paper, otherwise
they would naturally destroy it without delay. The Inspector was about
to tell them the importance which we attached to it when, by the luckiest
chance in the world, I tumbled down in a sort of fit and so changed
the conversation.

{}``Good heavens!''\ cried the Colonel, laughing, {}``do you mean
to say all our sympathy was wasted and your fit an imposture?''

{}``Speaking professionally, it was admirably done,'' cried I, looking
in amazement at this man who was forever confounding me with some
new phase of his astuteness.

{}``It is an art which is often useful,'' said he. {}``When I recovered
I managed, by a device which had perhaps some little merit of ingenuity,
to get old Cunningham to write the word `twelve,' so that I might
compare it with the `twelve' upon the paper.''

{}``Oh, what an ass I have been!''\ I exclaimed.

{}``I could see that you were commiserating me over my weakness,''
said Holmes, laughing. {}``I was sorry to cause you the sympathetic
pain which I know that you felt. We then went upstairs together, and
having entered the room and seen the dressing-gown hanging up behind
the door, I contrived, by upsetting a table, to engage their attention
for the moment, and slipped back to examine the pockets. I had hardly
got the paper, however\mdsh{---}which was, as I had expected, in
one of them\mdsh{---}when the two Cunninghams were on me, and would,
I verily believe, have murdered me then and there but for your prompt
and friendly aid. As it is, I feel that young man's grip on my throat
now, and the father has twisted my wrist round in the effort to get
the paper out of my hand. They saw that I must know all about it,
you see, and the sudden change from absolute security to complete
despair made them perfectly desperate.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  height=1\columnwidth,
  angle=90,
  origin=c]{memho11-2.jpg}\end{center}
\end{figure}


{}``I had a little talk with old Cunningham afterwards as to the
motive of the crime. He was tractable enough, though his son was a
perfect demon, ready to blow out his own or anybody else's brains
if he could have got to his revolver. When Cunningham saw that the
case against him was so strong he lost all heart and made a clean
breast of everything. It seems that William had secretly followed
his two masters on the night when they made their raid upon Mr.\ Acton's,
and having thus got them into his power, proceeded, under threats
of exposure, to levy black-mail upon them. Mr.\ Alec, however, was
a dangerous man to play games of that sort with. It was a stroke of
positive genius on his part to see in the burglary scare which was
convulsing the country side an opportunity of plausibly getting rid
of the man whom he feared. William was decoyed up and shot, and had
they only got the whole of the note and paid a little more attention
to detail in the accessories, it is very possible that suspicion might
never have been aroused.''

{}``And the note?'' I asked.

Sherlock Holmes placed the subjoined paper before us.

{}``It is very much the sort of thing that I expected,'' said he.
{}``Of course, we do not yet know what the relations may have been
between Alec Cunningham, William Kirwan, and Annie Morrison. The result
shows that the trap was skillfully baited. I am sure that you cannot
fail to be delighted with the traces of heredity shown in the \emph{p}'s
and in the tails of the \emph{g}'s. The absence of the \emph{i}-dots
in the old man's writing is also most characteristic. Watson, I think
our quiet rest in the country has been a distinct success, and I shall
certainly return much invigorated to Baker Street to-morrow.''


\chapter*{\raggedright Adventure VII. The Crooked Man}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Adventure VII. The Crooked Man}

\markboth{Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes}{The Crooked Man}

One summer night, a few months after my marriage, I was seated by
my own hearth smoking a last pipe and nodding over a novel, for my
day's work had been an exhausting one. My wife had already gone upstairs,
and the sound of the locking of the hall door some time before told
me that the servants had also retired. I had risen from my seat and
was knocking out the ashes of my pipe when I suddenly heard the clang
of the bell.

I looked at the clock. It was a quarter to twelve. This could not
be a visitor at so late an hour. A patient, evidently, and possibly
an all-night sitting. With a wry face I went out into the hall and
opened the door. To my astonishment it was Sherlock Holmes who stood
upon my step.

{}``Ah, Watson,'' said he, {}``I hoped that I might not be too
late to catch you.''

{}``My dear fellow, pray come in.''

{}``You look surprised, and no wonder! Relieved, too, I fancy! Hum!
You still smoke the Arcadia mixture of your bachelor days then! There's
no mistaking that fluffy ash upon your coat. It's easy to tell that
you have been accustomed to wear a uniform, Watson. You'll never pass
as a pure-bred civilian as long as you keep that habit of carrying
your handkerchief in your sleeve. Could you put me up tonight?''

{}``With pleasure.''

{}``You told me that you had bachelor quarters for one, and I see
that you have no gentleman visitor at present. Your hat-stand proclaims
as much.''

{}``I shall be delighted if you will stay.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-croo-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``I'll fill the vacant peg
then.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Thank you. I'll fill the vacant peg then. Sorry to see that you've
had the British workman in the house. He's a token of evil. Not the
drains, I hope?''

{}``No, the gas.''

{}``Ah! He has left two nail-marks from his boot upon your linoleum
just where the light strikes it. No, thank you, I had some supper
at Waterloo, but I'll smoke a pipe with you with pleasure.''

I handed him my pouch, and he seated himself opposite to me and smoked
for some time in silence. I was well aware that nothing but business
of importance would have brought him to me at such an hour, so I waited
patiently until he should come round to it.

{}``I see that you are professionally rather busy just now,'' said
he, glancing very keenly across at me.

{}``Yes, I've had a busy day,'' I answered. {}``It may seem very
foolish in your eyes,'' I added, {}``but really I don't know how
you deduced it.''

Holmes chuckled to himself.

{}``I have the advantage of knowing your habits, my dear Watson,''
said he. {}``When your round is a short one you walk, and when it
is a long one you use a hansom. As I perceive that your boots, although
used, are by no means dirty, I cannot doubt that you are at present
busy enough to justify the hansom.''

{}``Excellent!'' I cried.

{}``Elementary,'' said he. {}``It is one of those instances where
the reasoner can produce an effect which seems remarkable to his neighbor,
because the latter has missed the one little point which is the basis
of the deduction. The same may be said, my dear fellow, for the effect
of some of these little sketches of yours, which is entirely meretricious,
depending as it does upon your retaining in your own hands some factors
in the problem which are never imparted to the reader. Now, at present
I am in the position of these same readers, for I hold in this hand
several threads of one of the strangest cases which ever perplexed
a man's brain, and yet I lack the one or two which are needful to
complete my theory. But I'll have them, Watson, I'll have them!''
His eyes kindled and a slight flush sprang into his thin cheeks. For
an instant only. When I glanced again his face had resumed that red-Indian
composure which had made so many regard him as a machine rather than
a man.

{}``The problem presents features of interest,'' said he. {}``I
may even say exceptional features of interest. I have already looked
into the matter, and have come, as I think, within sight of my solution.
If you could accompany me in that last step you might be of considerable
service to me.''

{}``I should be delighted.''

{}``Could you go as far as Aldershot to-morrow?''

{}``I have no doubt Jackson would take my practice.''

{}``Very good. I want to start by the 11.10 from Waterloo.''

{}``That would give me time.''

{}``Then, if you are not too sleepy, I will give you a sketch of
what has happened, and of what remains to be done.''

{}``I was sleepy before you came. I am quite wakeful now.''

{}``I will compress the story as far as may be done without omitting
anything vital to the case. It is conceivable that you may even have
read some account of the matter. It is the supposed murder of Colonel
Barclay, of the Royal Munsters, at Aldershot, which I am investigating.''

{}``I have heard nothing of it.''

{}``It has not excited much attention yet, except locally. The facts
are only two days old. Briefly they are these:

{}``The Royal Munsters is, as you know, one of the most famous Irish
regiments in the British army. It did wonders both in the Crimea and
the Mutiny, and has since that time distinguished itself upon every
possible occasion. It was commanded up to Monday night by James Barclay,
a gallant veteran, who started as a full private, was raised to commissioned
rank for his bravery at the time of the Mutiny, and so lived to command
the regiment in which he had once carried a musket.

{}``Colonel Barclay had married at the time when he was a sergeant,
and his wife, whose maiden name was Miss Nancy Devoy, was the daughter
of a former color-sergeant in the same corps. There was, therefore,
as can be imagined, some little social friction when the young couple
(for they were still young) found themselves in their new surroundings.
They appear, however, to have quickly adapted themselves, and Mrs.\ Barclay
has always, I understand, been as popular with the ladies of the regiment
as her husband was with his brother officers. I may add that she was
a woman of great beauty, and that even now, when she has been married
for upwards of thirty years, she is still of a striking and queenly
appearance.

{}``Colonel Barclay's family life appears to have been a uniformly
happy one. Major Murphy, to whom I owe most of my facts, assures me
that he has never heard of any misunderstanding between the pair.
On the whole, he thinks that Barclay's devotion to his wife was greater
than his wife's to Barclay. He was acutely uneasy if he were absent
from her for a day. She, on the other hand, though devoted and faithful,
was less obtrusively affectionate. But they were regarded in the regiment
as the very model of a middle-aged couple. There was absolutely nothing
in their mutual relations to prepare people for the tragedy which
was to follow.

{}``Colonel Barclay himself seems to have had some singular traits
in his character. He was a dashing, jovial old soldier in his usual
mood, but there were occasions on which he seemed to show himself
capable of considerable violence and vindictiveness. This side of
his nature, however, appears never to have been turned towards his
wife. Another fact, which had struck Major Murphy and three out of
five of the other officers with whom I conversed, was the singular
sort of depression which came upon him at times. As the major expressed
it, the smile had often been struck from his mouth, as if by some
invisible hand, when he has been joining the gayeties and chaff of
the mess-table. For days on end, when the mood was on him, he has
been sunk in the deepest gloom. This and a certain tinge of superstition
were the only unusual traits in his character which his brother officers
had observed. The latter peculiarity took the form of a dislike to
being left alone, especially after dark. This puerile feature in a
nature which was conspicuously manly had often given rise to comment
and conjecture.

{}``The first battalion of the Royal Munsters (which is the old 117th)
has been stationed at Aldershot for some years. The married officers
live out of barracks, and the Colonel has during all this time occupied
a villa called Lachine, about half a mile from the north camp. The
house stands in its own grounds, but the west side of it is not more
than thirty yards from the high-road. A coachman and two maids form
the staff of servants. These with their master and mistress were the
sole occupants of Lachine, for the Barclays had no children, nor was
it usual for them to have resident visitors.

{}``Now for the events at Lachine between nine and ten on the evening
of last Monday.''

{}``Mrs.\ Barclay was, it appears, a member of the Roman Catholic
Church, and had interested herself very much in the establishment
of the Guild of St.\ George, which was formed in connection with
the Watt Street Chapel for the purpose of supplying the poor with
cast-off clothing. A meeting of the Guild had been held that evening
at eight, and Mrs.\ Barclay had hurried over her dinner in order
to be present at it. When leaving the house she was heard by the coachman
to make some commonplace remark to her husband, and to assure him
that she would be back before very long. She then called for Miss
Morrison, a young lady who lives in the next villa, and the two went
off together to their meeting. It lasted forty minutes, and at a quarter-past
nine Mrs.\ Barclay returned home, having left Miss Morrison at her
door as she passed.

{}``There is a room which is used as a morning-room at Lachine. This
faces the road and opens by a large glass folding-door on to the lawn.
The lawn is thirty yards across, and is only divided from the highway
by a low wall with an iron rail above it. It was into this room that
Mrs.\ Barclay went upon her return. The blinds were not down, for
the room was seldom used in the evening, but Mrs.\ Barclay herself
lit the lamp and then rang the bell, asking Jane Stewart, the house-maid,
to bring her a cup of tea, which was quite contrary to her usual habits.
The Colonel had been sitting in the dining-room, but hearing that
his wife had returned he joined her in the morning-room. The coachman
saw him cross the hall and enter it. He was never seen again alive.

{}``The tea which had been ordered was brought up at the end of ten
minutes; but the maid, as she approached the door, was surprised to
hear the voices of her master and mistress in furious altercation.
She knocked without receiving any answer, and even turned the handle,
but only to find that the door was locked upon the inside. Naturally
enough she ran down to tell the cook, and the two women with the coachman
came up into the hall and listened to the dispute which was still
raging. They all agreed that only two voices were to be heard, those
of Barclay and of his wife. Barclay's remarks were subdued and abrupt,
so that none of them were audible to the listeners. The lady's, on
the other hand, were most bitter, and when she raised her voice could
be plainly heard. `You coward!' she repeated over and over again.
`What can be done now? What can be done now? Give me back my life.
I will never so much as breathe the same air with you again! You coward!
You coward!' %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-croo-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``The coachman rushed to the
door.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Those were scraps of her conversation, ending in a sudden dreadful
cry in the man's voice, with a crash, and a piercing scream from the
woman. Convinced that some tragedy had occurred, the coachman rushed
to the door and strove to force it, while scream after scream issued
from within. He was unable, however, to make his way in, and the maids
were too distracted with fear to be of any assistance to him. A sudden
thought struck him, however, and he ran through the hall door and
round to the lawn upon which the long French windows open. One side
of the window was open, which I understand was quite usual in the
summer-time, and he passed without difficulty into the room. His mistress
had ceased to scream and was stretched insensible upon a couch, while
with his feet tilted over the side of an arm-chair, and his head upon
the ground near the corner of the fender, was lying the unfortunate
soldier stone dead in a pool of his own blood.

{}``Naturally, the coachman's first thought, on finding that he could
do nothing for his master, was to open the door. But here an unexpected
and singular difficulty presented itself. The key was not in the inner
side of the door, nor could he find it anywhere in the room. He went
out again, therefore, through the window, and having obtained the
help of a policeman and of a medical man, he returned. The lady, against
whom naturally the strongest suspicion rested, was removed to her
room, still in a state of insensibility. The Colonel's body was then
placed upon the sofa, and a careful examination made of the scene
of the tragedy.

{}``The injury from which the unfortunate veteran was suffering was
found to be a jagged cut some two inches long at the back part of
his head, which had evidently been caused by a violent blow from a
blunt weapon. Nor was it difficult to guess what that weapon may have
been. Upon the floor, close to the body, was lying a singular club
of hard carved wood with a bone handle. The Colonel possessed a varied
collection of weapons brought from the different countries in which
he had fought, and it is conjectured by the police that this club
was among his trophies. The servants deny having seen it before, but
among the numerous curiosities in the house it is possible that it
may have been overlooked. Nothing else of importance was discovered
in the room by the police, save the inexplicable fact that neither
upon Mrs.\ Barclay's person nor upon that of the victim nor in any
part of the room was the missing key to be found. The door had eventually
to be opened by a locksmith from Aldershot.

{}``That was the state of things, Watson, when upon the Tuesday morning
I, at the request of Major Murphy, went down to Aldershot to supplement
the efforts of the police. I think that you will acknowledge that
the problem was already one of interest, but my observations soon
made me realize that it was in truth much more extraordinary than
would at first sight appear.

{}``Before examining the room I cross-questioned the servants, but
only succeeded in eliciting the facts which I have already stated.
One other detail of interest was remembered by Jane Stewart, the housemaid.
You will remember that on hearing the sound of the quarrel she descended
and returned with the other servants. On that first occasion, when
she was alone, she says that the voices of her master and mistress
were sunk so low that she could hear hardly anything, and judged by
their tones rather than their words that they had fallen out. On my
pressing her, however, she remembered that she heard the word David
uttered twice by the lady. The point is of the utmost importance as
guiding us towards the reason of the sudden quarrel. The Colonel's
name, you remember, was James.

{}``There was one thing in the case which had made the deepest impression
both upon the servants and the police. This was the contortion of
the Colonel's face. It had set, according to their account, into the
most dreadful expression of fear and horror which a human countenance
is capable of assuming. More than one person fainted at the mere sight
of him, so terrible was the effect. It was quite certain that he had
foreseen his fate, and that it had caused him the utmost horror. This,
of course, fitted in well enough with the police theory, if the Colonel
could have seen his wife making a murderous attack upon him. Nor was
the fact of the wound being on the back of his head a fatal objection
to this, as he might have turned to avoid the blow. No information
could be got from the lady herself, who was temporarily insane from
an acute attack of brain-fever.

{}``From the police I learned that Miss Morrison, who you remember
went out that evening with Mrs.\ Barclay, denied having any knowledge
of what it was which had caused the ill-humor in which her companion
had returned.

{}``Having gathered these facts, Watson, I smoked several pipes over
them, trying to separate those which were crucial from others which
were merely incidental. There could be no question that the most distinctive
and suggestive point in the case was the singular disappearance of
the door-key. A most careful search had failed to discover it in the
room. Therefore it must have been taken from it. But neither the Colonel
nor the Colonel's wife could have taken it. That was perfectly clear.
Therefore a third person must have entered the room. And that third
person could only have come in through the window. It seemed to me
that a careful examination of the room and the lawn might possibly
reveal some traces of this mysterious individual. You know my methods,
Watson. There was not one of them which I did not apply to the inquiry.
And it ended by my discovering traces, but very different ones from
those which I had expected. There had been a man in the room, and
he had crossed the lawn coming from the road. I was able to obtain
five very clear impressions of his foot-marks: one in the roadway
itself, at the point where he had climbed the low wall, two on the
lawn, and two very faint ones upon the stained boards near the window
where he had entered. He had apparently rushed across the lawn, for
his toe-marks were much deeper than his heels. But it was not the
man who surprised me. It was his companion.''

{}``His companion!''

Holmes pulled a large sheet of tissue-paper out of his pocket and
carefully unfolded it upon his knee.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-croo-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``What do you make of that?''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``What do you make of that?''\ he asked.

The paper was covered with he tracings of the foot-marks of some small
animal. It had five well-marked foot-pads, an indication of long nails,
and the whole print might be nearly as large as a dessert-spoon.

{}``It's a dog,'' said I.

{}``Did you ever hear of a dog running up a curtain? I found distinct
traces that this creature had done so.''

{}``A monkey, then?''

{}``But it is not the print of a monkey.''

{}``What can it be, then?''

{}``Neither dog nor cat nor monkey nor any creature that we are familiar
with. I have tried to reconstruct it from the measurements. Here are
four prints where the beast has been standing motionless. You see
that it is no less than fifteen inches from fore-foot to hind. Add
to that the length of neck and head, and you get a creature not much
less than two feet long\mdsh{---}probably more if there is any tail.
But now observe this other measurement. The animal has been moving,
and we have the length of its stride. In each case it is only about
three inches. You have an indication, you see, of a long body with
very short legs attached to it. It has not been considerate enough
to leave any of its hair behind it. But its general shape must be
what I have indicated, and it can run up a curtain, and it is carnivorous.''

{}``How do you deduce that?''

{}``Because it ran up the curtain. A canary's cage was hanging in
the window, and its aim seems to have been to get at the bird.''

{}``Then what was the beast?''

{}``Ah, if I could give it a name it might go a long way towards
solving the case. On the whole, it was probably some creature of the
weasel and stoat tribe\mdsh{---}and yet it is larger than any of
these that I have seen.''

{}``But what had it to do with the crime?''

{}``That, also, is still obscure. But we have learned a good deal,
you perceive. We know that a man stood in the road looking at the
quarrel between the Barclays\mdsh{---}the blinds were up and the
room lighted. We know, also, that he ran across the lawn, entered
the room, accompanied by a strange animal, and that he either struck
the Colonel or, as is equally possible, that the Colonel fell down
from sheer fright at the sight of him, and cut his head on the corner
of the fender. Finally, we have the curious fact that the intruder
carried away the key with him when he left.''

{}``Your discoveries seem to have left the business more obscure
that it was before,'' said I.

{}``Quite so. They undoubtedly showed that the affair was much deeper
than was at first conjectured. I thought the matter over, and I came
to the conclusion that I must approach the case from another aspect.
But really, Watson, I am keeping you up, and I might just as well
tell you all this on our way to Aldershot to-morrow.''

{}``Thank you, you have gone rather too far to stop.''

{}``It is quite certain that when Mrs.\ Barclay left the house at
half-past seven she was on good terms with her husband. She was never,
as I think I have said, ostentatiously affectionate, but she was heard
by the coachman chatting with the Colonel in a friendly fashion. Now,
it was equally certain that, immediately on her return, she had gone
to the room in which she was least likely to see her husband, had
flown to tea as an agitated woman will, and finally, on his coming
in to her, had broken into violent recriminations. Therefore something
had occurred between seven-thirty and nine o'clock which had completely
altered her feelings towards him. But Miss Morrison had been with
her during the whole of that hour and a half. It was absolutely certain,
therefore, in spite of her denial, that she must know something of
the matter.

{}``My first conjecture was, that possibly there had been some passages
between this young lady and the old soldier, which the former had
now confessed to the wife. That would account for the angry return,
and also for the girl's denial that anything had occurred. Nor would
it be entirely incompatible with most of the words overhead. But there
was the reference to David, and there was the known affection of the
Colonel for his wife, to weigh against it, to say nothing of the tragic
intrusion of this other man, which might, of course, be entirely disconnected
with what had gone before. It was not easy to pick one's steps, but,
on the whole, I was inclined to dismiss the idea that there had been
anything between the Colonel and Miss Morrison, but more than ever
convinced that the young lady held the clue as to what it was which
had turned Mrs.\ Barclay to hatred of her husband. I took the obvious
course, therefore, of calling upon Miss M., of explaining to her that
I was perfectly certain that she held the facts in her possession,
and of assuring her that her friend, Mrs.\ Barclay, might find herself
in the dock upon a capital charge unless the matter were cleared up.

{}``Miss Morrison is a little ethereal slip of a girl, with timid
eyes and blond hair, but I found her by no means wanting in shrewdness
and common-sense. She sat thinking for some time after I had spoken,
and then, turning to me with a brisk air of resolution, she broke
into a remarkable statement which I will condense for your benefit.

{}```I promised my friend that I would say nothing of the matter,
and a promise is a promise,' said she; `but if I can really help her
when so serious a charge is laid against her, and when her own mouth,
poor darling, is closed by illness, then I think I am absolved from
my promise. I will tell you exactly what happened upon Monday evening.

{}```We were returning from the Watt Street Mission about a quarter
to nine o'clock. On our way we had to pass through Hudson Street,
which is a very quiet thoroughfare. There is only one lamp in it,
upon the left-hand side, and as we approached this lamp I saw a man
coming towards us with is back very bent, and something like a box
slung over one of his shoulders. He appeared to be deformed, for he
carried his head low and walked with his knees bent. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-croo-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``It's Nancy!''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
We were passing him when he raised his face to look at us in the circle
of light thrown by the lamp, and as he did so he stopped and screamed
out in a dreadful voice, {}``My God, it's Nancy!'' Mrs.\ Barclay
turned as white as death, and would have fallen down had the dreadful-looking
creature not caught hold of her. I was going to call for the police,
but she, to my surprise, spoke quite civilly to the fellow.

{}`````I thought you had been dead this thirty years, Henry,'' said
she, in a shaking voice.

{}`````So I have,'' said he, and it was awful to hear the tones
that he said it in. He had a very dark, fearsome face, and a gleam
in his eyes that comes back to me in my dreams. His hair and whiskers
were shot with gray, and his face was all crinkled and puckered like
a withered apple.

{}`````Just walk on a little way, dear,'' said Mrs.\ Barclay; {}``I
want to have a word with this man. There is nothing to be afraid of.''
She tried to speak boldly, but she was still deadly pale and could
hardly get her words out for the trembling of her lips.

{}```I did as she asked me, and they talked together for a few minutes.
Then she came down the street with her eyes blazing, and I saw the
crippled wretch standing by the lamp-post and shaking his clenched
fists in the air as if he were made with rage. She never said a word
until we were at the door here, when she took me by the hand and begged
me to tell no one what had happened.

{}`````It's an old acquaintance of mine who has come down in the
world,'' said she. When I promised her I would say nothing she kissed
me, and I have never seen her since. I have told you now the whole
truth, and if I withheld it from the police it is because I did not
realize then the danger in which my dear friend stood. I know that
it can only be to her advantage that everything should be known.'

{}``There was her statement, Watson, and to me, as you can imagine,
it was like a light on a dark night. Everything which had been disconnected
before began at once to assume its true place, and I had a shadowy
presentiment of the whole sequence of events. My next step obviously
was to find the man who had produced such a remarkable impression
upon Mrs.\ Barclay. If he were still in Aldershot it should not be
a very difficult matter. There are not such a very great number of
civilians, and a deformed man was sure to have attracted attention.
I spent a day in the search, and by evening\mdsh{---}this very evening,
Watson\mdsh{---}I had run him down. The man's name is Henry Wood,
and he lives in lodgings in this same street in which the ladies met
him. He has only been five days in the place. In the character of
a registration-agent I had a most interesting gossip with his landlady.
The man is by trade a conjurer and performer, going round the canteens
after nightfall, and giving a little entertainment at each. He carries
some creature about with him in that box; about which the landlady
seemed to be in considerable trepidation, for she had never seen an
animal like it. He uses it in some of his tricks according to her
account. So much the woman was able to tell me, and also that it was
a wonder the man lived, seeing how twisted he was, and that he spoke
in a strange tongue sometimes, and that for the last two nights she
had heard him groaning and weeping in his bedroom. He was all right,
as far as money went, but in his deposit he had given her what looked
like a bad florin. She showed it to me, Watson, and it was an Indian
rupee.

{}``So now, my dear fellow, you see exactly how we stand and why
it is I want you. It is perfectly plain that after the ladies parted
from this man he followed them at a distance, that he saw the quarrel
between husband and wife through the window, that he rushed in, and
that the creature which he carried in his box got loose. That is all
very certain. But he is the only person in this world who can tell
us exactly what happened in that room.''

{}``And you intend to ask him?''

{}``Most certainly\mdsh{---}but in the presence of a witness.''

{}``And I am the witness?''

{}``If you will be so good. If he can clear the matter up, well and
good. If he refuses, we have no alternative but to apply for a warrant.''

{}``But how do you know he'll be there when we return?''

{}``You may be sure that I took some precautions. I have one of my
Baker Street boys mounting guard over him who would stick to him like
a burr, go where he might. We shall find him in Hudson Street to-morrow,
Watson, and meanwhile I should be the criminal myself if I kept you
out of bed any longer.''

It was midday when we found ourselves at the scene of the tragedy,
and, under my companion's guidance, we made our way at once to Hudson
Street. In spite of his capacity for concealing his emotions, I could
easily see that Holmes was in a state of suppressed excitement, while
I was myself tingling with that half-sporting, half-intellectual pleasure
which I invariably experienced when I associated myself with him in
his investigations.

{}``This is the street,'' said he, as we turned into a short thoroughfare
lined with plain two-storied brick houses. {}``Ah, here is Simpson
to report.''

{}``He's in all right, Mr.\ Holmes,'' cried a small street Arab,
running up to us.

{}``Good, Simpson!''\ said Holmes, patting him on the head. {}``Come
along, Watson. This is the house.'' He sent in his card with a message
that he had come on important business, and a moment later we were
face to face with the man whom we had come to see. In spite of the
warm weather he was crouching over a fire, and the little room was
like an oven. The man sat all twisted and huddled in his chair in
a way which gave an indescribable impression of deformity; but the
face which he turned towards us, though worn and swarthy, must at
some time have been remarkable for its beauty. He looked suspiciously
at us now out of yellow-shot, bilious eyes, and, without speaking
or rising, he waved towards two chairs.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-croo-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Mr.\ Henry Wood, I believe?''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Mr.\ Henry Wood, late of India, I believe,'' said Holmes, affably.
{}``I've come over this little matter of Colonel Barclay's death.''

{}``What should I know about that?''

{}``That's what I want to ascertain. You know, I suppose, that unless
the matter is cleared up, Mrs.\ Barclay, who is an old friend of
yours, will in all probability be tried for murder.''

The man gave a violent start.

{}``I don't know who you are,'' he cried, {}``nor how you come
to know what you do know, but will you swear that this is true that
you tell me?''

{}``Why, they are only waiting for her to come to her senses to arrest
her.''

{}``My God! Are you in the police yourself?''

{}``No.''

{}``What business is it of yours, then?''

{}``It's every man's business to see justice done.''

{}``You can take my word that she is innocent.''

{}``Then you are guilty.''

{}``No, I am not.''

{}``Who killed Colonel James Barclay, then?''

{}``It was a just providence that killed him. But, mind you this,
that if I had knocked his brains out, as it was in my heart to do,
he would have had no more than his due from my hands. If his own guilty
conscience had not struck him down it is likely enough that I might
have had his blood upon my soul. You want me to tell the story. Well,
I don't know why I shouldn't, for there's no cause for me to be ashamed
of it.

{}``It was in this way, sir. You see me now with my back like a camel
and by ribs all awry, but there was a time when Corporal Henry Wood
was the smartest man in the 117th foot. We were in India then, in
cantonments, at a place we'll call Bhurtee. Barclay, who died the
other day, was sergeant in the same company as myself, and the belle
of the regiment, ay, and the finest girl that ever had the breath
of life between her lips, was Nancy Devoy, the daughter of the color-sergeant.
There were two men that loved her, and one that she loved, and you'll
smile when you look at this poor thing huddled before the fire, and
hear me say that it was for my good looks that she loved me.

{}``Well, though I had her heart, her father was set upon her marrying
Barclay. I was a harum-scarum, reckless lad, and he had had an education,
and was already marked for the sword-belt. But the girl held true
to me, and it seemed that I would have had her when the Mutiny broke
out, and all hell was loose in the country.

{}``We were shut up in Bhurtee, the regiment of us with half a battery
of artillery, a company of Sikhs, and a lot of civilians and women-folk.
There were ten thousand rebels round us, and they were as keen as
a set of terriers round a rat-cage. About the second week of it our
water gave out, and it was a question whether we could communicate
with General Neill's column, which was moving up country. It was our
only chance, for we could not hope to fight our way out with all the
women and children, so I volunteered to go out and to warn General
Neill of our danger. My offer was accepted, and I talked it over with
Sergeant Barclay, who was supposed to know the ground better than
any other man, and who drew up a route by which I might get through
the rebel lines. At ten o'clock the same night I started off upon
my journey. There were a thousand lives to save, but it was of only
one that I was thinking when I dropped over the wall that night.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-croo-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``I walked right into six
of them.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``My way ran down a dried-up watercourse, which we hoped would
screen me from the enemy's sentries; but as I crept round the corner
of it I walked right into six of them, who were crouching down in
the dark waiting for me. In an instant I was stunned with a blow and
bound hand and foot. But the real blow was to my heart and not to
my head, for as I came to and listened to as much as I could understand
of their talk, I heard enough to tell me that my comrade, the very
man who had arranged the way that I was to take, had betrayed me by
means of a native servant into the hands of the enemy.

{}``Well, there's no need for me to dwell on that part of it. You
know now what James Barclay was capable of. Bhurtee was relieved by
Neill next day, but the rebels took me away with them in their retreat,
and it was many a long year before ever I saw a white face again.
I was tortured and tried to get away, and was captured and tortured
again. You can see for yourselves the state in which I was left. Some
of them that fled into Nepaul took me with them, and then afterwards
I was up past Darjeeling. The hill-folk up there murdered the rebels
who had me, and I became their slave for a time until I escaped; but
instead of going south I had to go north, until I found myself among
the Afghans. There I wandered about for many a year, and at last came
back to the Punjaub, where I lived mostly among the natives and picked
up a living by the conjuring tricks that I had learned. What use was
it for me, a wretched cripple, to go back to England or to make myself
known to my old comrades? Even my wish for revenge would not make
me do that. I had rather that Nancy and my old pals should think of
Harry Wood as having died with a straight back, than see him living
and crawling with a stick like a chimpanzee. They never doubted that
I was dead, and I meant that they never should. I heard that Barclay
had married Nancy, and that he was rising rapidly in the regiment,
but even that did not make me speak.

{}``But when one gets old one has a longing for home. For years I've
been dreaming of the bright green fields and the hedges of England.
At last I determined to see them before I died. I saved enough to
bring me across, and then I came here where the soldiers are, for
I know their ways and how to amuse them and so earn enough to keep
me.''

{}``Your narrative is most interesting,'' said Sherlock Holmes.
{}``I have already heard of your meeting with Mrs.\ Barclay, and
your mutual recognition. You then, as I understand, followed her home
and saw through the window an altercation between her husband and
her, in which she doubtless cast his conduct to you in his teeth.
Your own feelings overcame you, and you ran across the lawn and broke
in upon them.''

{}``I did, sir, and at the sight of me he looked as I have never
seen a man look before, and over he went with his head on the fender.
But he was dead before he fell. I read death on his face as plain
as I can read that text over the fire. The bare sight of me was like
a bullet through his guilty heart.''

{}``And then?''

{}``Then Nancy fainted, and I caught up the key of the door from
her hand, intending to unlock it and get help. But as I was doing
it it seemed to me better to leave it alone and get away, for the
thing might look black against me, and any way my secret would be
out if I were taken. In my haste I thrust the key into my pocket,
and dropped my stick while I was chasing Teddy, who had run up the
curtain. When I got him into his box, from which he had slipped, I
was off as fast as I could run.''

{}``Who's Teddy?'' asked Holmes.

The man leaned over and pulled up the front of a kind of hutch in
the corner. In an instant out there slipped a beautiful reddish-brown
creature, thin and lithe, with the legs of a stoat, a long, thin nose,
and a pair of the finest red eyes that ever I saw in an animal's head.

{}``It's a mongoose,'' I cried.

{}``Well, some call them that, and some call them ichneumon,'' said
the man. {}``Snake-catcher is what I call them, and Teddy is amazing
quick on cobras. I have one here without the fangs, and Teddy catches
it every night to please the folk in the canteen.

{}``Any other point, sir?''

{}``Well, we may have to apply to you again if Mrs.\ Barclay should
prove to be in serious trouble.''

{}``In that case, of course, I'd come forward.''

{}``But if not, there is no object in raking up this scandal against
a dead man, foully as he has acted. You have at least the satisfaction
of knowing that for thirty years of his life his conscience bitterly
reproached him for this wicked deed. Ah, there goes Major Murphy on
the other side of the street. Good-by, Wood. I want to learn if anything
has happened since yesterday.''

We were in time to overtake the major before he reached the corner.

{}``Ah, Holmes,'' he said: {}``I suppose you have heard that all
this fuss has come to nothing?''

{}``What then?''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-croo-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``It was quite a simple case
after all.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``The inquest is just over. The medical evidence showed conclusively
that death was due to apoplexy. You see it was quite a simple case
after all.''

{}``Oh, remarkably superficial,'' said Holmes, smiling. {}``Come,
Watson, I don't think we shall be wanted in Aldershot any more.''

{}``There's one thing,'' said I, as we walked down to the station.
{}``If the husband's name was James, and the other was Henry, what
was this talk about David?''

{}``That one word, my dear Watson, should have told me the whole
story had I been the ideal reasoner which you are so fond of depicting.
It was evidently a term of reproach.''

{}``Of reproach?''

{}``Yes; David strayed a little occasionally, you know, and on one
occasion in the same direction as Sergeant James Barclay. You remember
the small affair of Uriah and Bathsheba? My biblical knowledge is
a trifle rusty, I fear, but you will find the story in the first or
second of Samuel.''


\chapter*{\raggedright Adventure VIII. The Resident Patient}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Adventure VIII. The Resident Patient}

\markboth{Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes}{The Resident Patient}

Glancing over the somewhat incoherent series of Memoirs with which
I have endeavored to illustrate a few of the mental peculiarities
of my friend Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes, I have been struck by the difficulty
which I have experienced in picking out examples which shall in every
way answer my purpose. For in those cases in which Holmes has performed
some \emph{tour de force} of analytical reasoning, and has demonstrated
the value of his peculiar methods of investigation, the facts themselves
have often been so slight or so commonplace that I could not feel
justified in laying them before the public. On the other hand, it
has frequently happened that he has been concerned in some research
where the facts have been of the most remarkable and dramatic character,
but where the share which he has himself taken in determining their
causes has been less pronounced than I, as his biographer, could wish.
The small matter which I have chronicled under the heading of {}``A
Study in Scarlet,'' and that other later one connected with the loss
of the \emph{Gloria Scott}, may serve as examples of this Scylla and
Charybdis which are forever threatening the historian. It may be that
in the business of which I am now about to write the part which my
friend played is not sufficiently accentuated; and yet the whole train
of circumstances is so remarkable that I cannot bring myself to omit
it entirely from this series.

It had been a close, rainy day in October. Our blinds were half-drawn,
and Holmes lay curled upon the sofa, reading and re-reading a letter
which he had received by the morning post. For myself, my term of
service in India had trained me to stand heat better than cold, and
a thermometer of 90 was no hardship. But the paper was uninteresting.
Parliament had risen. Everybody was out of town, and I yearned for
the glades of the New Forest or the shingle of Southsea. A depleted
bank account had caused me to postpone my holiday, and as to my companion,
neither the country nor the sea presented the slightest attraction
to him. He loved to lie in the very centre of five millions of people,
with his filaments stretching out and running through them, responsive
to every little rumor or suspicion of unsolved crime. Appreciation
of Nature found no place among his many gifts, and his only change
was when he turned his mind from the evil-doer of the town to track
down his brother of the country.

Finding that Holmes was too absorbed for conversation, I had tossed
aside the barren paper, and leaning back in my chair, I fell into
a brown study. Suddenly my companion's voice broke in upon my thoughts.

{}``You are right, Watson,'' said he. {}``It does seem a very preposterous
way of settling a dispute.''

{}``Most preposterous!''\ I exclaimed, and then, suddenly realizing
how he had echoed the inmost thought of my soul, I sat up in my chair
and stared at him in blank amazement.

{}``What is this, Holmes?''\ I cried. {}``This is beyond anything
which I could have imagined.''

He laughed heartily at my perplexity.

{}``You remember,'' said he, {}``that some little time ago, when
I read you the passage in one of Poe's sketches, in which a close
reasoner follows the unspoken thought of his companion, you were inclined
to treat the matter as a mere \emph{tour de force} of the author.
On my remarking that I was constantly in the habit of doing the same
thing you expressed incredulity.''

{}``Oh, no!''

{}``Perhaps not with your tongue, my dear Watson, but certainly with
your eyebrows. So when I saw you throw down your paper and enter upon
a train of thought, I was very happy to have the opportunity of reading
it off, and eventually of breaking into it, as a proof that I had
been in rapport with you.''

But I was still far from satisfied. {}``In the example which you
read to me,'' said I, {}``the reasoner drew his conclusions from
the actions of the man whom he observed. If I remember right, he stumbled
over a heap of stones, looked up at the stars, and so on. But I have
been seated quietly in my chair, and what clues can I have given you?''

{}``You do yourself an injustice. The features are given to man as
the means by which he shall express his emotions, and yours are faithful
servants.''

{}``Do you mean to say that you read my train of thoughts from my
features?''

{}``Your features, and especially your eyes. Perhaps you cannot yourself
recall how your reverie commenced?''

{}``No, I cannot.''

{}``Then I will tell you. After throwing down your paper, which was
the action which drew my attention to you, you sat for half a minute
with a vacant expression. Then your eyes fixed themselves upon your
newly-framed picture of General Gordon, and I saw by the alteration
in your face that a train of thought had been started. But it did
not lead very far. Your eyes turned across to the unframed portrait
of Henry Ward Beecher which stands upon the top of your books. You
then glanced up at the wall, and of course your meaning was obvious.
You were thinking that if the portrait were framed it would just cover
that bare space and correspond with Gordon's picture over there.''

{}``You have followed me wonderfully!'' I exclaimed.

{}``So far I could hardly have gone astray. But now your thoughts
went back to Beecher, and you looked hard across as if you were studying
the character in his features. Then your eyes ceased to pucker, but
you continued to look across, and your face was thoughtful. You were
recalling the incidents of Beecher's career. I was well aware that
you could not do this without thinking of the mission which he undertook
on behalf of the North at the time of the Civil War, for I remember
you expressing your passionate indignation at the way in which he
was received by the more turbulent of our people. You felt so strongly
about it that I knew you could not think of Beecher without thinking
of that also. When a moment later I saw your eyes wander away from
the picture, I suspected that your mind had now turned to the Civil
War, and when I observed that your lips set, your eyes sparkled, and
your hands clinched, I was positive that you were indeed thinking
of the gallantry which was shown by both sides in that desperate struggle.
But then, again, your face grew sadder; you shook your head. You were
dwelling upon the sadness and horror and useless waste of life. Your
hand stole towards your own old wound, and a smile quivered on your
lips, which showed me that the ridiculous side of this method of settling
international questions had forced itself upon your mind. At this
point I agreed with you that it was preposterous, and was glad to
find that all my deductions had been correct.''

{}``Absolutely!''\ said I. {}``And now that you have explained
it, I confess that I am as amazed as before.''

{}``It was very superficial, my dear Watson, I assure you. I should
not have intruded it upon your attention had you not shown some incredulity
the other day. But the evening has brought a breeze with it. What
do you say to a ramble through London?''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-resi-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small We strolled about together.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
I was weary of our little sitting-room and gladly acquiesced. For
three hours we strolled about together, watching the ever-changing
kaleidoscope of life as it ebbs and flows through Fleet Street and
the Strand. His characteristic talk, with its keen observance of detail
and subtle power of inference held me amused and enthralled. It was
ten o'clock before we reached Baker Street again. A brougham was waiting
at our door.

{}``Hum! A doctor's\mdsh{---}general practitioner, I perceive,''
said Holmes. {}``Not been long in practice, but has had a good deal
to do. Come to consult us, I fancy! Lucky we came back!''

I was sufficiently conversant with Holmes's methods to be able to
follow his reasoning, and to see that the nature and state of the
various medical instruments in the wicker basket which hung in the
lamplight inside the brougham had given him the data for his swift
deduction. The light in our window above showed that this late visit
was indeed intended for us. With some curiosity as to what could have
sent a brother medico to us at such an hour, I followed Holmes into
our sanctum.

A pale, taper-faced man with sandy whiskers rose up from a chair by
the fire as we entered. His age may not have been more than three
or four and thirty, but his haggard expression and unhealthy hue told
of a life which has sapped his strength and robbed him of his youth.
His manner was nervous and shy, like that of a sensitive gentleman,
and the thin white hand which he laid on the mantelpiece as he rose
was that of an artist rather than of a surgeon. His dress was quiet
and sombre\mdsh{---}a black frock-coat, dark trousers, and a touch
of color about his necktie.

{}``Good-evening, doctor,'' said Holmes, cheerily. {}``I am glad
to see that you have only been waiting a very few minutes.''

{}``You spoke to my coachman, then?''

{}``No, it was the candle on the side-table that told me. Pray resume
your seat and let me know how I can serve you.''

{}``My name is Doctor Percy Trevelyan,'' said our visitor, {}``and
I live at 403 Brook Street.''

{}``Are you not the author of a monograph upon obscure nervous lesions?''
I asked.

His pale cheeks flushed with pleasure at hearing that his work was
known to me.

{}``I so seldom hear of the work that I thought it was quite dead,''
said he. {}``My publishers gave me a most discouraging account of
its sale. You are yourself, I presume, a medical man?''

{}``A retired army surgeon.''

{}``My own hobby has always been nervous disease. I should wish to
make it an absolute specialty, but, of course, a man must take what
he can get at first. This, however, is beside the question, Mr.\ Sherlock
Holmes, and I quite appreciate how valuable your time is. The fact
is that a very singular train of events has occurred recently at my
house in Brook Street, and to-night they came to such a head that
I felt it was quite impossible for me to wait another hour before
asking for your advice and assistance.''

Sherlock Holmes sat down and lit his pipe. {}``You are very welcome
to both,'' said he. {}``Pray let me have a detailed account of what
the circumstances are which have disturbed you.''

{}``One or two of them are so trivial,'' said Dr. Trevelyan, {}``that
really I am almost ashamed to mention them. But the matter is so inexplicable,
and the recent turn which it has taken is so elaborate, that I shall
lay it all before you, and you shall judge what is essential and what
is not.

{}``I am compelled, to begin with, to say something of my own college
career. I am a London University man, you know, and I am sure that
you will not think that I am unduly singing my own praises if I say
that my student career was considered by my professors to be a very
promising one. After I had graduated I continued to devote myself
to research, occupying a minor position in King's College Hospital,
and I was fortunate enough to excite considerable interest by my research
into the pathology of catalepsy, and finally to win the Bruce Pinkerton
prize and medal by the monograph on nervous lesions to which your
friend has just alluded. I should not go too far if I were to say
that there was a general impression at that time that a distinguished
career lay before me.

{}``But the one great stumbling-block lay in my want of capital.
As you will readily understand, a specialist who aims high is compelled
to start in one of a dozen streets in the Cavendish Square quarter,
all of which entail enormous rents and furnishing expenses. Besides
this preliminary outlay, he must be prepared to keep himself for some
years, and to hire a presentable carriage and horse. To do this was
quite beyond my power, and I could only hope that by economy I might
in ten years' time save enough to enable me to put up my plate. Suddenly,
however, an unexpected incident opened up quite a new prospect to
me.

{}``This was a visit from a gentleman of the name of Blessington,
who was a complete stranger to me. He came up to my room one morning,
and plunged into business in an instant.

{}```You are the same Percy Trevelyan who has had so distinguished
a career and won a great prize lately?' said he.

{}``I bowed.

{}```Answer me frankly,' he continued, `for you will find it to your
interest to do so. You have all the cleverness which makes a successful
man. Have you the tact?'

{}``I could not help smiling at the abruptness of the question.

{}```I trust that I have my share,' I said.

{}```Any bad habits? Not drawn towards drink, eh?'

{}```Really, sir!' I cried.

{}```Quite right! That's all right! But I was bound to ask. With
all these qualities, why are you not in practice?'

{}``I shrugged my shoulders.

{}```Come, come!' said he, in his bustling way. `It's the old story.
More in your brains than in your pocket, eh? What would you say if
I were to start you in Brook Street?'

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-resi-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``I stared at him in astonishment.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``I stared at him in astonishment.

{}```Oh, it's for my sake, not for yours,' he cried. `I'll be perfectly
frank with you, and if it suits you it will suit me very well. I have
a few thousands to invest, d'ye see, and I think I'll sink them in
you.'

{}```But why?' I gasped.

{}```Well, it's just like any other speculation, and safer than most.'

{}```What am I to do , then?'

{}```I'll tell you. I'll take the house, furnish it, pay the maids,
and run the whole place. All you have to do is just to wear out your
chair in the consulting-room. I'll let you have pocket-money and everything.
Then you hand over to me three quarters of what you earn, and you
keep the other quarter for yourself.'

{}``This was the strange proposal, Mr.\ Holmes, with which the man
Blessington approached me. I won't weary you with the account of how
we bargained and negotiated. It ended in my moving into the house
next Lady-day, and starting in practice on very much the same conditions
as he had suggested. He came himself to live with me in the character
of a resident patient. His heart was weak, it appears, and he needed
constant medical supervision. He turned the two best rooms of the
first floor into a sitting-room and bedroom for himself. He was a
man of singular habits, shunning company and very seldom going out.
His life was irregular, but in one respect he was regularity itself.
Every evening, at the same hour, he walked into the consulting-room,
examined the books, put down five and three-pence for every guinea
that I had earned, and carried the rest off to the strong-box in his
own room.

{}``I may say with confidence that he never had occasion to regret
his speculation. From the first it was a success. A few good cases
and the reputation which I had won in the hospital brought me rapidly
to the front, and during the last few years I have made him a rich
man.

{}``So much, Mr.\ Holmes, for my past history and my relations with
Mr.\ Blessington. It only remains for me now to tell you what has
occurred to bring me here to-night.

{}``Some weeks ago Mr.\ Blessington came down to me in, as it seemed
to me, a state of considerable agitation. He spoke of some burglary
which, he said, had been committed in the West End, and he appeared,
I remember, to be quite unnecessarily excited about it, declaring
that a day should not pass before we should add stronger bolts to
our windows and doors. For a week he continued to be in a peculiar
state of restlessness, peering continually out of the windows, and
ceasing to take the short walk which had usually been the prelude
to his dinner. From his manner it struck me that he was in mortal
dread of something or somebody, but when I questioned him upon the
point he became so offensive that I was compelled to drop the subject.
Gradually, as time passed, his fears appeared to die away, and he
had renewed his former habits, when a fresh event reduced him to the
pitiable state of prostration in which he now lies.

{}``What happened was this. Two days ago I received the letter which
I now read to you. Neither address nor date is attached to it.

\begin{quote}{}```A Russian nobleman who is now resident in England,'
it runs, `would be glad to avail himself of the professional assistance
of Dr.\ Percy Trevelyan. He has been for some years a victim to cataleptic
attacks, on which, as is well known, Dr.\ Trevelyan is an authority.
He proposes to call at about quarter past six to-morrow evening, if
Dr.\ Trevelyan will make it convenient to be at home.'\end{quote}

{}``This letter interest me deeply, because the chief difficulty
in the study of catalepsy is the rareness of the disease. You may
believe, than, that I was in my consulting-room when, at the appointed
hour, the page showed in the patient.

He was an elderly man, thin, demure, and common-place\mdsh{---}by
no means the conception one forms of a Russian nobleman. I was much
more struck by the appearance of his companion. This was a tall young
man, surprisingly handsome, with a dark, fierce face, and the limbs
and chest of a Hercules. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-resi-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Helped him to a chair.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
He had his hand under the other's arm as they entered, and helped
him to a chair with a tenderness which one would hardly have expected
from his appearance.

{}```You will excuse my coming in, doctor,' said he to me, speaking
English with a slight lisp. `This is my father, and his health is
a matter of the most overwhelming importance to me.'

{}``I was touched by this filial anxiety. `You would, perhaps, care
to remain during the consultation?' said I.

{}```Not for the world,' he cried with a gesture of horror. `It is
more painful to me than I can express. If I were to see my father
in one of these dreadful seizures I am convinced that I should never
survive it. My own nervous system is an exceptionally sensitive one.
With your permission, I will remain in the waiting-room while you
go into my father's case.'

{}``To this, of course, I assented, and the young man withdrew. The
patient and I then plunged into a discussion of his case, of which
I took exhaustive notes. He was not remarkable for intelligence, and
his answers were frequently obscure, which I attributed to his limited
acquaintance with our language. Suddenly, however, as I sat writing,
he ceased to give any answer at all to my inquiries, and on my turning
towards him I was shocked to see that he was sitting bolt upright
in his chair, staring at me with a perfectly blank and rigid face.
He was again in the grip of his mysterious malady.

{}``My first feeling, as I have just said, was one of pity and horror.
My second, I fear, was rather one of professional satisfaction. I
made notes of my patient's pulse and temperature, tested the rigidity
of his muscles, and examined his reflexes. There was nothing markedly
abnormal in any of these conditions, which harmonized with my former
experiences. I had obtained good results in such cases by the inhalation
of nitrite of amyl, and the present seemed an admirable opportunity
of testing its virtues. The bottle was downstairs in my laboratory,
so leaving my patient seated in his chair, I ran down to get it. There
was some little delay in finding it\mdsh{---}five minutes, let us
say\mdsh{---}and then I returned. Imagine my amazement to find the
room empty and the patient gone.

{}``Of course, my first act was to run into the waiting-room. The
son had gone also. The hall door had been closed, but not shut. My
page who admits patients is a new boy and by no means quick. He waits
downstairs, and runs up to show patients out when I ring the consulting-room
bell. He had heard nothing, and the affair remained a complete mystery.
Mr.\ Blessington came in from his walk shortly afterwards, but I
did not say anything to him upon the subject, for, to tell the truth,
I have got in the way of late of holding as little communication with
him as possible.

{}``Well, I never thought that I should see anything more of the
Russian and his son, so you can imagine my amazement when, at the
very same hour this evening, they both came marching into my consulting-room,
just as they had done before.

{}```I feel that I owe you a great many apologies for my abrupt departure
yesterday, doctor,' said my patient.

{}```I confess that I was very much surprised at it,' said I.

{}```Well, the fact is,' he remarked, `that when I recover from these
attacks my mind is always very clouded as to all that has gone before.
I woke up in a strange room, as it seemed to me, and made my way out
into the street in a sort of dazed way when you were absent.'

{}```And I,' said the son, `seeing my father pass the door of the
waiting-room, naturally thought that the consultation had come to
an end. It was not until we had reached home that I began to realize
the true state of affairs.'

{}```Well,' said I, laughing, `there is no harm done except that
you puzzled me terribly; so if you, sir, would kindly step into the
waiting-room I shall be happy to continue our consultation which was
brought to so abrupt an ending.'

{}```For half an hour or so I discussed that old gentleman's symptoms
with him, and then, having prescribed for him, I saw him go off upon
the arm of his son.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-resi-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``He burst into my consulting-room.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``I have told you that Mr.\ Blessington generally chose this hour
of the day for his exercise. He came in shortly afterwards and passed
upstairs. An instant later I heard him running down, and he burst
into my consulting-room like a man who is mad with panic.

{}```Who has been in my room?' he cried.

{}```No one,' said I.

{}```It's a lie!'\ He yelled. `Come up and look!'

{}``I passed over the grossness of his language, as he seemed half
out of his mind with fear. When I went upstairs with him he pointed
to several footprints upon the light carpet.

{}```D'you mean to say those are mine?'\ he cried.

{}``They were certainly very much larger than any which he could
have made, and were evidently quite fresh. It rained hard this afternoon,
as you know, and my patients were the only people who called. It must
have been the case, then, that the man in the waiting-room had, for
some unknown reason, while I was busy with the other, ascended to
the room of my resident patient. Nothing has been touched or taken,
but there were the footprints to prove that the intrusion was an undoubted
fact.

{}``Mr.\ Blessington seemed more excited over the matter than I
should have thought possible, though of course it was enough to disturb
anybody's peace of mind. He actually sat crying in an arm-chair, and
I could hardly get him to speak coherently. It was his suggestion
that I should come round to you, and of course I at once saw the propriety
of it, for certainly the incident is a very singular one, though he
appears to completely overtake its importance. If you would only come
back with me in my brougham, you would at least be able to soothe
him, though I can hardly hope that you will be able to explain this
remarkable occurrence.''

Sherlock Holmes had listened to this long narrative with an intentness
which showed me that his interest was keenly aroused. His face was
as impassive as ever, but his lids had drooped more heavily over his
eyes, and his smoke had curled up more thickly from his pipe to emphasize
each curious episode in the doctor's tale. As our visitor concluded,
Holmes sprang up without a word, handed me my hat, picked his own
from the table, and followed Dr.\ Trevelyan to the door. Within a
quarter of an hour we had been dropped at the door of the physician's
residence in Brook Street, one of those sombre, flat-faced houses
which one associates with a West-End practice. A small page admitted
us, and we began at once to ascend the broad, well-carpeted stair.

But a singular interruption brought us to a standstill. The light
at the top was suddenly whisked out, and from the darkness came a
reedy, quivering voice.

{}``I have a pistol,'' it cried. {}``I give you my word that I'll
fire if you come any nearer.''

{}``This really grows outrageous, Mr.\ Blessington,'' cried Dr.\ Trevelyan.

{}``Oh, then it is you, doctor,'' said the voice, with a great heave
of relief. {}``But those other gentlemen, are they what they pretend
to be?''

We were conscious of a long scrutiny out of the darkness.

{}``Yes, yes, it's all right,'' said the voice at last. {}``You
can come up, and I am sorry if my precautions have annoyed you.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-resi-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small In his hand he held a pistol.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
He relit the stair gas as he spoke, and we saw before us a singular-looking
man, whose appearance, as well as his voice, testified to his jangled
nerves. He was very fat, but had apparently at some time been much
fatter, so that the skin hung about his face in loose pouches, like
the cheeks of a blood-hound. He was of a sickly color, and his thin,
sandy hair seemed to bristle up with the intensity of his emotion.
In his hand he held a pistol, but he thrust it into his pocket as
we advanced.

{}``Good-evening, Mr.\ Holmes,'' said he. {}``I am sure I am very
much obliged to you for coming round. No one ever needed your advice
more than I do. I suppose that Dr.\ Trevelyan has told you of this
most unwarrantable intrusion into my rooms.''

{}``Quite so,'' said Holmes. {}``Who are these two men Mr.\ Blessington,
and why do they wish to molest you?''

{}``Well, well,'' said the resident patient, in a nervous fashion,
{}``of course it is hard to say that. You can hardly expect me to
answer that, Mr.\ Holmes.''

{}``Do you mean that you don't know?''

{}``Come in here, if you please. Just have the kindness to step in
here.''

He led the way into his bedroom, which was large and comfortably furnished.

{}``You see that,'' said he, pointing to a big black box at the
end of his bed. {}``I have never been a very rich man, Mr.\ Holmes\mdsh{---}never
made but one investment in my life, as Dr.\ Trevelyan would tell
you. But I don't believe in bankers. I would never trust a banker,
Mr.\ Holmes. Between ourselves, what little I have is in that box,
so you can understand what it means to me when unknown people force
themselves into my rooms.''

Holmes looked at Blessington in his questioning way and shook his
head.

{}``I cannot possibly advise you if you try to deceive me,'' said
he.

{}``But I have told you everything.''

Holmes turned on his heel with a gesture of disgust. {}``Good-night,
Dr.\ Trevelyan,'' said he.

{}``And no advice for me?'' cried Blessington, in a breaking voice.

{}``My advice to your, sir, is to speak the truth.''

A minute later we were in the street and walking for home. We had
crossed Oxford Street and were half way down Harley Street before
I could get a word from my companion.

{}``Sorry to bring you out on such a fool's errand, Watson,'' he
said at last. {}``It is an interesting case, too, at the bottom of
it.''

{}``I can make little of it,'' I confessed.

{}``Well, it is quite evident that there are two men\mdsh{---}more,
perhaps, but at least two\mdsh{---}who are determined for some reason
to get at this fellow Blessington. I have no doubt in my mind that
both on the first and on the second occasion that young man penetrated
to Blessington's room, while his confederate, by an ingenious device,
kept the doctor from interfering.''

{}``And the catalepsy?''

{}``A fraudulent imitation, Watson, though I should hardly dare to
hint as much to our specialist. It is a very easy complaint to imitate.
I have done it myself.''

{}``And then?''

{}``By the purest chance Blessington was out on each occasion. Their
reason for choosing so unusual an hour for a consultation was obviously
to insure that there should be no other patient in the waiting-room.
It just happened, however, that this hour coincided with Blessington's
constitutional, which seems to show that they were not very well acquainted
with his daily routine. Of course, if they had been merely after plunder
they would at least have made some attempt to search for it. Besides,
I can read in a man's eye when it is his own skin that he is frightened
for. It is inconceivable that this fellow could have made two such
vindictive enemies as these appear to be without knowing of it. I
hold it, therefore, to be certain that he does know who these men
are, and that for reasons of his own he suppresses it. It is just
possible that to-morrow may find him in a more communicative mood.''

{}``Is there not one alternative,'' I suggested, {}``grotesquely
improbable, no doubt, but still just conceivable? Might the whole
story of the cataleptic Russian and his son be a concoction of Dr.
Trevelyan's, who has, for his own purposes, been in Blessington's
rooms?''

I saw in the gaslight that Holmes wore an amused smile at this brilliant
departure of mine.

{}``My dear fellow,'' said he, {}``it was one of the first solutions
which occurred to me, but I was soon able to corroborate the doctor's
tale. This young man has left prints upon the stair-carpet which made
it quite superfluous for me to ask to see those which he had made
in the room. When I tell you that his shoes were square-toed instead
of being pointed like Blessington's, and were quite an inch and a
third longer than the doctor's, you will acknowledge that there can
be no doubt as to his individuality. But we may sleep on it now, for
I shall be surprised if we do not hear something further from Brook
Street in the morning.''

\bigskip{}
Sherlock Holmes's prophecy was soon fulfilled, and in a dramatic fashion.
At half-past seven next morning, in the first glimmer of daylight,
I found him standing by my bedside in his dressing-gown.

{}``There's a brougham waiting for us, Watson,'' said he.

{}``What's the matter, then?''

{}``The Brook Street business.''

{}``Any fresh news?''

{}``Tragic, but ambiguous,'' said he, pulling up the blind. {}``Look
at this\mdsh{---}a sheet from a note-book, with `For God's sake come
at once\mdsh{---}P. T.,' scrawled upon it in pencil. Our friend,
the doctor, was hard put to it when he wrote this. Come along, my
dear fellow, for it's an urgent call.''

In a quarter of an hour or so we were back at the physician's house.
He came running out to meet us with a face of horror.

{}``Oh, such a business!''\ he cried, with his hands to his temples.

{}``What then?''

{}``Blessington has committed suicide!''

Holmes whistled.

{}``Yes, he hanged himself during the night.''

We had entered, and the doctor had preceded us into what was evidently
his waiting-room.

{}``I really hardly know what I am doing,'' he cried. {}``The police
are already upstairs. It has shaken me most dreadfully.''

{}``When did you find it out?''

{}``He has a cup of tea taken in to him early every morning. When
the maid entered, about seven, there the unfortunate fellow was hanging
in the middle of the room. He had tied his cord to the hook on which
the heavy lamp used to hang, and he had jumped off from the top of
the very box that he showed us yesterday.''

Holmes stood for a moment in deep thought.

{}``With your permission,'' said he at last, {}``I should like
to go upstairs and look into the matter.''

We both ascended, followed by the doctor.

It was a dreadful sight which met us as we entered the bedroom door.
I have spoken of the impression of flabbiness which this man Blessington
conveyed. As he dangled from the hook it was exaggerated and intensified
until he was scarce human in his appearance. The neck was drawn out
like a plucked chicken's, making the rest of him seem the more obese
and unnatural by the contrast. He was clad only in his long night-dress,
and his swollen ankles and ungainly feet protruded starkly from beneath
it. Beside him stood a smart-looking police-inspector, who was taking
notes in a pocket-book.

{}``Ah, Mr.\ Holmes,'' said he, heartily, as my friend entered,
{}``I am delighted to see you.''

{}``Good morning, Lanner,'' answered Holmes; {}``you won't think
me an intruder, I am sure. Have you heard of the events which led
up to this affair?''

{}``Yes, I heard something of them.''

{}``Have you formed any opinion?''

{}``As far as I can see, the man has been driven out of his senses
by fright. The bed has been well slept in, you see. There's his impression
deep enough. It's about five in the morning, you know, that suicides
are most common. That would be about his time for hanging himself.
It seems to have been a very deliberate affair.''

{}``I should say that he has been dead about three hours, judging
by the rigidity of the muscles,'' said I.

{}``Noticed anything peculiar about the room?'' asked Holmes.

{}``Found a screw-driver and some screws on the wash-hand stand.
Seems to have smoked heavily during the night, too. Here are four
cigar-ends that I picked out of the fireplace.''

{}``Hum!''\ said Holmes, {}``have you got his cigar-holder?''

{}``No, I have seen none.''

{}``His cigar-case, then?''

{}``Yes, it was in his coat-pocket.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{memho11-resi-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Holmes opened it and smelled
the single cigar which it contained.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Holmes opened it and smelled the single cigar which it contained.

{}``Oh, this is an Havana, and these others are cigars of the peculiar
sort which are imported by the Dutch from their East Indian colonies.
They are usually wrapped in straw, you know, and are thinner for their
length than any other brand.'' He picked up the four ends and examined
them with his pocket-lens.

{}``Two of these have been smoked from a holder and two without,''
said he. {}``Two have been cut by a not very sharp knife, and two
have had the ends bitten off by a set of excellent teeth. This is
no suicide, Mr.\ Lanner. It is a very deeply planned and cold-blooded
murder.''

{}``Impossible!''\ cried the inspector.

{}``And why?''

{}``Why should any one murder a man in so clumsy a fashion as by
hanging him?''

{}``That is what we have to find out.''

{}``How could they get in?''

{}``Through the front door.''

{}``It was barred in the morning.''

{}``Then it was barred after them.''

{}``How do you know?''

{}``I saw their traces. Excuse me a moment, and I may be able to
give you some further information about it.''

He went over to the door, and turning the lock he examined it in his
methodical way. Then he took out the key, which was on the inside,
and inspected that also. The bed, the carpet, the chairs the mantelpiece,
the dead body, and the rope were each in turn examined, until at last
he professed himself satisfied, and with my aid and that of the inspector
cut down the wretched object and laid it reverently under a sheet.

{}``How about this rope?''\ he asked.

{}``It is cut off this,'' said Dr.\ Trevelyan, drawing a large
coil from under the bed. {}``He was morbidly nervous of fire, and
always kept this beside him, so that he might escape by the window
in case the stairs were burning.''

{}``That must have saved them trouble,'' said Holmes, thoughtfully.
{}``Yes, the actual facts are very plain, and I shall be surprised
if by the afternoon I cannot give you the reasons for them as well.
I will take this photograph of Blessington, which I see upon the mantelpiece,
as it may help me in my inquiries.''

{}``But you have told us nothing!''\ cried the doctor.

{}``Oh, there can be no doubt as to the sequence of events,'' said
Holmes. {}``There were three of them in it: the young man, the old
man, and a third, to whose identity I have no clue. The first two,
I need hardly remark, are the same who masqueraded as the Russian
count and his son, so we can give a very full description of them.
They were admitted by a confederate inside the house. If I might offer
you a word of advice, Inspector, it would be to arrest the page, who,
as I understand, has only recently come into your service, Doctor.''

{}``The young imp cannot be found,'' said Dr.\ Trevelyan; {}``the
maid and the cook have just been searching for him.''

Holmes shrugged his shoulders.

{}``He has played a not unimportant part in this drama,'' said he.
{}``The three men having ascended the stairs, which they did on tiptoe,
the elder man first, the younger man second, and the unknown man in
the rear\mdsh{---}''

{}``My dear Holmes!''\ I ejaculated.

{}``Oh, there could be no question as to the superimposing of the
footmarks. I had the advantage of learning which was which last night.
They ascended, then, to Mr.\ Blessington's room, the door of which
they found to be locked. With the help of a wire, however, they forced
round the key. Even without the lens you will perceive, by the scratches
on this ward, where the pressure was applied.

{}``On entering the room their first proceeding must have been to
gag Mr.\ Blessington. He may have been asleep, or he may have been
so paralyzed with terror as to have been unable to cry out. These
walls are thick, and it is conceivable that his shriek, if he had
time to utter one, was unheard.

{}``Having secured him, it is evident to me that a consultation of
some sort was held. Probably it was something in the nature of a judicial
proceeding. It must have lasted for some time, for it was then that
these cigars were smoked. The older man sat in that wicker chair;
it was he who used the cigar-holder. The younger man sat over yonder;
he knocked his ash off against the chest of drawers. The third fellow
paced up and down. Blessington, I think, sat upright in the bed, but
of that I cannot be absolutely certain.

{}``Well, it ended by their taking Blessington and hanging him. The
matter was so prearranged that it is my belief that they brought with
them some sort of block or pulley which might serve as a gallows.
That screw-driver and those screws were, as I conceive, for fixing
it up. Seeing the hook, however they naturally saved themselves the
trouble. Having finished their work they made off, and the door was
barred behind them by their confederate.''

We had all listened with the deepest interest to this sketch of the
night's doings, which Holmes had deduced from signs so subtle and
minute that, even when he had pointed them out to us, we could scarcely
follow him in his reasoning. The inspector hurried away on the instant
to make inquiries about the page, while Holmes and I returned to Baker
Street for breakfast.

{}``I'll be back by three,'' said he, when we had finished our meal.
{}``Both the inspector and the doctor will meet me here at that hour,
and I hope by that time to have cleared up any little obscurity which
the case may still present.''

\bigskip{}
Our visitors arrived at the appointed time, but it was a quarter to
four before my friend put in an appearance. From his expression as
he entered, however, I could see that all had gone well with him.

{}``Any news, Inspector?''

{}``We have got the boy, sir.''

{}``Excellent, and I have got the men.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-resi-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``You have got them!'' we
cried.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``You have got them!'' we cried, all three.

{}``Well, at least I have got their identity. This so-called Blessington
is, as I expected, well known at headquarters, and so are his assailants.
Their names are Biddle, Hayward, and Moffat.''

{}``The Worthingdon bank gang,'' cried the inspector.

{}``Precisely,'' said Holmes.

{}``Then Blessington must have been Sutton.''

{}``Exactly,'' said Holmes.

{}``Why, that makes it as clear as crystal,'' said the inspector.

But Trevelyan and I looked at each other in bewilderment.

{}``You must surely remember the great Worthingdon bank business,''
said Holmes. {}``Five men were in it\mdsh{---}these four and a fifth
called Cartwright. Tobin, the care-taker, was murdered, and the thieves
got away with seven thousand pounds. This was in 1875. They were all
five arrested, but the evidence against them was by no means conclusive.
This Blessington or Sutton, who was the worst of the gang, turned
informer. On his evidence Cartwright was hanged and the other three
got fifteen years apiece. When they got out the other day, which was
some years before their full term, they set themselves, as you perceive,
to hunt down the traitor and to avenge the death of their comrade
upon him. Twice they tried to get at him and failed; a third time,
you see, it came off. Is there anything further which I can explain,
Dr. Trevelyan?''

{}``I think you have made it all remarkably clear,'' said the doctor.
{}``No doubt the day on which he was perturbed was the day when he
had seen of their release in the newspapers.''

{}``Quite so. His talk about a burglary was the merest blind.''

{}``But why could he not tell you this?''

{}``Well, my dear sir, knowing the vindictive character of his old
associates, he was trying to hide his own identity from everybody
as long as he could. His secret was a shameful one, and he could not
bring himself to divulge it. However, wretch as he was, he was still
living under the shield of British law, and I have no doubt, Inspector,
that you will see that, though that shield may fail to guard, the
sword of justice is still there to avenge.''

Such were the singular circumstances in connection with the Resident
Patient and the Brook Street Doctor. From that night nothing has been
seen of the three murderers by the police, and it is surmised at Scotland
Yard that they were among the passengers of the ill-fated steamer
\emph{Norah Creina}, which was lost some years ago with all hands
upon the Portuguese coast, some leagues to the north of Oporto. The
proceedings against the page broke down for want of evidence, and
the Brook Street Mystery, as it was called, has never until now been
fully dealt with in any public print.


\chapter*{\raggedright Adventure IX. The Greek Interpreter}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Adventure IX. The Greek Interpreter}

\markboth{Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes}{The Greek Interpreter}

During my long and intimate acquaintance with Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes
I had never heard him refer to his relations, and hardly ever to his
own early life. This reticence upon his part had increased the somewhat
inhuman effect which he produced upon me, until sometimes I found
myself regarding him as an isolated phenomenon, a brain without a
heart, as deficient in human sympathy as he was pre-eminent in intelligence.
His aversion to women and his disinclination to form new friendships
were both typical of his unemotional character, but not more so than
his complete suppression of every reference to his own people. I had
come to believe that he was an orphan with no relatives living, but
one day, to my very great surprise, he began to talk to me about his
brother.

It was after tea on a summer evening, and the conversation, which
had roamed in a desultory, spasmodic fashion from golf clubs to the
causes of the change in the obliquity of the ecliptic, came round
at last to the question of atavism and hereditary aptitudes. The point
under discussion was, how far any singular gift in an individual was
due to his ancestry and how far to his own early training.

{}``In your own case,'' said I, {}``from all that you have told
me, it seems obvious that your faculty of observation and your peculiar
facility for deduction are due to your own systematic training.''

{}``To some extent,'' he answered, thoughtfully. {}``My ancestors
were country squires, who appear to have led much the same life as
is natural to their class. But, none the less, my turn that way is
in my veins, and may have come with my grandmother, who was the sister
of Vernet, the French artist. Art in the blood is liable to take the
strangest forms.''

{}``But how do you know that it is hereditary?''

{}``Because my brother Mycroft possesses it in a larger degree than
I do.''

This was news to me indeed. If there were another man with such singular
powers in England, how was it that neither police nor public had heard
of him? I put the question, with a hint that it was my companion's
modesty which made him acknowledge his brother as his superior. Holmes
laughed at my suggestion.

{}``My dear Watson,'' said he, {}``I cannot agree with those who
rank modesty among the virtues. To the logician all things should
be seen exactly as they are, and to underestimate one's self is as
much a departure from truth as to exaggerate one's own powers. When
I say, therefore, that Mycroft has better powers of observation than
I, you may take it that I am speaking the exact and literal truth.''

{}``Is he your junior?''

{}``Seven years my senior.''

{}``How comes it that he is unknown?''

{}``Oh, he is very well known in his own circle.''

{}``Where, then?''

{}``Well, in the Diogenes Club, for example.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-gree-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Holmes pulled out his watch.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
I had never heard of the institution, and my face must have proclaimed
as much, for Sherlock Holmes pulled out his watch.

{}``The Diogenes Club is the queerest club in London, and Mycroft
one of the queerest men. He's always there from quarter to five to
twenty to eight. It's six now, so if you care for a stroll this beautiful
evening I shall be very happy to introduce you to two curiosities.''

{}``Five minutes later we were in the street, walking towards Regent's
Circus.

{}``You wonder,'' said my companion, {}``why it is that Mycroft
does not use his powers for detective work. He is incapable of it.''

{}``But I thought you said\mdsh{---}''

{}``I said that he was my superior in observation and deduction.
If the art of the detective began and ended in reasoning from an arm-chair,
my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived. But
he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way
to verify his own solution, and would rather be considered wrong than
take the trouble to prove himself right. Again and again I have taken
a problem to him, and have received an explanation which has afterwards
proved to be the correct one. And yet he was absolutely incapable
of working out the practical points which must be gone into before
a case could be laid before a judge or jury.''

{}``It is not his profession, then?''

{}``By no means. What is to me a means of livelihood is to him the
merest hobby of a dilettante. He has an extraordinary faculty for
figures, and audits the books in some of the government departments.
Mycroft lodges in Pall Mall, and he walks round the corner into Whitehall
every morning and back every evening. From year's end to year's end
he takes no other exercise, and is seen nowhere else, except only
in the Diogenes Club, which is just opposite his rooms.''

{}``I cannot recall the name.''

{}``Very likely not. There are many men in London, you know, who,
some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company
of their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and
the latest periodicals. It is for the convenience of these that the
Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable
and unclubable men in town. No member is permitted to take the least
notice of any other one. Save in the Stranger's Room, no talking is,
under any circumstances, allowed, and three offences, if brought to
the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion.
My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very
soothing atmosphere.''

We had reached Pall Mall as we talked, and were walking down it from
the St.\ James's end. Sherlock Holmes stopped at a door some little
distance from the Carlton, and, cautioning me not to speak, he led
the way into the hall. Through the glass paneling I caught a glimpse
of a large and luxurious room, in which a considerable number of men
were sitting about and reading papers, each in his own little nook.
Holmes showed me into a small chamber which looked out into Pall Mall,
and then, leaving me for a minute, he came back with a companion whom
I knew could only be his brother.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{memho11-gree-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Mycroft Holmes.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Mycroft Holmes was a much larger and stouter man than Sherlock. His
body was absolutely corpulent, but his face, though massive, had preserved
something of the sharpness of expression which was so remarkable in
that of his brother. His eyes, which were of a peculiarly light, watery
gray, seemed to always retain that far-away, introspective look which
I had only observed in Sherlock's when he was exerting his full powers.

{}``I am glad to meet you, sir,'' said he, putting out a broad,
fat hand like the flipper of a seal. {}``I hear of Sherlock everywhere
since you became his chronicler. By the way, Sherlock, I expected
to see you round last week, to consult me over that Manor House case.
I thought you might be a little out of your depth.''

{}``No, I solved it,'' said my friend, smiling.

{}``It was Adams, of course.''

{}``Yes, it was Adams.''

{}``I was sure of it from the first.'' The two sat down together
in the bow-window of the club. {}``To any one who wishes to study
mankind this is the spot,'' said Mycroft. {}``Look at the magnificent
types! Look at these two men who are coming towards us, for example.''

{}``The billiard-marker and the other?''

{}``Precisely. What do you make of the other?''

The two men had stopped opposite the window. Some chalk marks over
the waistcoat pocket were the only signs of billiards which I could
see in one of them. The other was a very small, dark fellow, with
his hat pushed back and several packages under his arm.

{}``An old soldier, I perceive,'' said Sherlock.

{}``And very recently discharged,'' remarked the brother.

{}``Served in India, I see.''

{}``And a non-commissioned officer.''

{}``Royal Artillery, I fancy,'' said Sherlock.

{}``And a widower.''

{}``But with a child.''

{}``Children, my dear boy, children.''

{}``Come,'' said I, laughing, {}``this is a little too much.''

{}``Surely,'' answered Holmes, {}``it is not hard to say that a
man with that bearing, expression of authority, and sunbaked skin,
is a soldier, is more than a private, and is not long from India.''

{}``That he has not left the service long is shown by his still wearing
is ammunition boots, as they are called,'' observed Mycroft.

{}``He had not the cavalry stride, yet he wore his hat on one side,
as is shown by the lighter skin of that side of his brow. His weight
is against his being a sapper. He is in the artillery.''

{}``Then, of course, his complete mourning shows that he has lost
some one very dear. The fact that he is doing his own shopping looks
as though it were his wife. He has been buying things for children,
you perceive. There is a rattle, which shows that one of them is very
young. The wife probably died in childbed. The fact that he has a
picture-book under his arm shows that there is another child to be
thought of.''

I began to understand what my friend meant when he said that his brother
possessed even keener faculties that he did himself. He glanced across
at me and smiled. Mycroft took snuff from a tortoise-shell box, and
brushed away the wandering grains from his coat front with a large,
red silk handkerchief.

{}``By the way, Sherlock,'' said he, {}``I have had something quite
after your own heart\mdsh{---}a most singular problem\mdsh{---}submitted
to my judgment. I really had not the energy to follow it up save in
a very incomplete fashion, but it gave me a basis for some pleasing
speculation. If you would care to hear the facts\mbox{----}''

{}``My dear Mycroft, I should be delighted.''

The brother scribbled a note upon a leaf of his pocket-book, and,
ringing the bell, he handed it to the waiter.

{}``I have asked Mr.\ Melas to step across,'' said he. {}``He
lodges on the floor above me, and I have some slight acquaintance
with him, which led him to come to me in his perplexity. Mr.\ Melas
is a Greek by extraction, as I understand, and he is a remarkable
linguist. He earns his living partly as interpreter in the law courts
and partly by acting as guide to any wealthy Orientals who may visit
the Northumberland Avenue hotels. I think I will leave him to tell
his very remarkable experience in his own fashion.''

A few minutes later we were joined by a short, stout man whose olive
face and coal-black hair proclaimed his Southern origin, though his
speech was that of an educated Englishman. He shook hands eagerly
with Sherlock Holmes, and his dark eyes sparkled with pleasure when
he understood that the specialist was anxious to hear his story.

{}``I do not believe that the police credit me\mdsh{---}on my word,
I do not,'' said he in a wailing voice. {}``Just because they have
never heard of it before, they think that such a thing cannot be.
But I know that I shall never be easy in my mind until I know what
has become of my poor man with the sticking-plaster upon his face.''

{}``I am all attention,'' said Sherlock Holmes.

{}``This is Wednesday evening,'' said Mr.\ Melas. {}``Well then,
it was Monday night\mdsh{---}only two days ago, you understand\mdsh{---}that
all this happened. I am an interpreter, as perhaps my neighbor there
has told you. I interpret all languages\mdsh{---}or nearly all\mdsh{---}but
as I am a Greek by birth and with a Grecian name, it is with that
particular tongue that I am principally associated. For many years
I have been the chief Greek interpreter in London, and my name is
very well known in the hotels.

It happens not unfrequently that I am sent for at strange hours by
foreigners who get into difficulties, or by travelers who arrive late
and wish my services. I was not surprised, therefore, on Monday night
when a Mr.\ Latimer, a very fashionably dressed young man, came up
to my rooms and asked me to accompany him in a cab which was waiting
at the door. A Greek friend had come to see him upon business, he
said, and as he could speak nothing but his own tongue, the services
of an interpreter were indispensable. He gave me to understand that
his house was some little distance off, in Kensington, and he seemed
to be in a great hurry, bustling me rapidly into the cab when we had
descended to the street.

{}``I say into the cab, but I soon became doubtful as to whether
it was not a carriage in which I found myself. It was certainly more
roomy than the ordinary four-wheeled disgrace to London, and the fittings,
though frayed, were of rich quality. Mr.\ Latimer seated himself
opposite to me and we started off through Charing Cross and up the
Shaftesbury Avenue. We had come out upon Oxford Street and I had ventured
some remark as to this being a roundabout way to Kensington, when
my words were arrested by the extraordinary conduct of my companion.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-gree-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``He drew up the window.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``He began by drawing a most formidable-looking bludgeon loaded
with lead from his pocket, and switching it backward and forward several
times, as if to test its weight and strength. Then he placed it without
a word upon the seat beside him. Having done this, he drew up the
windows on each side, and I found to my astonishment that they were
covered with paper so as to prevent my seeing through them.

{}```I am sorry to cut off your view, Mr.\ Melas,' said he. `The
fact is that I have no intention that you should see what the place
is to which we are driving. It might possibly be inconvenient to me
if you could find your way there again.'

{}``As you can imagine, I was utterly taken aback by such an address.
My companion was a powerful, broad-shouldered young fellow, and, apart
from the weapon, I should not have had the slightest chance in a struggle
with him.

{}```This is very extraordinary conduct, Mr.\ Latimer,' I stammered.
`You must be aware that what you are doing is quite illegal.'

{}```It is somewhat of a liberty, no doubt,' said he, `but we'll
make it up to you. I must warn you, however, Mr.\ Melas, that if
at any time to-night you attempt to raise an alarm or do anything
which is against my interests, you will find it a very serious thing.
I beg you to remember that no one knows where you are, and that, whether
you are in this carriage or in my house, you are equally in my power.'

{}``His words were quiet, but he had a rasping way of saying them
which was very menacing. I sat in silence wondering what on earth
could be his reason for kidnapping me in this extraordinary fashion.
Whatever it might be, it was perfectly clear that there was no possible
use in my resisting, and that I could only wait to see what might
befall.

{}``For nearly two hours we drove without my having the least clue
as to where we were going. Sometimes the rattle of the stones told
of a paved causeway, and at others our smooth, silent course suggested
asphalt; but, save by this variation in sound, there was nothing at
all which could in the remotest way help me to form a guess as to
where we were. The paper over each window was impenetrable to light,
and a blue curtain was drawn across the glass work in front. It was
a quarter-past seven when we left Pall Mall, and my watch showed me
that it was ten minutes to nine when we at last came to a standstill.
My companion let down the window, and I caught a glimpse of a low,
arched doorway with a lamp burning above it. As I was hurried from
the carriage it swung open, and I found myself inside the house, with
a vague impression of a lawn and trees on each side of me as I entered.
Whether these were private grounds, however, or bona-fide country
was more than I could possibly venture to say.

{}``There was a colored gas-lamp inside which was turned so low that
I could see little save that the hall was of some size and hung with
pictures. In the dim light I could make out that the person who had
opened the door was a small, mean-looking, middle-aged man with rounded
shoulders. As he turned towards us the glint of the light showed me
that he was wearing glasses.

{}```Is this Mr.\ Melas, Harold?' said he.

{}```Yes.'

{}```Well done, well done! No ill-will, Mr.\ Melas, I hope, but
we could not get on without you. If you deal fair with us you'll not
regret it, but if you try any tricks, God help you!' He spoke in a
nervous, jerky fashion, and with little giggling laughs in between,
but somehow he impressed me with fear more than the other.

{}```What do you want with me?' I asked.

{}```Only to ask a few questions of a Greek gentleman who is visiting
us, and to let us have the answers. But say no more than you are told
to say, or\mdsh{---}' here came the nervous giggle again\mdsh{---}`you
had better never have been born.'

{}``As he spoke he opened a door and showed the way into a room which
appeared to be very richly furnished, but again the only light was
afforded by a single lamp half-turned down. The chamber was certainly
large, and the way in which my feet sank into the carpet as I stepped
across it told me of its richness. I caught glimpses of velvet chairs,
a high white marble mantel-piece, and what seemed to be a suit of
Japanese armor at one side of it. There was a chair just under the
lamp, and the elderly man motioned that I should sit in it. The younger
had left us, but he suddenly returned through another door, leading
with him a gentleman clad in some sort of loose dressing-gown who
moved slowly towards us. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-gree-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``I was thrilled with horror.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
As he came into the circle of dim light which enabled me to see him
more clearly I was thrilled with horror at his appearance. He was
deadly pale and terribly emaciated, with the protruding, brilliant
eyes of a man whose spirit was greater than his strength. But what
shocked me more than any signs of physical weakness was that his face
was grotesquely criss-crossed with sticking-plaster, and that one
large pad of it was fastened over his mouth.

{}```Have you the slate, Harold?' cried the older man, as this strange
being fell rather than sat down into a chair. `Are his hands loose?
Now, then, give him the pencil. You are to ask the questions, Mr.\ Melas,
and he will write the answers. Ask him first of all whether he is
prepared to sign the papers?'

{}``The man's eyes flashed fire.

{}```Never!' he wrote in Greek upon the slate.

{}```On no condition?' I asked, at the bidding of our tyrant.

{}```Only if I see her married in my presence by a Greek priest whom
I know.'

{}``The man giggled in his venomous way.

{}```You know what awaits you, then?'

{}```I care nothing for myself.'

{}``These are samples of the questions and answers which made up
our strange half-spoken, half-written conversation. Again and again
I had to ask him whether he would give in and sign the documents.
Again and again I had the same indignant reply. But soon a happy thought
came to me. I took to adding on little sentences of my own to each
question, innocent ones at first, to test whether either of our companions
knew anything of the matter, and then, as I found that they showed
no signs I played a more dangerous game. Our conversation ran something
like this:

{}```You can do no good by this obstinacy. \emph{Who are you?}'

{}```I care not. \emph{I am a stranger in London.}'

{}```Your fate will be upon your own head. \emph{How long have you
been here?}'

{}```Let it be so. \emph{Three weeks}.'

{}```The property can never be yours. \emph{What ails you?}'

{}```It shall not go to villains. \emph{They are starving me}.'

{}```You shall go free if you sign. \emph{What house is this?}'

{}```I will never sign. \emph{I do not know}.'

{}```You are not doing her any service. \emph{What is your name?}'

{}```Let me hear her say so. \emph{Kratides}.'

{}```You shall see her if you sign. \emph{Where are you from?}'

{}```Then I shall never see her. \emph{Athens}.'

{}``Another five minutes, Mr.\ Holmes, and I should have wormed
out the whole story under their very noses. My very next question
might have cleared the matter up, but at that instant the door opened
and a woman stepped into the room. I could not see her clearly enough
to know more than that she was tall and graceful, with black hair,
and clad in some sort of loose white gown.

{}```Harold,' said she, speaking English with a broken accent. `I
could not stay away longer. It is so lonely up there with only\mdsh{---}Oh,
my God, it is Paul!'

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-gree-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Sophy! Sophy!''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``These last words were in Greek, and at the same instant the man
with a convulsive effort tore the plaster from his lips, and screaming
out `Sophy! Sophy!'\ rushed into the woman's arms. Their embrace
was but for an instant, however, for the younger man seized the woman
and pushed her out of the room, while the elder easily overpowered
his emaciated victim, and dragged him away through the other door.
For a moment I was left alone in the room, and I sprang to my feet
with some vague idea that I might in some way get a clue to what this
house was in which I found myself. Fortunately, however, I took no
steps, for looking up I saw that the older man was standing in the
door-way with his eyes fixed upon me.

{}```That will do, Mr.\ Melas,' said he. `You perceive that we have
taken you into our confidence over some very private business. We
should not have troubled you, only that our friend who speaks Greek
and who began these negotiations has been forced to return to the
East. It was quite necessary for us to find some one to take his place,
and we were fortunate in hearing of your powers.'

{}``I bowed.

{}```There are five sovereigns here,' said he, walking up to me,
`which will, I hope, be a sufficient fee. But remember,' he added,
tapping me lightly on the chest and giggling, `if you speak to a human
soul about this\mdsh{---}one human soul, mind\mdsh{---}well, may
God have mercy upon your soul!''

{}``I cannot tell you the loathing and horror with which this insignificant-looking
man inspired me. I could see him better now as the lamp-light shone
upon him. His features were peaky and sallow, and his little pointed
beard was thready and ill-nourished. He pushed his face forward as
he spoke and his lips and eyelids were continually twitching like
a man with St. Vitus's dance. I could not help thinking that his strange,
catchy little laugh was also a symptom of some nervous malady. The
terror of his face lay in his eyes, however, steel gray, and glistening
coldly with a malignant, inexorable cruelty in their depths.

{}```We shall know if you speak of this,' said he. `We have our own
means of information. Now you will find the carriage waiting, and
my friend will see you on your way.'

{}``I was hurried through the hall and into the vehicle, again obtaining
that momentary glimpse of trees and a garden. Mr.\ Latimer followed
closely at my heels, and took his place opposite to me without a word.
In silence we again drove for an interminable distance with the windows
raised, until at last, just after midnight, the carriage pulled up.

{}```You will get down here, Mr.\ Melas,' said my companion. `I
am sorry to leave you so far from your house, but there is no alternative.
Any attempt upon your part to follow the carriage can only end in
injury to yourself.'

{}``He opened the door as he spoke, and I had hardly time to spring
out when the coachman lashed the horse and the carriage rattled away.
I looked around me in astonishment. I was on some sort of a heathy
common mottled over with dark clumps of furze-bushes. Far away stretched
a line of houses, with a light here and there in the upper windows.
On the other side I saw the red signal-lamps of a railway.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-gree-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``I saw some one coming towards
me.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``The carriage which had brought me was already out of sight. I
stood gazing round and wondering where on earth I might be, when I
saw some one coming towards me in the darkness. As he came up to me
I made out that he was a railway porter.

{}```Can you tell me what place this is?'\ I asked.

{}```Wandsworth Common,' said he.

{}```Can I get a train into town?'

{}```If you walk on a mile or so to Clapham Junction,' said he, `you'll
just be in time for the last to Victoria.'

{}``So that was the end of my adventure, Mr.\ Holmes. I do not know
where I was, nor whom I spoke with, nor anything save what I have
told you. But I know that there is foul play going on, and I want
to help that unhappy man if I can. I told the whole story to Mr.\ Mycroft
Holmes next morning, and subsequently to the police.''

We all sat in silence for some little time after listening to this
extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock looked across at his brother.

{}``Any steps?'' he asked.

Mycroft picked up the \emph{Daily News}, which was lying on the side-table.

{}```Anybody supplying any information to the whereabouts of a Greek
gentleman named Paul Kratides, from Athens, who is unable to speak
English, will be rewarded. A similar reward paid to any one giving
information about a Greek lady whose first name is Sophy. X 2473.'
That was in all the dailies. No answer.''

{}``How about the Greek Legation?''

{}``I have inquired. They know nothing.''

{}``A wire to the head of the Athens police, then?''

{}``Sherlock has all the energy of the family,'' said Mycroft, turning
to me. {}``Well, you take the case up by all means, and let me know
if you do any good.''

{}``Certainly,'' answered my friend, rising from his chair. {}``I'll
let you know, and Mr.\ Melas also. In the meantime, Mr.\ Melas,
I should certainly be on my guard, if I were you, for of course they
must know through these advertisements that you have betrayed them.''

As we walked home together, Holmes stopped at a telegraph office and
sent off several wires.

{}``You see, Watson,'' he remarked, {}``our evening has been by
no means wasted. Some of my most interesting cases have come to me
in this way through Mycroft. The problem which we have just listened
to, although it can admit of but one explanation, has still some distinguishing
features.''

{}``You have hopes of solving it?''

{}``Well, knowing as much as we do, it will be singular indeed if
we fail to discover the rest. You must yourself have formed some theory
which will explain the facts to which we have listened.''

{}``In a vague way, yes.''

{}``What was your idea, then?''

{}``It seemed to me to be obvious that this Greek girl had been carried
off by the young Englishman named Harold Latimer.''

{}``Carried off from where?''

{}``Athens, perhaps.''

Sherlock Holmes shook his head. {}``This young man could not talk
a word of Greek. The lady could talk English fairly well. Inference\mdsh{---}that
she had been in England some little time, but he had not been in Greece.''

{}``Well, then, we will presume that she had come on a visit to England,
and that this Harold had persuaded her to fly with him.''

{}``That is more probable.''

{}``Then the brother\mdsh{---}for that, I fancy, must be the relationship\mdsh{---}comes
over from Greece to interfere. He imprudently puts himself into the
power of the young man and his older associate. They seize him and
use violence towards him in order to make him sign some papers to
make over the girl's fortune\mdsh{---}of which he may be trustee\mdsh{---}to
them. This he refuses to do. In order to negotiate with him they have
to get an interpreter, and they pitch upon this Mr.\ Melas, having
used some other one before. The girl is not told of the arrival of
her brother, and finds it out by the merest accident.''

{}``Excellent, Watson!''\ cried Holmes. {}``I really fancy that
you are not far from the truth. You see that we hold all the cards,
and we have only to fear some sudden act of violence on their part.
If they give us time we must have them.''

{}``But how can we find where this house lies?''

{}``Well, if our conjecture is correct and the girl's name is or
was Sophy Kratides, we should have no difficulty in tracing her. That
must be our main hope, for the brother is, of course, a complete stranger.
It is clear that some time has elapsed since this Harold established
these relations with the girl\mdsh{---}some weeks, at any rate\mdsh{---}since
the brother in Greece has had time to hear of it and come across.
If they have been living in the same place during this time, it is
probable that we shall have some answer to Mycroft's advertisement.''

We had reached our house in Baker Street while we had been talking.
Holmes ascended the stair first, and as he opened the door of our
room he gave a start of surprise. Looking over his shoulder, I was
equally astonished. His brother Mycroft was sitting smoking in the
arm-chair.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-gree-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Come in,'' said he blandly.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Come in, Sherlock! Come in, sir,'' said he blandly, smiling
at our surprised faces. {}``You don't expect such energy from me,
do you, Sherlock? But somehow this case attracts me.''

{}``How did you get here?''

{}``I passed you in a hansom.''

{}``There has been some new development?''

{}``I had an answer to my advertisement.''

{}``Ah!''

{}``Yes, it came within a few minutes of your leaving.''

{}``And to what effect?''

Mycroft Holmes took out a sheet of paper.

{}``Here it is,'' said he, {}``written with a J pen on royal cream
paper by a middle-aged man with a weak constitution. \begin{quote}`Sir,'
he says, `in answer to your advertisement of to-day's date, I beg
to inform you that I know the young lady in question very well. If
you should care to call upon me I could give you some particulars
as to her painful history. She is living at present at The Myrtles,
Beckenham. Yours faithfully, \noun{J.\ Davenport}.'\end{quote}

{}``He writes from Lower Brixton,'' said Mycroft Holmes. 

{}``Do you not think that we might drive to him now, Sherlock, and
learn these particulars?''

{}``My dear Mycroft, the brother's life is more valuable than the
sister's story. I think we should call at Scotland Yard for Inspector
Gregson, and go straight out to Beckenham. We know that a man is being
done to death, and every hour may be vital.''

{}``Better pick up Mr.\ Melas on our way,'' I suggested. {}``We
may need an interpreter.''

{}``Excellent,'' said Sherlock Holmes. {}``Send the boy for a four-wheeler,
and we shall be off at once.'' He opened the table-drawer as he spoke,
and I noticed that he slipped his revolver into his pocket. {}``Yes,''
said he, in answer to my glance; {}``I should say from what we have
heard, that we are dealing with a particularly dangerous gang.''

It was almost dark before we found ourselves in Pall Mall, at the
rooms of Mr.\ Melas. A gentleman had just called for him, and he
was gone.

{}``Can you tell me where?''\ asked Mycroft Holmes.

{}``I don't know, sir,'' answered the woman who had opened the door;
{}``I only know that he drove away with the gentleman in a carriage.''

{}``Did the gentleman give a name?''

{}``No, sir.''

{}``He wasn't a tall, handsome, dark young man?''

{}``Oh, no, sir. He was a little gentleman, with glasses, thin in
the face, but very pleasant in his ways, for he was laughing all the
time that he was talking.''

{}``Come along!''\ cried Sherlock Holmes, abruptly. {}``This grows
serious,'' he observed, as we drove to Scotland Yard. {}``These
men have got hold of Melas again. He is a man of no physical courage,
as they are well aware from their experience the other night. This
villain was able to terrorize him the instant that he got into his
presence. No doubt they want his professional services, but, having
used him, they may be inclined to punish him for what they will regard
as his treachery.''

Our hope was that, by taking train, we might get to Beckenham as soon
or sooner than the carriage. On reaching Scotland Yard, however, it
was more than an hour before we could get Inspector Gregson and comply
with the legal formalities which would enable us to enter the house.
It was a quarter to ten before we reached London Bridge, and half
past before the four of us alighted on the Beckenham platform. A drive
of half a mile brought us to The Myrtles\mdsh{---}a large, dark house
standing back from the road in its own grounds. Here we dismissed
our cab, and made our way up the drive together.

{}``The windows are all dark,'' remarked the inspector. {}``The
house seems deserted.''

{}``Our birds are flown and the nest empty,'' said Holmes.

{}``Why do you say so?''

{}``A carriage heavily loaded with luggage has passed out during
the last hour.''

The inspector laughed. {}``I saw the wheel-tracks in the light of
the gate-lamp, but where does the luggage come in?''

{}``You may have observed the same wheel-tracks going the other way.
But the outward-bound ones were very much deeper\mdsh{---}so much
so that we can say for a certainty that there was a very considerable
weight on the carriage.''

{}``You get a trifle beyond me there,'' said the inspector, shrugging
his shoulder. {}``It will not be an easy door to force, but we will
try if we cannot make some one hear us.''

He hammered loudly at the knocker and pulled at the bell, but without
any success. Holmes had slipped away, but he came back in a few minutes.

{}``I have a window open,'' said he.

{}``It is a mercy that you are on the side of the force, and not
against it, Mr.\ Holmes,'' remarked the inspector, as he noted the
clever way in which my friend had forced back the catch. {}``Well,
I think that under the circumstances we may enter without an invitation.''

One after the other we made our way into a large apartment, which
was evidently that in which Mr.\ Melas had found himself. The inspector
had lit his lantern, and by its light we could see the two doors,
the curtain, the lamp, and the suit of Japanese mail as he had described
them. On the table lay two glasses, and empty brandy-bottle, and the
remains of a meal.

{}``What is that?'' asked Holmes, suddenly.

We all stood still and listened. A low moaning sound was coming from
somewhere over our heads. Holmes rushed to the door and out into the
hall. The dismal noise came from upstairs. He dashed up, the inspector
and I at his heels, while his brother Mycroft followed as quickly
as his great bulk would permit.

Three doors faced up upon the second floor, and it was from the central
of these that the sinister sounds were issuing, sinking sometimes
into a dull mumble and rising again into a shrill whine. It was locked,
but the key had been left on the outside. Holmes flung open the door
and rushed in, but he was out again in an instant, with his hand to
his throat.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-gree-08.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``It's charcoal,'' he cried.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``It's charcoal,'' he cried. {}``Give it time. It will clear.''

Peering in, we could see that the only light in the room came from
a dull blue flame which flickered from a small brass tripod in the
centre. It threw a livid, unnatural circle upon the floor, while in
the shadows beyond we saw the vague loom of two figures which crouched
against the wall. From the open door there reeked a horrible poisonous
exhalation which set us gasping and coughing. Holmes rushed to the
top of the stairs to draw in the fresh air, and then, dashing into
the room, he threw up the window and hurled the brazen tripod out
into the garden.

{}``We can enter in a minute,'' he gasped, darting out again. {}``Where
is a candle? I doubt if we could strike a match in that atmosphere.
Hold the light at the door and we shall get them out, Mycroft, now!''

With a rush we got to the poisoned men and dragged them out into the
well-lit hall. Both of them were blue-lipped and insensible, with
swollen, congested faces and protruding eyes. Indeed, so distorted
were their features that, save for his black beard and stout figure,
we might have failed to recognize in one of them the Greek interpreter
who had parted from us only a few hours before at the Diogenes Club.
His hands and feet were securely strapped together, and he bore over
one eye the marks of a violent blow. The other, who was secured in
a similar fashion, was a tall man in the last stage of emaciation,
with several strips of sticking-plaster arranged in a grotesque pattern
over his face. He had ceased to moan as we laid him down, and a glance
showed me that for him at least our aid had come too late. Mr.\ Melas,
however, still lived, and in less than an hour, with the aid of ammonia
and brandy I had the satisfaction of seeing him open his eyes, and
of knowing that my hand had drawn him back from that dark valley in
which all paths meet.

It was a simple story which he had to tell, and one which did but
confirm our own deductions. His visitor, on entering his rooms, had
drawn a life-preserver from his sleeve, and had so impressed him with
the fear of instant and inevitable death that he had kidnapped him
for the second time. Indeed, it was almost mesmeric, the effect which
this giggling ruffian had produced upon the unfortunate linguist,
for he could not speak of him save with trembling hands and a blanched
cheek. He had been taken swiftly to Beckenham, and had acted as interpreter
in a second interview, even more dramatic than the first, in which
the two Englishmen had menaced their prisoner with instant death if
he did not comply with their demands. Finally, finding him proof against
every threat, they had hurled him back into his prison, and after
reproaching Melas with his treachery, which appeared from the newspaper
advertisement, they had stunned him with a blow from a stick, and
he remembered nothing more until he found us bending over him.

And this was the singular case of the Grecian Interpreter, the explanation
of which is still involved in some mystery. We were able to find out,
by communicating with the gentleman who had answered the advertisement,
that the unfortunate young lady came of a wealthy Grecian family,
and that she had been on a visit to some friends in England. While
there she had met a young man named Harold Latimer, who had acquired
an ascendancy over he and had eventually persuaded her to fly with
him. Her friends, shocked at the event, had contented themselves with
informing her brother at Athens, and had then washed their hands of
the matter. The brother, on his arrival in England, had imprudently
placed himself in the power of Latimer and of his associate, whose
name was Wilson Kemp\mdsh{---}that through his ignorance of the language
he was helpless in their hands, had kept him a prisoner, and had endeavored
by cruelty and starvation to make him sign away his own and his sister's
property. They had kept him in the house without the girl's knowledge,
and the plaster over the face had been for the purpose of making recognition
difficult in case she should ever catch a glimpse of him. Her feminine
perception, however, had instantly seen through the disguise when,
on the occasion of the interpreter's visit, she had seen him for the
first time. The poor girl, however, was herself a prisoner, for there
was no one about the house except the man who acted as coachman, and
his wife, both of whom were tools of the conspirators. Finding that
their secret was out, and that their prisoner was not to be coerced,
the two villains with the girl had fled away at a few hours' notice
from the furnished house which they had hired, having first, as they
thought, taken vengeance both upon the man who had defied and the
one who had betrayed them.

Months afterwards a curious newspaper cutting reached us from Buda-Pesth.
It told how two Englishmen who had been traveling with a woman had
met with a tragic end. They had each been stabbed, it seems, and the
Hungarian police were of opinion that they had quarreled and had inflicted
mortal injuries upon each other. Holmes, however, is, I fancy, of
a different way of thinking, and holds to this day that, if one could
find the Grecian girl, one might learn how the wrongs of herself and
her brother came to be avenged.


\chapter*{\raggedright Adventure X.\ The Naval Treaty}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Adventure X.The Naval Treaty}

\markboth{Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes}{The Naval Treaty}

The July which immediately succeeded my marriage was made memorable
by three cases of interest, in which I had the privilege of being
associated with Sherlock Holmes and of studying his methods. I find
them recorded in my notes under the headings of {}``The Adventure
of the Second Stain,'' {}``The Adventure of the Naval Treaty,''
and {}``The Adventure of the Tired Captain.'' The first of these,
however, deals with interests of such importance and implicates so
many of the first families in the kingdom that for many years it will
be impossible to make it public. No case, however, in which Holmes
was engaged has ever illustrated the value of his analytical methods
so clearly or has impressed those who were associated with him so
deeply. I still retain an almost verbatim report of the interview
in which he demonstrated the true facts of the case to Monsieur Dubugue
of the Paris police, and Fritz von Waldbaum, the well-known specialist
of Dantzig, both of whom had wasted their energies upon what proved
to be side-issues. The new century will have come, however, before
the story can be safely told. Meanwhile I pass on to the second on
my list, which promised also at one time to be of national importance,
and was marked by several incidents which give it a quite unique character.

During my school-days I had been intimately associated with a lad
named Percy Phelps, who was of much the same age as myself, though
he was two classes ahead of me. He was a very brilliant boy, and carried
away every prize which the school had to offer, finished his exploits
by winning a scholarship which sent him on to continue his triumphant
career at Cambridge. He was, I remember, extremely well connected,
and even when we were all little boys together we knew that his mother's
brother was Lord Holdhurst, the great conservative politician. This
gaudy relationship did him little good at school. On the contrary,
it seemed rather a piquant thing to us to chevy him about the playground
and hit him over the shins with a wicket. But it was another thing
when he came out into the world. I heard vaguely that his abilities
and the influences which he commanded had won him a good position
at the Foreign Office, and then he passed completely out of my mind
until the following letter recalled his existence:

\begin{quotation}
\noindent \noun{Briarbrae, Woking. My dear Watson,}---I have no
doubt that you can remember {}``Tadpole'' Phelps, who was in the
fifth form when you were in the third. It is possible even that you
may have heard that through my uncle's influence I obtained a good
appointment at the Foreign Office, and that I was in a situation of
trust and honor until a horrible misfortune came suddenly to blast
my career.

There is no use writing of the details of that dreadful event. In
the event of your acceding to my request it is probable that I shall
have to narrate them to you. I have only just recovered from nine
weeks of brain-fever, and am still exceedingly weak. Do you think
that you could bring your friend Mr.\ Holmes down to see me? I should
like to have his opinion of the case, though the authorities assure
me that nothing more can be done. Do try to bring him down, and as
soon as possible. Every minute seems an hour while I live in this
state of horrible suspense. Assure him that if I have not asked his
advice sooner it was not because I did not appreciate his talents,
but because I have been off my head ever since the blow fell. Now
I am clear again, though I dare not think of it too much for fear
of a relapse. I am still so weak that I have to write, as you see,
by dictating. Do try to bring him.

\noindent \hspace{\stretch{1}}Your old school-fellow,\hspace{\stretch{1}}

\hspace{\stretch{1}}\noun{Percy Phelps}.
\end{quotation}
There was something that touched me as I read this letter, something
pitiable in the reiterated appeals to bring Holmes. So moved was I
that even had it been a difficult matter I should have tried it, but
of course I knew well that Holmes loved his art, so that he was ever
as ready to bring his aid as his client could be to receive it. My
wife agreed with me that not a moment should be lost in laying the
matter before him, and so within an hour of breakfast-time I found
myself back once more in the old rooms in Baker Street.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-nava-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Holmes was working hard over
a chemical investigation.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Holmes was seated at his side-table clad in his dressing-gown, and
working hard over a chemical investigation. A large curved retort
was boiling furiously in the bluish flame of a Bunsen burner, and
the distilled drops were condensing into a two-litre measure. My friend
hardly glanced up as I entered, and I, seeing that his investigation
must be of importance, seated myself in an arm-chair and waited. He
dipped into this bottle or that, drawing out a few drops of each with
his glass pipette, and finally brought a test-tube containing a solution
over to the table. In his right hand he held a slip of litmus-paper.

{}``You come at a crisis, Watson,'' said he. {}``If this paper
remains blue, all is well. If it turns red, it means a man's life.''
He dipped it into the test-tube and it flushed at once into a dull,
dirty crimson. {}``Hum! I thought as much!'' he cried. {}``I will
be at your service in an instant, Watson. You will find tobacco in
the Persian slipper.'' He turned to his desk and scribbled off several
telegrams, which were handed over to the page-boy. Then he threw himself
down into the chair opposite, and drew up his knees until his fingers
clasped round his long, thin shins.

{}``A very commonplace little murder,'' said he. {}``You've got
something better, I fancy. You are the stormy petrel of crime, Watson.
What is it?''

I handed him the letter, which he read with the most concentrated
attention.

{}``It does not tell us very much, does it?'' he remarked, as he
handed it back to me.

{}``Hardly anything.''

{}``And yet the writing is of interest.''

{}``But the writing is not his own.''

{}``Precisely. It is a woman's.''

{}``A man's surely,'' I cried.

{}``No, a woman's, and a woman of rare character. You see, at the
commencement of an investigation it is something to know that your
client is in close contact with some one who, for good or evil, has
an exceptional nature. My interest is already awakened in the case.
If you are ready we will start at once for Woking, and see this diplomatist
who is in such evil case, and the lady to whom he dictates his letters.''

We were fortunate enough to catch an early train at Waterloo, and
in a little under an hour we found ourselves among the fir-woods and
the heather of Woking. Briarbrae proved to be a large detached house
standing in extensive grounds within a few minutes' walk of the station.
On sending in our cards we were shown into an elegantly appointed
drawing-room, where we were joined in a few minutes by a rather stout
man who received us with much hospitality. His age may have been nearer
forty than thirty, but his cheeks were so ruddy and his eyes so merry
that he still conveyed the impression of a plump and mischievous boy.

{}``I am so glad that you have come,'' said he, shaking our hands
with effusion. {}``Percy has been inquiring for you all morning.
Ah, poor old chap, he clings to any straw! His father and his mother
asked me to see you, for the mere mention of the subject is very painful
to them.''

{}``We have had no details yet,'' observed Holmes. {}``I perceive
that you are not yourself a member of the family.''

Our acquaintance looked surprised, and then, glancing down, he began
to laugh.

{}``Of course you saw the J H monogram on my locket,'' said he.
{}``For a moment I thought you had done something clever. Joseph
Harrison is my name, and as Percy is to marry my sister Annie I shall
at least be a relation by marriage. You will find my sister in his
room, for she has nursed him hand-and-foot this two months back. Perhaps
we'd better go in at once, for I know how impatient he is.''

The chamber in which we were shown was on the same floor as the drawing-room.
It was furnished partly as a sitting and partly as a bedroom, with
flowers arranged daintily in every nook and corner. A young man, very
pale and worn, was lying upon a sofa near the open window, through
which came the rich scent of the garden and the balmy summer air.
A woman was sitting beside him, who rose as we entered.

{}``Shall I leave, Percy?'' she asked.

He clutched her hand to detain her. {}``How are you, Watson?'' said
he, cordially. {}``I should never have known you under that moustache,
and I dare say you would not be prepared to swear to me. This I presume
is your celebrated friend, Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes?''

I introduced him in a few words, and we both sat down. The stout young
man had left us, but his sister still remained with her hand in that
of the invalid. She was a striking-looking woman, a little short and
thick for symmetry, but with a beautiful olive complexion, large,
dark, Italian eyes, and a wealth of deep black hair. Her rich tints
made the white face of her companion the more worn and haggard by
the contrast.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-nava-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``I won't waste your time,''
said he.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``I won't waste your time,'' said he, raising himself upon the
sofa. {}``I'll plunge into the matter without further preamble. I
was a happy and successful man, Mr.\ Holmes, and on the eve of being
married, when a sudden and dreadful misfortune wrecked all my prospects
in life.

{}``I was, as Watson may have told you, in the Foreign Office, and
through the influences of my uncle, Lord Holdhurst, I rose rapidly
to a responsible position. When my uncle became foreign minister in
this administration he gave me several missions of trust, and as I
always brought them to a successful conclusion, he came at last to
have the utmost confidence in my ability and tact.

{}``Nearly ten weeks ago\mdsh{---}to be more accurate, on the 23d
of May\mdsh{---}he called me into his private room, and, after complimenting
me on the good work which I had done, he informed me that he had a
new commission of trust for me to execute.

{}```This,' said he, taking a gray roll of paper from his bureau,
`is the original of that secret treaty between England and Italy of
which, I regret to say, some rumors have already got into the public
press. It is of enormous importance that nothing further should leak
out. The French or the Russian embassy would pay an immense sum to
learn the contents of these papers. They should not leave my bureau
were it not that it is absolutely necessary to have them copied. You
have a desk in your office?''

{}```Yes, sir.'

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-nava-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Then take the treaty.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```Then take the treaty and lock it up there. I shall give directions
that you may remain behind when the others go, so that you may copy
it at your leisure without fear of being overlooked. When you have
finished, relock both the original and the draft in the desk, and
hand them over to me personally to-morrow morning.'

{}``I took the papers and\mdsh{---}''

{}``Excuse me an instant,'' said Holmes. {}``Were you alone during
this conversation?''

{}``Absolutely.''

{}``In a large room?''

{}``Thirty feet each way.''

{}``In the centre?''

{}``Yes, about it.''

{}``And speaking low?''

{}``My uncle's voice is always remarkably low. I hardly spoke at
all.''

{}``Thank you,'' said Holmes, shutting his eyes; {}``pray go on.''

{}``I did exactly what he indicated, and waited until the other clerks
had departed. One of them in my room, Charles Gorot, had some arrears
of work to make up, so I left him there and went out to dine. When
I returned he was gone. I was anxious to hurry my work, for I knew
that Joseph\mdsh{---}the Mr.\ Harrison whom you saw just now\mdsh{---}was
in town, and that he would travel down to Woking by the eleven-o'clock
train, and I wanted if possible to catch it.

{}``When I came to examine the treaty I saw at once that it was of
such importance that my uncle had been guilty of no exaggeration in
what he had said. Without going into details, I may say that it defined
the position of Great Britain towards the Triple Alliance, and fore-shadowed
the policy which this country would pursue in the event of the French
fleet gaining a complete ascendancy over that of Italy in the Mediterranean.
The questions treated in it were purely naval. At the end were the
signatures of the high dignitaries who had signed it. I glanced my
eyes over it, and then settled down to my task of copying.

{}``It was a long document, written in the French language, and containing
twenty-six separate articles. I copied as quickly as I could, but
at nine o'clock I had only done nine articles, and it seemed hopeless
for me to attempt to catch my train. I was feeling drowsy and stupid,
partly from my dinner and also from the effects of a long day's work.
A cup of coffee would clear my brain. A commissionnaire remains all
night in a little lodge at the foot of the stairs, and is in the habit
of making coffee at his spirit-lamp for any of the officials who may
be working over time. I rang the bell, therefore, to summon him.

{}``To my surprise, it was a woman who answered the summons, a large,
coarse-faced, elderly woman, in an apron. She explained that she was
the commissionnaire's wife, who did the charing, and I gave her the
order for the coffee.

{}``I wrote two more articles and then, feeling more drowsy than
ever, I rose and walked up and down the room to stretch my legs. My
coffee had not yet come, and I wondered what was the cause of the
delay could be. Opening the door, I started down the corridor to find
out. There was a straight passage, dimly lighted, which led from the
room in which I had been working, and was the only exit from it. It
ended in a curving staircase, with the commissionnaire's lodge in
the passage at the bottom. Half way down this staircase is a small
landing, with another passage running into it at right angles. This
second one leads by means of a second small stair to a side door,
used by servants, and also as a short cut by clerks when coming from
Charles Street. Here is a rough chart of the place.''

\begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-3.jpg}\end{center}

{}``Thank you. I think that I quite follow you,'' said Sherlock
Holmes.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-nava-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Fast asleep in his box.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``It is of the utmost importance that you should notice this point.
I went down the stairs and into the hall, where I found the commissionnaire
fast asleep in his box, with the kettle boiling furiously upon the
spirit-lamp. I took off the kettle and blew out the lamp, for the
water was spurting over the floor. Then I put out my hand and was
about to shake the man, who was still sleeping soundly, when a bell
over his head rang loudly, and he woke with a start.

{}```Mr.\ Phelps, sir!' said he, looking at me in bewilderment.

{}```I came down to see if my coffee was ready.'

{}```I was boiling the kettle when I fell asleep, sir.' He looked
at me and then up at the still quivering bell with an ever-growing
astonishment upon his face.

{}```If you was here, sir, then who rang the bell?' he asked.

{}```The bell!' I cried. `What bell is it?'

{}```It's the bell of the room you were working in.'

{}``A cold hand seemed to close round my heart. Some one, then, was
in that room where my precious treaty lay upon the table. I ran frantically
up the stair and along the passage. There was no one in the corridors,
Mr.\ Holmes. There was no one in the room. All was exactly as I left
it, save only that the papers which had been committed to my care
had been taken from the desk on which they lay. The copy was there,
and the original was gone.''

Holmes sat up in his chair and rubbed his hands. I could see that
the problem was entirely to his heart. {}``Pray, what did you do
then?'' he murmured.

{}``I recognized in an instant that the thief must have come up the
stairs from the side door. Of course I must have met him if he had
come the other way.''

{}``You were satisfied that he could not have been concealed in the
room all the time, or in the corridor which you have just described
as dimly lighted?''

{}``It is absolutely impossible. A rat could not conceal himself
either in the room or the corridor. There is no cover at all.''

{}``Thank you. Pray proceed.''

{}``The commissionnaire, seeing by my pale face that something was
to be feared, had followed me upstairs. Now we both rushed along the
corridor and down the steep steps which led to Charles Street. The
door at the bottom was closed, but unlocked. We flung it open and
rushed out. I can distinctly remember that as we did so there came
three chimes from a neighboring clock. It was quarter to ten.''

{}``That is of enormous importance,'' said Holmes, making a note
upon his shirt-cuff.

{}``The night was very dark, and a thin, warm rain was falling. There
was no one in Charles Street, but a great traffic was going on, as
usual, in Whitehall, at the extremity. We rushed along the pavement,
bare-headed as we were, and at the far corner we found a policeman
standing.

{}```A robbery has been committed,' I gasped. `A document of immense
value has been stolen from the Foreign Office. Has any one passed
this way?'

{}```I have been standing here for a quarter of an hour, sir,' said
he; `only one person has passed during that time\mdsh{---}a woman,
tall and elderly, with a Paisley shawl.'

{}```Ah, that is only my wife,' cried the commissionnaire; `has no
one else passed?'

{}```No one.'

{}```Then it must be the other way that the thief took,' cried the
fellow, tugging at my sleeve.

{}``'But I was not satisfied, and the attempts which he made to draw
me away increased my suspicions.

{}```Which way did the woman go?' I cried.

{}```I don't know, sir. I noticed her pass, but I had no special
reason for watching her. She seemed to be in a hurry.'

{}```How long ago was it?'

{}```Oh, not very many minutes.'

{}```Within the last five?'

{}```Well, it could not be more than five.'

{}```You're only wasting your time, sir, and every minute now is
of importance,' cried the commissionnaire; `take my word for it that
my old woman has nothing to do with it, and come down to the other
end of the street. Well, if you won't, I will.' And with that he rushed
off in the other direction.

{}``But I was after him in an instant and caught him by the sleeve.

{}```Where do you live?' said I.

{}```16 Ivy Lane, Brixton,' he answered. `But don't let yourself
be drawn away upon a false scent, Mr.\ Phelps. Come to the other
end of the street and let us see if we can hear of anything.'

{}``Nothing was to be lost by following his advice. With the policeman
we both hurried down, but only to find the street full of traffic,
many people coming and going, but all only too eager to get to a place
of safety upon so wet a night. There was no lounger who could tell
us who had passed.

{}``Then we returned to the office, and searched the stairs and the
passage without result. The corridor which led to the room was laid
down with a kind of creamy linoleum which shows an impression very
easily. We examined it very carefully, but found no outline of any
footmark.''

{}``Had it been raining all evening?''

{}``Since about seven.''

{}``How is it, then, that the woman who came into the room about
nine left no traces with her muddy boots?''

{}``I am glad you raised the point. It occurred to me at the time.
The charwomen are in the habit of taking off their boots at the commissionnaire's
office, and putting on list slippers.''

{}``That is very clear. There were no marks, then, though the night
was a wet one? The chain of events is certainly one of extraordinary
interest. What did you do next?

{}``We examined the room also. There is no possibility of a secret
door, and the windows are quite thirty feet from the ground. Both
of them were fastened on the inside. The carpet prevents any possibility
of a trap-door, and the ceiling is of the ordinary whitewashed kind.
I will pledge my life that whoever stole my papers could only have
come through the door.''

{}``How about the fireplace?''

{}``They use none. There is a stove. The bell-rope hangs from the
wire just to the right of my desk. Whoever rang it must have come
right up to the desk to do it. But why should any criminal wish to
ring the bell? It is a most insoluble mystery.''

{}``Certainly the incident was unusual. What were your next steps?
You examined the room, I presume, to see if the intruder had left
any traces\mdsh{---}any cigar-end or dropped glove or hairpin or
other trifle?''

{}``There was nothing of the sort.''

{}``No smell?''

{}``Well, we never thought of that.''

{}``Ah, a scent of tobacco would have been worth a great deal to
us in such an investigation.''

{}``I never smoke myself, so I think I should have observed it if
there had been any smell of tobacco. There was absolutely no clue
of any kind. The only tangible fact was that the commissionnaire's
wife\mdsh{---}Mrs.\ Tangey was the name\mdsh{---}had hurried out
of the place. He could give no explanation save that it was about
the time when the woman always went home. The policeman and I agreed
that our best plan would be to seize the woman before she could get
rid of the papers, presuming that she had them.

{}``The alarm had reached Scotland Yard by this time, and Mr.\ Forbes,
the detective, came round at once and took up the case with a great
deal of energy. We hired a hansom, and in half an hour we were at
the address which had been given to us. A young woman opened the door,
who proved to be Mrs.\ Tangey's eldest daughter. Her mother had not
come back yet, and we were shown into the front room to wait.

{}``About ten minutes later a knock came at the door, and here we
made the one serious mistake for which I blame myself. Instead of
opening the door ourselves, we allowed the girl to do so. We heard
her say, `Mother, there are two men in the house waiting to see you,'
and an instant afterwards we heard the patter of feet rushing down
the passage. Forbes flung open the door, and we both ran into the
back room or kitchen, but the woman had got there before us. She stared
at us with defiant eyes, and then, suddenly recognizing me, an expression
of absolute astonishment came over her face.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-nava-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Why, if it isn't Mr.\ Phelps!''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```Why, if it isn't Mr.\ Phelps, of the office!' she cried.

{}```Come, come, who did you think we were when you ran away from
us?' asked my companion.

{}```I thought you were the brokers,' said she, `we have had some
trouble with a tradesman.'

{}```That's not quite good enough,' answered Forbes. `We have reason
to believe that you have taken a paper of importance from the Foreign
Office, and that you ran in here to dispose of it. You must come back
with us to Scotland Yard to be searched.'

{}``It was in vain that she protested and resisted. A four-wheeler
was brought, and we all three drove back in it. We had first made
an examination of the kitchen, and especially of the kitchen fire,
to see whether she might have made away with the papers during the
instant that she was alone. There were no signs, however, of any ashes
or scraps. When we reached Scotland Yard she was handed over at once
to the female searcher. I waited in an agony of suspense until she
came back with her report. There were no signs of the papers.

{}``Then for the first time the horror of my situation came in its
full force. Hitherto I had been acting, and action had numbed thought.
I had been so confident of regaining the treaty at once that I had
not dared to think of what would be the consequence if I failed to
do so. But now there was nothing more to be done, and I had leisure
to realize my position. It was horrible. Watson there would tell you
that I was a nervous, sensitive boy at school. It is my nature. I
thought of my uncle and of his colleagues in the Cabinet, of the shame
which I had brought upon him, upon myself, upon every one connected
with me. What though I was the victim of an extraordinary accident?
No allowance is made for accidents where diplomatic interests are
at stake. I was ruined, shamefully, hopelessly ruined. I don't know
what I did. I fancy I must have made a scene. I have a dim recollection
of a group of officials who crowded round me, endeavoring to soothe
me. One of them drove down with me to Waterloo, and saw me into the
Woking train. I believe that he would have come all the way had it
not been that Dr.\ Ferrier, who lives near me, was going down by
that very train. The doctor most kindly took charge of me, and it
was well he did so, for I had a fit in the station, and before we
reached home I was practically a raving maniac.

{}``You can imagine the state of things here when they were roused
from their beds by the doctor's ringing and found me in this condition.
Poor Annie here and my mother were broken-hearted. Dr.\ Ferrier had
just heard enough from the detective at the station to be able to
give an idea of what had happened, and his story did not mend matters.
It was evident to all that I was in for a long illness, so Joseph
was bundled out of this cheery bedroom, and it was turned into a sick-room
for me. Here I have lain, Mr.\ Holmes, for over nine weeks, unconscious,
and raving with brain-fever. If it had not been for Miss Harrison
here and for the doctor's care I should not be speaking to you now.
She has nursed me by day and a hired nurse has looked after me by
night, for in my mad fits I was capable of anything. Slowly my reason
has cleared, but it is only during the last three days that my memory
has quite returned. Sometimes I wish that it never had. The first
thing that I did was to wire to Mr.\ Forbes, who had the case in
hand. He came out, and assures me that, though everything has been
done, no trace of a clue has been discovered. The commissionnaire
and his wife have been examined in every way without any light being
thrown upon the matter. The suspicions of the police then rested upon
young Gorot, who, as you may remember, stayed over time in the office
that night. His remaining behind and his French name were really the
only two points which could suggest suspicion; but, as a matter of
fact, I did not begin work until he had gone, and his people are of
Huguenot extraction, but as English in sympathy and tradition as you
and I are. Nothing was found to implicate him in any way, and there
the matter dropped. I turn to you, Mr.\ Holmes, as absolutely my
last hope. If you fail me, then my honor as well as my position are
forever forfeited.''

The invalid sank back upon his cushions, tired out by this long recital,
while his nurse poured him out a glass of some stimulating medicine.
Holmes sat silently, with his head thrown back and his eyes closed,
in an attitude which might seem listless to a stranger, but which
I knew betokened the most intense self-absorption.

{}``You statement has been so explicit,'' said he at last, {}``that
you have really left me very few questions to ask. There is one of
the very utmost importance, however. Did you tell any one that you
had this special task to perform?''

{}``No one.''

{}``Not Miss Harrison here, for example?''

{}``No. I had not been back to Woking between getting the order and
executing the commission.''

{}``And none of your people had by chance been to see you?''

{}``None.''

{}``Did any of them know their way about in the office?''

{}``Oh, yes, all of them had been shown over it.''

{}``Still, of course, if you said nothing to any one about the treaty
these inquiries are irrelevant.''

{}``I said nothing.''

{}``Do you know anything of the commissionnaire?''

{}``Nothing except that he is an old soldier.''

{}``What regiment?''

{}``Oh, I have heard\mdsh{---}Coldstream Guards.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{memho11-nava-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``What a lovely thing a rose
is!''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Thank you. I have no doubt I can get details from Forbes. The
authorities are excellent at amassing facts, though they do not always
use them to advantage. What a lovely thing a rose is!''

He walked past the couch to the open window, and held up the drooping
stalk of a moss-rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson
and green. It was a new phase of his character to me, for I had never
before seen him show any keen interest in natural objects.

{}``There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion,''
said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. {}``It can be
built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance
of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers.
All other things, our powers our desires, our food, are all really
necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is
an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not
a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so
I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.''

Percy Phelps and his nurse looked at Holmes during this demonstration
with surprise and a good deal of disappointment written upon their
faces. He had fallen into a reverie, with the moss-rose between his
fingers. It had lasted some minutes before the young lady broke in
upon it.

{}``Do you see any prospect of solving this mystery, Mr.\ Holmes?''\ she
asked, with a touch of asperity in her voice.

{}``Oh, the mystery!''\ he answered, coming back with a start to
the realities of life. {}``Well, it would be absurd to deny that
the case is a very abstruse and complicated one, but I can promise
you that I will look into the matter and let you know any points which
may strike me.''

{}``Do you see any clue?''

{}``You have furnished me with seven, but, of course, I must test
them before I can pronounce upon their value.''

{}``You suspect some one?''

{}``I suspect myself.''

{}``What!''

{}``Of coming to conclusions too rapidly.''

{}``Then go to London and test your conclusions.''

{}``Your advice is very excellent, Miss Harrison,'' said Holmes,
rising. {}``I think, Watson, we cannot do better. Do not allow yourself
to indulge in false hopes, Mr.\ Phelps. The affair is a very tangled
one.''

{}``I shall be in a fever until I see you again,'' cried the diplomatist.

{}``Well, I'll come out be the same train to-morrow, though it's
more than likely that my report will be a negative one.''

{}``God bless you for promising to come,'' cried our client. {}``It
gives me fresh life to know that something is being done. By the way,
I have had a letter from Lord Holdhurst.''

{}``Ha! What did he say?''

{}``He was cold, but not harsh. I dare say my severe illness prevented
him from being that. He repeated that the matter was of the utmost
importance, and added that no steps would be taken about my future\mdsh{---}by
which he means, of course, my dismissal\mdsh{---}until my health
was restored and I had an opportunity of repairing my misfortune.''

{}``Well, that was reasonable and considerate,'' said Holmes. {}``Come,
Watson, for we have a good day's work before us in town.''

Mr.\ Joseph Harrison drove us down to the station, and we were soon
whirling up in a Portsmouth train. Holmes was sunk in profound thought,
and hardly opened his mouth until we had passed Clapham Junction.

{}``It's a very cheery thing to come into London by any of these
lines which run high, and allow you to look down upon the houses like
this.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-nava-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small The view was sordid enough.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
I thought he was joking, for the view was sordid enough, but he soon
explained himself.

{}``Look at those big, isolated clumps of building rising up above
the slates, like brick islands in a lead-colored sea.''

{}``The board-schools.''

{}``Light-houses, my boy! Beacons of the future! Capsules with hundreds
of bright little seeds in each, out of which will spring the wise,
better England of the future. I suppose that man Phelps does not drink?''

{}``I should not think so.''

{}``Nor should I, but we are bound to take every possibility into
account. The poor devil has certainly got himself into very deep water,
and it's a question whether we shall ever be able to get him ashore.
What did you think of Miss Harrison?''

{}``A girl of strong character.''

{}``Yes, but she is a good sort, or I am mistaken. She and her brother
are the only children of an iron-master somewhere up Northumberland
way. He got engaged to her when traveling last winter, and she came
down to be introduced to his people, with her brother as escort. Then
came the smash, and she stayed on to nurse her lover, while brother
Joseph, finding himself pretty snug, stayed on too. I've been making
a few independent inquiries, you see. But to-day must be a day of
inquiries.''

{}``My practice\mdsh{---}'' I began.

{}``Oh, if you find your own cases more interesting than mine\mdsh{---}''
said Holmes, with some asperity.

{}``I was going to say that my practice could get along very well
for a day or two, since it is the slackest time in the year.''

{}``Excellent,'' said he, recovering his good-humor. {}``Then we'll
look into this matter together. I think that we should begin be seeing
Forbes. He can probably tell us all the details we want until we know
from what side the case is to be approached.

{}``You said you had a clue?''

{}``Well, we have several, but we can only test their value by further
inquiry. The most difficult crime to track is the one which is purposeless.
Now this is not purposeless. Who is it who profits by it? There is
the French ambassador, there is the Russian, there is who-ever might
sell it to either of these, and there is Lord Holdhurst.''

{}``Lord Holdhurst!''

{}``Well, it is just conceivable that a statesman might find himself
in a position where he was not sorry to have such a document accidentally
destroyed.''

{}``Not a statesman with the honorable record of Lord Holdhurst?''

{}``It is a possibility and we cannot afford to disregard it. We
shall see the noble lord to-day and find out if he can tell us anything.
Meanwhile I have already set inquiries on foot.''

{}``Already?''

{}``Yes, I sent wires from Woking station to every evening paper
in London. This advertisement will appear in each of them.''

He handed over a sheet torn from a note-book. On it was scribbled
in pencil: \begin{quote}{}``\pounds10 reward. The number of the
cab which dropped a fare at or about the door of the Foreign Office
in Charles Street at quarter to ten in the evening of May 23d. Apply
\noun{221b}, Baker Street.''\end{quote}

{}``You are confident that the thief came in a cab?''

{}``If not, there is no harm done. But if Mr.\ Phelps is correct
in stating that there is no hiding-place either in the room or the
corridors, then the person must have come from outside. If he came
from outside on so wet a night, and yet left no trace of damp upon
the linoleum, which was examined within a few minutes of his passing,
then it is exceeding probably that he came in a cab. Yes, I think
that we may safely deduce a cab.''

{}``It sounds plausible.''

{}``That is one of the clues of which I spoke. It may lead us to
something. And then, of course, there is the bell\mdsh{---}which
is the most distinctive feature of the case. Why should the bell ring?
Was it the thief who did it out of bravado? Or was it some one who
was with the thief who did it in order to prevent the crime? Or was
it an accident? Or was it\mbox{----}?'' He sank back into the state
of intense and silent thought from which he had emerged; but it seemed
to me, accustomed as I was to his every mood, that some new possibility
had dawned suddenly upon him.

It was twenty past three when we reached our terminus, and after a
hasty luncheon at the buffet we pushed on at once to Scotland Yard.
Holmes had already wired to Forbes, and we found him waiting to receive
us\mdsh{---}a small, foxy man with a sharp but by no means amiable
expression. He was decidedly frigid in his manner to us, especially
when he heard the errand upon which we had come.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-nava-08.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``I've heard of your methods
before now, Mr.\ Holmes.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``I've heard of your methods before now, Mr.\ Holmes,'' said
he, tartly. {}``You are ready enough to use all the information that
the police can lay at your disposal, and then you try to finish the
case yourself and bring discredit on them.''

{}``On the contrary,'' said Holmes, {}``out of my last fifty-three
cases my name has only appeared in four, and the police have had all
the credit in forty-nine. I don't blame you for not knowing this,
for you are young and inexperienced, but if you wish to get on in
your new duties you will work with me and not against me.''

{}``I'd be very glad of a hint or two,'' said the detective, changing
his manner. {}``I've certainly had no credit from the case so far.''

{}``What steps have you taken?''

{}``Tangey, the commissionnaire, has been shadowed. He left the Guards
with a good character and we can find nothing against him. His wife
is a bad lot, though. I fancy she knows more about this than appears.''

{}``Have you shadowed her?''

{}``We have set one of our women on to her. Mrs.\ Tangey drinks,
and our woman has been with her twice when she was well on, but she
could get nothing out of her.''

{}``I understand that they have had brokers in the house?''

{}``Yes, but they were paid off.''

{}``Where did the money come from?''

{}``That was all right. His pension was due. They have not shown
any sign of being in funds.''

{}``What explanation did she give of having answered the bell when
Mr.\ Phelps rang for the coffee?''

{}``She said that he husband was very tired and she wished to relieve
him.''

{}``Well, certainly that would agree with his being found a little
later asleep in his chair. There is nothing against them then but
the woman's character. Did you ask her why she hurried away that night?
Her haste attracted the attention of the police constable.''

{}``She was later than usual and wanted to get home.''

{}``Did you point out to her that you and Mr.\ Phelps, who started
at least twenty minutes after he, got home before her?''

{}``She explains that by the difference between a 'bus and a hansom.''

{}``Did she make it clear why, on reaching her house, she ran into
the back kitchen?''

{}``Because she had the money there with which to pay off the brokers.''

{}``She has at least an answer for everything. Did you ask her whether
in leaving she met any one or saw any one loitering about Charles
Street?''

{}``She saw no one but the constable.''

{}``Well, you seem to have cross-examined her pretty thoroughly.
What else have you done?''

{}``The clerk Gorot has been shadowed all these nine weeks, but without
result. We can show nothing against him.''

{}``Anything else?''

{}``Well, we have nothing else to go upon\mdsh{---}no evidence of
any kind.''

{}``Have you formed a theory about how that bell rang?''

{}``Well, I must confess that it beats me. It was a cool hand, whoever
it was, to go and give the alarm like that.''

{}``Yes, it was queer thing to do. Many thanks to you for what you
have told me. If I can put the man into your hands you shall hear
from me. Come along, Watson.''

{}``Where are we going to now?'' I asked, as we left the office.

{}``We are now going to interview Lord Holdhurst, the cabinet minister
and future premier of England.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-nava-09.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small A nobleman.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
We were fortunate in finding that Lord Holdhurst was still in his
chambers in Downing Street, and on Holmes sending in his card we were
instantly shown up. The statesman received us with that old-fashioned
courtesy for which he is remarkable, and seated us on the two luxuriant
lounges on either side of the fireplace. Standing on the rug between
us, with his slight, tall figure, his sharp features, thoughtful face,
and curling hair prematurely tinged with gray, he seemed to represent
that not to common type, a nobleman who is in truth noble.

{}``Your name is very familiar to me, Mr.\ Holmes,'' said he, smiling.
{}``And, of course, I cannot pretend to be ignorant of the object
of your visit. There has only been one occurrence in these offices
which could call for your attention. In whose interest are you acting,
may I ask?''

{}``In that of Mr.\ Percy Phelps,'' answered Holmes.

{}``Ah, my unfortunate nephew! You can understand that our kinship
makes it the more impossible for me to screen him in any way. I fear
that the incident must have a very prejudicial effect upon his career.''

{}``But if the document is found?''

{}``Ah, that, of course, would be different.''

{}``I had one or two questions which I wished to ask you, Lord Holdhurst.''

{}``I shall be happy to give you any information in my power.''

{}``Was it in this room that you gave your instructions as to the
copying of the document?''

{}``It was.''

{}``Then you could hardly have been overheard?''

{}``It is out of the question.''

{}``Did you ever mention to any one that it was your intention to
give any one the treaty to be copied?''

{}``Never.''

{}``You are certain of that?''

{}``Absolutely.''

{}``Well, since you never said so, and Mr.\ Phelps never said so,
and nobody else knew anything of the matter, then the thief's presence
in the room was purely accidental. He saw his chance and he took it.''

The statesman smiled. {}``You take me out of my province there,''
said he.

Holmes considered for a moment. {}``There is another very important
point which I wish to discuss with you,'' said he. {}``You feared,
as I understand, that very grave results might follow from the details
of this treaty becoming known.''

A shadow passed over the expressive face of the statesman. {}``Very
grave results indeed.''

{}``Any have they occurred?''

{}``Not yet.''

{}``If the treaty had reached, let us say, the French or Russian
Foreign Office, you would expect to hear of it?''

{}``I should,'' said Lord Holdhurst, with a wry face.

{}``Since nearly ten weeks have elapsed, then, and nothing has been
heard, it is not unfair to suppose that for some reason the treaty
has not reached them.''

Lord Holdhurst shrugged his shoulders.

{}``We can hardly suppose, Mr.\ Holmes, that the thief took the
treaty in order to frame it and hang it up.''

{}``Perhaps he is waiting for a better price.''

{}``If he waits a little longer he will get no price at all. The
treaty will cease to be secret in a few months.''

{}``That is most important,'' said Holmes. {}``Of course, it is
a possible supposition that the thief has had a sudden illness\mdsh{---}''

{}``An attack of brain-fever, for example?'' asked the statesman,
flashing a swift glance at him.

{}``I did not say so,'' said Holmes, imperturbably. {}``And now,
Lord Holdhurst, we have already taken up too much of your valuable
time, and we shall wish you good-day.''

{}``Every success to your investigation, be the criminal who it may,''
answered the nobleman, as he bowed us out the door.

{}``He's a fine fellow,'' said Holmes, as we came out into Whitehall.
{}``But he has a struggle to keep up his position. He is far from
rich and has many calls. You noticed, of course, that his boots had
been resoled. Now, Watson, I won't detain you from your legitimate
work any longer. I shall do nothing more to-day, unless I have an
answer to my cab advertisement. But I should be extremely obliged
to you if you would come down with me to Woking to-morrow, by the
same train which we took yesterday.''

\bigskip{}
I met him accordingly next morning and we traveled down to Woking
together. He had had no answer to his advertisement, he said, and
no fresh light had been thrown upon the case. He had, when he so willed
it, the utter immobility of countenance of a red Indian, and I could
not gather from his appearance whether he was satisfied or not with
the position of the case. His conversation, I remember, was about
the Bertillon system of measurements, and he expressed his enthusiastic
admiration of the French savant.

We found our client still under the charge of his devoted nurse, but
looking considerably better than before. He rose from the sofa and
greeted us without difficulty when we entered.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-nava-10.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Any news?'' he asked.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Any news?'' he asked, eagerly.

{}``My report, as I expected, is a negative one,'' said Holmes.
{}``I have seen Forbes, and I have seen your uncle, and I have set
one or two trains of inquiry upon foot which may lead to something.''

{}``You have not lost heart, then?''

{}``By no means.''

{}``God bless you for saying that!'' cried Miss Harrison. {}``If
we keep our courage and our patience the truth must come out.''

{}``We have more to tell you than you have for us,'' said Phelps,
reseating himself upon the couch.

{}``I hoped you might have something.''

{}``Yes, we have had an adventure during the night, and one which
might have proved to be a serious one.'' His expression grew very
grave as he spoke, and a look of something akin to fear sprang up
in his eyes. {}``Do you know,'' said he, {}``that I begin to believe
that I am the unconscious centre of some monstrous conspiracy, and
that my life is aimed at as well as my honor?''

{}``Ah!'' cried Holmes.

{}``It sounds incredible, for I have not, as far as I know, an enemy
in the world. Yet from last night's experience I can come to no other
conclusion.''

{}``Pray let me hear it.''

{}``You must know that last night was the very first night that I
have ever slept without a nurse in the room. I was so much better
that I thought I could dispense with one. I had a night-light burning,
however. Well, about two in the morning I had sunk into a light sleep
when I was suddenly aroused by a slight noise. It was like the sound
which a mouse makes when it is gnawing a plank, and I lay listening
to it for some time under the impression that it must come from that
cause. Then it grew louder, and suddenly there came from the window
a sharp metallic snick. I sat up in amazement. There could be no doubt
what the sounds were now. The first ones had been caused by some one
forcing an instrument through the slit between the sashes, and the
second by the catch being pressed back.

{}``There was a pause then for about ten minutes, as if the person
were waiting to see whether the noise had awakened me. Then I heard
a gentle creaking as the window was very slowly opened. I could stand
it no longer, for my nerves are not what they used to be. I sprang
out of bed and flung open the shutters. A man was crouching at the
window. I could see little of him, for he was gone like a flash. He
was wrapped in some sort of cloak which came across the lower part
of his face. One thing only I am sure of, and that is that he had
some weapon in his hand. It looked to me like a long knife. I distinctly
saw the gleam of it as he turned to run.''

{}``This is most interesting,'' said Holmes. {}``Pray what did
you do then?''

{}``I should have followed him through the open window if I had been
stronger. As it was, I rang the bell and roused the house. It took
me some little time, for the bell rings in the kitchen and the servants
all sleep upstairs. I shouted, however, and that brought Joseph down,
and he roused the others. Joseph and the groom found marks on the
bed outside the window, but the weather has been so dry lately that
they found it hopeless to follow the trail across the grass. There's
a place, however, on the wooden fence which skirts the road which
shows signs, they tell me, as if some one had got over, and had snapped
the top of the rail in doing so. I have said nothing to the local
police yet, for I thought I had best have your opinion first.''

This tale of our client's appeared to have an extraordinary effect
upon Sherlock Holmes. He rose from his chair and paced about the room
in uncontrollable excitement.

{}``Misfortunes never come single,'' said Phelps, smiling, though
it was evident that his adventure had somewhat shaken him.

{}``You have certainly had your share,'' said Holmes. {}``Do you
think you could walk round the house with me?''

{}``Oh, yes, I should like a little sunshine. Joseph will come, too.''

{}``And I also,'' said Miss Harrison.

{}``I am afraid not,'' said Holmes, shaking his head. {}``I think
I must ask you to remain sitting exactly where you are.''

The young lady resumed her seat with an air of displeasure. Her brother,
however, had joined us and we set off all four together. We passed
round the lawn to the outside of the young diplomatist's window. There
were, as he had said, marks upon the bed, but they were hopelessly
blurred and vague. Holmes stopped over them for an instant, and then
rose shrugging his shoulders.

{}``I don't think any one could make much of this,'' said he. {}``Let
us go round the house and see why this particular room was chose by
the burglar. I should have thought those larger windows of the drawing-room
and dining-room would have had more attractions for him.''

{}``They are more visible from the road,'' suggested Mr.\ Joseph
Harrison.

{}``Ah, yes, of course. There is a door here which he might have
attempted. What is it for?''

{}``It is the side entrance for trades-people. Of course it is locked
at night.''

{}``Have you ever had an alarm like this before?''

{}``Never,'' said our client.

{}``Do you keep plate in the house, or anything to attract burglars?''

{}``Nothing of value.''

Holmes strolled round the house with his hands in his pockets and
a negligent air which was unusual with him.

{}``By the way,'' said he to Joseph Harrison, {}``you found some
place, I understand, where the fellow scaled the fence. Let us have
a look at that!''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-nava-11.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Holmes examined it critically.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
The plump young man led us to a spot where the top of one of the wooden
rails had been cracked. A small fragment of the wood was hanging down.
Holmes pulled it off and examined it critically.

{}``Do you think that was done last night? It looks rather old, does
it not?''

{}``Well, possibly so.''

{}``There are no marks of any one jumping down upon the other side.
No, I fancy we shall get no help here. Let us go back to the bedroom
and talk the matter over.''

Percy Phelps was walking very slowly, leaning upon the arm of his
future brother-in-law. Holmes walked swiftly across the lawn, and
we were at the open window of the bedroom long before the others came
up.

{}``Miss Harrison,'' said Holmes, speaking with the utmost intensity
of manner, {}``you must stay where you are all day. Let nothing prevent
you from staying where you are all day. It is of the utmost importance.''

{}``Certainly, if you wish it, Mr.\ Holmes,'' said the girl in
astonishment.

{}``When you go to bed lock the door of this room on the outside
and keep the key. Promise to do this.''

{}``But Percy?''

{}``He will come to London with us.''

{}``And am I to remain here?''

{}``It is for his sake. You can serve him. Quick! Promise!''

She gave a quick nod of assent just as the other two came up.

{}``Why do you sit moping there, Annie?'' cried her brother. {}``Come
out into the sunshine!''

{}``No, thank you, Joseph. I have a slight headache and this room
is deliciously cool and soothing.''

{}``What do you propose now, Mr.\ Holmes?'' asked our client.

{}``Well, in investigating this minor affair we must not lose sight
of our main inquiry. It would be a very great help to me if you would
come up to London with us.''

{}``At once?''

{}``Well, as soon as you conveniently can. Say in an hour.''

{}``I feel quite strong enough, if I can really be of any help.''

{}``The greatest possible.''

{}``Perhaps you would like me the stay there to-night?''

{}``I was just going to propose it.''

{}``Then, if my friend of the night comes to revisit me, he will
find the bird flown. We are all in your hands, Mr.\ Holmes, and you
must tell us exactly what you would like done. Perhaps you would prefer
that Joseph came with us so as to look after me?''

{}``Oh, no; my friend Watson is a medical man, you know, and he'll
look after you. We'll have our lunch here, if you will permit us,
and then we shall all three set off for town together.''

It was arranged as he suggested, though Miss Harrison excused herself
from leaving the bedroom, in accordance with Holmes's suggestion.
What the object of my friend's man\oe{}uvres was I could not conceive,
unless it were to keep the lady away from Phelps, who, rejoiced by
his returning health and by the prospect of action, lunched with us
in the dining-room. Holmes had still more startling surprise for us,
however, for, after accompanying us down to the station and seeing
us into our carriage, he calmly announced that he had no intention
of leaving Woking.

{}``There are one or two small points which I should desire to clear
up before I go,'' said he. {}``Your absence, Mr.\ Phelps, will
in some ways rather assist me. Watson, when you reach London you would
oblige me by driving at once to Baker Street with our friend here,
and remaining with him until I see you again. It is fortunate that
you are old school-fellows, as you must have much to talk over. Mr.\ Phelps
can have the spare bedroom to-night, and I will be with you in time
for breakfast, for there is a train which will take me into Waterloo
at eight.''

{}``But how about our investigation in London?'' asked Phelps, ruefully.

{}``We can do that to-morrow. I think that just at present I can
be of more immediate use here.''

{}``You might tell them at Briarbrae that I hope to be back to-morrow
night,'' cried Phelps, as we began to move from the platform.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-nava-12.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``I hardly expect to go back
to Briarbrae.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``I hardly expect to go back to Briarbrae,'' answered Holmes,
and waved his hand to us cheerily as we shot out from the station.

Phelps and I talked it over on our journey, but neither of us could
devise a satisfactory reason for this new development.

{}``I suppose he wants to find out some clue as to the burglary last
night, if a burglar it was. For myself, I don't believe it was an
ordinary thief.''

{}``What is your own idea, then?''

{}``Upon my word, you may put it down to my weak nerves or not, but
I believe there is some deep political intrigue going on around me,
and that for some reason that passes my understanding my life is aimed
at by the conspirators. It sounds high-flown and absurd, but consider
the facts! Why should a thief try to break in at a bedroom window,
where there could be no hope of any plunder, and why should he come
with a long knife in his hand?''

{}``You are sure it was not a house-breaker's jimmy?''

{}``Oh, no, it was a knife. I saw the flash of the blade quite distinctly.''

{}``But why on earth should you be pursued with such animosity?''

{}``Ah, that is the question.''

{}``Well, if Holmes takes the same view, that would account for his
action, would it not? Presuming that your theory is correct, if he
can lay his hands upon the man who threatened you last night he will
have gone a long way towards finding who took the naval treaty. It
is absurd to suppose that you have two enemies, one of whom robs you,
while the other threatens your life.''

{}``But Holmes said that he was not going to Briarbrae.''

{}``I have known him for some time,'' said I, {}``but I never knew
him do anything yet without a very good reason,'' and with that our
conversation drifted off on to other topics.

But it was a weary day for me. Phelps was still weak after his long
illness, and his misfortune made him querulous and nervous. In vain
I endeavored to interest him in Afghanistan, in India, in social questions,
in anything which might take his mind out of the groove. He would
always come back to his lost treaty, wondering, guessing, speculating,
as to what Holmes was doing, what steps Lord Holdhurst was taking,
what news we should have in the morning. As the evening wore on his
excitement became quite painful.

{}``You have implicit faith in Holmes?''\ he asked.

{}``I have seen him do some remarkable things.''

{}``But he never brought light into anything quite so dark as this?''

{}``Oh, yes; I have known him solve questions which presented fewer
clues than yours.''

{}``But not where such large interests are at stake?''

{}``I don't know that. To my certain knowledge he has acted on behalf
of three of the reigning houses of Europe in very vital matters.''

{}``But you know him well, Watson. He is such an inscrutable fellow
that I never quite know what to make of him. Do you think he is hopeful?
Do you think he expects to make a success of it?''

{}``He has said nothing.''

{}``That is a bad sign.''

{}``On the contrary, I have noticed that when he is off the trail
he generally says so. It is when he is on a scent and is not quite
absolutely sure yet that it is the right one that he is most taciturn.
Now, my dear fellow, we can't help matters by making ourselves nervous
about them, so let me implore you to go to bed and so be fresh for
whatever may await us to-morrow.''

I was able at last to persuade my companion to take my advice, though
I knew from his excited manner that there was not much hope of sleep
for him. Indeed, his mood was infectious, for I lay tossing half the
night myself, brooding over this strange problem, and inventing a
hundred theories, each of which was more impossible than the last.
Why had Holmes remained at Woking? Why had he asked Miss Harrison
to remain in the sick-room all day? Why had he been so careful not
to inform the people at Briarbrae that he intended to remain near
them? I cudgelled my brains until I fell asleep in the endeavor to
find some explanation which would cover all these facts.

It was seven o'clock when I awoke, and I set off at once for Phelps's
room, to find him haggard and spent after a sleepless night. His first
question was whether Holmes had arrived yet.

{}``He'll be here when he promised,'' said I, {}``and not an instant
sooner or later.''

And my words were true, for shortly after eight a hansom dashed up
to the door and our friend got out of it. Standing in the window we
saw that his left hand was swathed in a bandage and that his face
was very grim and pale. He entered the house, but it was some little
time before he came upstairs.

{}``He looks like a beaten man,'' cried Phelps.

I was forced to confess that he was right. {}``After all,'' said
I, {}``the clue of the matter lies probably here in town.''

Phelps gave a groan.

{}``I don't know how it is,'' said he, {}``but I had hoped for
so much from his return. But surely his hand was not tied up like
that yesterday. What can be the matter?''

{}``You are not wounded, Holmes?'' I asked, as my friend entered
the room.

{}``Tut, it is only a scratch through my own clumsiness,'' he answered,
nodding his good-mornings to us. {}``This case of yours, Mr.\ Phelps,
is certainly one of the darkest which I have ever investigated.''

{}``I feared that you would find it beyond you.''

{}``It has been a most remarkable experience.''

{}``That bandage tells of adventures,'' said I. {}``Won't you tell
us what has happened?''

{}``After breakfast, my dear Watson. Remember that I have breathed
thirty miles of Surrey air this morning. I suppose that there has
been no answer from my cabman advertisement? Well, well, we cannot
expect to score every time.''

The table was all laid, and just as I was about to ring Mrs.\ Hudson
entered with the tea and coffee. A few minutes later she brought in
three covers, and we all drew up to the table, Holmes ravenous, I
curious, and Phelps in the gloomiest state of depression.

{}``Mrs.\ Hudson has risen to the occasion,'' said Holmes, uncovering
a dish of curried chicken. {}``Her cuisine is a little limited, but
she has as good an idea of breakfast as a Scotch-woman. What have
you here, Watson?''

{}``Ham and eggs,'' I answered.

{}``Good! What are you going to take, Mr.\ Phelps\mdsh{---}curried
fowl or eggs, or will you help yourself?''

{}``Thank you. I can eat nothing,'' said Phelps.

{}``Oh, come! Try the dish before you.''

{}``Thank you, I would really rather not.''

{}``Well, then,'' said Holmes, with a mischievous twinkle, {}``I
suppose that you have no objection to helping me?''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-nava-13.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Phelps raised the cover.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Phelps raised the cover, and as he did so he uttered a scream, and
sat there staring with a face as white as the plate upon which he
looked. Across the centre of it was lying a little cylinder of blue-gray
paper. He caught it up, devoured it with his eyes, and then danced
madly about the room, passing it to his bosom and shrieking out in
his delight. Then he fell back into an arm-chair so limp and exhausted
with his own emotions that we had to pour brandy down his throat to
keep him from fainting.

{}``There!\ there!''\ said Holmes, soothing, patting him upon
the shoulder. {}``It was too bad to spring it on you like this, but
Watson here will tell you that I never can resist a touch of the dramatic.''

Phelps seized his hand and kissed it. {}``God bless you!''\ he
cried. {}``You have saved my honor.''

{}``Well, my own was at stake, you know,'' said Holmes. {}``I assure
you it is just as hateful to me to fail in a case as it can be to
you to blunder over a commission.''

Phelps thrust away the precious document into the innermost pocket
of his coat.

{}``I have not the heart to interrupt your breakfast any further,
and yet I am dying to know how you got it and where it was.''

Sherlock Holmes swallowed a cup of coffee, and turned his attention
to the ham and eggs. Then he rose, lit his pipe, and settled himself
down into his chair.

{}``I'll tell you what I did first, and how I came to do it afterwards,''
said he. {}``After leaving you at the station I went for a charming
walk through some admirable Surrey scenery to a pretty little village
called Ripley, where I had my tea at an inn, and took the precaution
of filling my flask and of putting a paper of sandwiches in my pocket.
There I remained until evening, when I set off for Woking again, and
found myself in the high-road outside Briarbrae just after sunset.

{}``Well, I waited until the road was clear\mdsh{---}it is never
a very frequented one at any time, I fancy\mdsh{---}and then I clambered
over the fence into the grounds.''

{}``Surely the gate was open!''\ ejaculated Phelps.

{}``Yes, but I have a peculiar taste in these matters. I chose the
place where the three fir-trees stand, and behind their screen I got
over without the least chance of any one in the house being able to
see me. I crouched down among the bushes on the other side, and crawled
from one to the other\mdsh{---}witness the disreputable state of
my trouser knees\mdsh{---}until I had reached the clump of rhododendrons
just opposite to your bedroom window. There I squatted down and awaited
developments.

{}``The blind was not down in your room, and I could see Miss Harrison
sitting there reading by the table. It was quarter-past ten when she
closed her book, fastened the shutters, and retired.

{}``I heard her shut the door, and felt quite sure that she had turned
the key in the lock.''

{}``The key!'' ejaculated Phelps.

{}``Yes; I had given Miss Harrison instructions to lock the door
on the outside and take the key with her when she went to bed. She
carried out every one of my injunctions to the letter, and certainly
without her cooperation you would not have that paper in you coat-pocket.
She departed then and the lights went out, and I was left squatting
in the rhododendron-bush.

{}``The night was fine, but still it was a very weary vigil. Of course
it has the sort of excitement about it that the sportsman feels when
he lies beside the water-course and waits for the big game. It was
very long, though\mdsh{---}almost as long, Watson, as when you and
I waited in that deadly room when we looked into the little problem
of the Speckled Band. There was a church-clock down at Woking which
struck the quarters, and I thought more than once that it had stopped.
%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{memho11-nava-14.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Joseph Harrison stepped
out.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
At last however about two in the morning, I suddenly heard the gentle
sound of a bolt being pushed back and the creaking of a key. A moment
later the servant's door was opened, and Mr.\ Joseph Harrison stepped
out into the moonlight.''

{}``Joseph!'' ejaculated Phelps.

{}``He was bare-headed, but he had a black coat thrown over his shoulder
so that he could conceal his face in an instant if there were any
alarm. He walked on tiptoe under the shadow of the wall, and when
he reached the window he worked a long-bladed knife through the sash
and pushed back the catch. Then he flung open the window, and putting
his knife through the crack in the shutters, he thrust the bar up
and swung them open.

{}``From where I lay I had a perfect view of the inside of the room
and of every one of his movements. He lit the two candles which stood
upon the mantelpiece, and then he proceeded to turn back the corner
of the carpet in the neighborhood of the door. Presently he stopped
and picked out a square piece of board, such as is usually left to
enable plumbers to get at the joints of the gas-pipes. This one covered,
as a matter of fact, the T joint which gives off the pipe which supplies
the kitchen underneath. Out of this hiding-place he drew that little
cylinder of paper, pushed down the board, rearranged the carpet, blew
out the candles, and walked straight into my arms as I stood waiting
for him outside the window.

{}``Well, he has rather more viciousness than I gave him credit for,
has Master Joseph. He flew at me with his knife, and I had to grasp
him twice, and got a cut over the knuckles, before I had the upper
hand of him. He looked murder out of the only eye he could see with
when we had finished, but he listened to reason and gave up the papers.
Having got them I let my man go, but I wired full particulars to Forbes
this morning. If he is quick enough to catch is bird, well and good.
But if, as I shrewdly suspect, he finds the nest empty before he gets
there, why, all the better for the government. I fancy that Lord Holdhurst
for one, and Mr.\ Percy Phelps for another, would very much rather
that the affair never got as far as a police-court.

{}``My God!'' gasped our client. {}``Do you tell me that during
these long ten weeks of agony the stolen papers were within the very
room with me all the time?''

{}``So it was.''

{}``And Joseph! Joseph a villain and a thief!''

{}``Hum! I am afraid Joseph's character is a rather deeper and more
dangerous one than one might judge from his appearance. From what
I have heard from him this morning, I gather that he has lost heavily
in dabbling with stocks, and that he is ready to do anything on earth
to better his fortunes. Being an absolutely selfish man, when a chance
presented itself he did not allow either his sister's happiness or
your reputation to hold his hand.''

Percy Phelps sank back in his chair. {}``My head whirls,'' said
he. {}``Your words have dazed me.''

{}``The principal difficulty in your case,'' remarked Holmes, in
his didactic fashion, {}``lay in the fact of there being too much
evidence. What was vital was overlaid and hidden by what was irrelevant.
Of all the facts which were presented to us we had to pick just those
which we deemed to be essential, and then piece them together in their
order, so as to reconstruct this very remarkable chain of events.
I had already begun to suspect Joseph, from the fact that you had
intended to travel home with him that night, and that therefore it
was a likely enough thing that he should call for you, knowing the
Foreign Office well, upon his way. When I heard that some one had
been so anxious to get into the bedroom, in which no one but Joseph
could have concealed anything\mdsh{---}you told us in your narrative
how you had turned Joseph out when you arrived with the doctor\mdsh{---}my
suspicions all changed to certainties, especially as the attempt was
made on the first night upon which the nurse was absent, showing that
the intruder was well acquainted with the ways of the house.''

{}``How blind I have been!''

{}``The facts of the case, as far as I have worked them out, are
these: this Joseph Harrison entered the office through the Charles
Street door, and knowing his way he walked straight into your room
the instant after you left it. Finding no one there he promptly rang
the bell, and at the instant that he did so his eyes caught the paper
upon the table. A glance showed him that chance had put in his way
a State document of immense value, and in an instant he had thrust
it into his pocket and was gone. A few minutes elapsed, as you remember,
before the sleepy commissionnaire drew your attention to the bell,
and those were just enough to give the thief time to make his escape.

{}``He made his way to Woking by the first train, and having examined
his booty and assured himself that it really was of immense value,
he had concealed it in what he thought was a very safe place, with
the intention of taking it out again in a day or two, and carrying
it to the French embassy, or wherever he thought that a long price
was to be had. Then came your sudden return. He, without a moment's
warning, was bundled out of his room, and from that time onward there
were always at least two of you there to prevent him from regaining
his treasure. The situation to him must have been a maddening one.
But at last he thought he saw his chance. He tried to steal in, but
was baffled by your wakefulness. You remember that you did not take
your usual draught that night.''

{}``I remember.''

{}``I fancy that he had taken steps to make that draught efficacious,
and that he quite relied upon your being unconscious. Of course, I
understood that he would repeat the attempt whenever it could be done
with safety. Your leaving the room gave him the chance he wanted.
I kept Miss Harrison in it all day so that he might not anticipate
us. Then, having given him the idea that the coast was clear, I kept
guard as I have described. I already knew that the papers were probably
in the room, but I had no desire to rip up all the planking and skirting
in search of them. I let him take them, therefore, from the hiding-place,
and so saved myself an infinity of trouble. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-nava-15.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Is there any other point
which I can make clear?''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Is there any other point which I can make clear?''

{}``Why did he try the window on the first occasion,'' I asked,
{}``when he might have entered by the door?''

{}``In reaching the door he would have to pass seven bedrooms. On
the other hand, he could get out on to the lawn with ease. Anything
else?''

{}``You do not think,'' asked Phelps, {}``that he had any murderous
intention? The knife was only meant as a tool.''

{}``It may be so,'' answered Holmes, shrugging his shoulders. {}``I
can only say for certain that Mr.\ Joseph Harrison is a gentleman
to whose mercy I should be extremely unwilling to trust.''


\chapter*{\raggedright Adventure XI. The Final Problem}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Adventure XI. The Final Problem}

\markboth{Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes}{The Final Problem}

It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these the
last words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by which
my friend Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes was distinguished. In an incoherent
and, as I deeply feel, an entirely inadequate fashion, I have endeavored
to give some account of my strange experiences in his company from
the chance which first brought us together at the period of the {}``Study
in Scarlet,'' up to the time of his interference in the matter of
the {}``Naval Treaty\char`\"{}\mdsh{---}and interference which had
the unquestionable effect of preventing a serious international complication.
It was my intention to have stopped there, and to have said nothing
of that event which has created a void in my life which the lapse
of two years has done little to fill. My hand has been forced, however,
by the recent letters in which Colonel James Moriarty defends the
memory of his brother, and I have no choice but to lay the facts before
the public exactly as they occurred. I alone know the absolute truth
of the matter, and I am satisfied that the time has come when no good
purpose is to be served by its suppression. As far as I know, there
have been only three accounts in the public press: that in the \emph{Journal
de Geneve} on May 6th, 1891, the Reuter's despatch in the English
papers on May 7th, and finally the recent letter to which I have alluded.
Of these the first and second were extremely condensed, while the
last is, as I shall now show, an absolute perversion of the facts.
It lies with me to tell for the first time what really took place
between Professor Moriarty and Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes.

It may be remembered that after my marriage, and my subsequent start
in private practice, the very intimate relations which had existed
between Holmes and myself became to some extent modified. He still
came to me from time to time when he desired a companion in his investigation,
but these occasions grew more and more seldom, until I find that in
the year 1890 there were only three cases of which I retain any record.
During the winter of that year and the early spring of 1891, I saw
in the papers that he had been engaged by the French government upon
a matter of supreme importance, and I received two notes from Holmes,
dated from Narbonne and from Nimes, from which I gathered that his
stay in France was likely to be a long one. It was with some surprise,
therefore, that I saw him walk into my consulting-room upon the evening
of April 24th. It struck me that he was looking even paler and thinner
than usual.

{}``Yes, I have been using myself up rather too freely,'' he remarked,
in answer to my look rather than to my words; {}``I have been a little
pressed of late. Have you any objection to my closing your shutters?''

The only light in the room came from the lamp upon the table at which
I had been reading. Holmes edged his way round the wall and flinging
the shutters together, he bolted them securely.

{}``You are afraid of something?'' I asked.

{}``Well, I am.''

{}``Of what?''

{}``Of air-guns.''

{}``My dear Holmes, what do you mean?''

{}``I think that you know me well enough, Watson, to understand that
I am by no means a nervous man. At the same time, it is stupidity
rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close
upon you. Might I trouble you for a match?'' He drew in the smoke
of his cigarette as if the soothing influence was grateful to him.

{}``I must apologize for calling so late,'' said he, {}``and I
must further beg you to be so unconventional as to allow me to leave
your house presently by scrambling over your back garden wall.''

{}``But what does it all mean?'' I asked.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-fina-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Two of his knuckles were burst
and bleeding.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
He held out his hand, and I saw in the light of the lamp that two
of his knuckles were burst and bleeding.

{}``It is not an airy nothing, you see,'' said he, smiling. {}``On
the contrary, it is solid enough for a man to break his hand over.
Is Mrs.\ Watson in?''

{}``She is away upon a visit.''

{}``Indeed! You are alone?''

{}``Quite.''

{}``Then it makes it the easier for me to propose that you should
come away with me for a week to the Continent.''

{}``Where?''

{}``Oh, anywhere. It's all the same to me.''

There was something very strange in all this. It was not Holmes's
nature to take an aimless holiday, and something about his pale, worn
face told me that his nerves were at their highest tension. He saw
the question in my eyes, and, putting his finger-tips together and
his elbows upon his knees, he explained the situation.

{}``You have probably never heard of Professor Moriarty?'' said
he.

{}``Never.''

{}``Aye, there's the genius and the wonder of the thing!'' he cried.
{}``The man pervades London, and no one has heard of him. That's
what puts him on a pinnacle in the records of crime. I tell you, Watson,
in all seriousness, that if I could beat that man, if I could free
society of him, I should feel that my own career had reached its summit,
and I should be prepared to turn to some more placid line in life.
Between ourselves, the recent cases in which I have been of assistance
to the royal family of Scandinavia, and to the French republic, have
left me in such a position that I could continue to live in the quiet
fashion which is most congenial to me, and to concentrate my attention
upon my chemical researches. But I could not rest, Watson, I could
not sit quiet in my chair, if I thought that such a man as Professor
Moriarty were walking the streets of London unchallenged.''

{}``What has he done, then?''

{}``His career has been an extraordinary one. He is a man of good
birth and excellent education, endowed by nature with a phenomenal
mathematical faculty. At the age of twenty-one he wrote a treatise
upon the Binomial Theorem, which has had a European vogue. On the
strength of it he won the Mathematical Chair at one of our smaller
universities, and had, to all appearance, a most brilliant career
before him. But the man had hereditary tendencies of the most diabolical
kind. A criminal strain ran in his blood, which, instead of being
modified, was increased and rendered infinitely more dangerous by
his extraordinary mental powers. Dark rumors gathered round him in
the university town, and eventually he was compelled to resign his
chair and to come down to London, where he set up as an army coach.
So much is known to the world, but what I am telling you now is what
I have myself discovered.

{}``As you are aware, Watson, there is no one who knows the higher
criminal world of London so well as I do. For years past I have continually
been conscious of some power behind the malefactor, some deep organizing
power which forever stands in the way of the law, and throws its shield
over the wrong-doer. Again and again in cases of the most varying
sorts\mdsh{---}forgery cases, robberies, murders\mdsh{---}I have
felt the presence of this force, and I have deduced its action in
many of those undiscovered crimes in which I have not been personally
consulted. For years I have endeavored to break through the veil which
shrouded it, and at last the time came when I seized my thread and
followed it, until it led me, after a thousand cunning windings, to
ex-Professor Moriarty of mathematical celebrity.

He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half that
is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He
is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of
the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in the center of
its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well
every quiver of each of them. He does little himself. He only plans.
But his agents are numerous and splendidly organized. Is there a crime
to be done, a paper to be abstracted, we will say, a house to be rifled,
a man to be removed\mdsh{---}the word is passed to the Professor,
the matter is organized and carried out. The agent may be caught.
In that case money is found for his bail or his defence. But the central
power which uses the agent is never caught\mdsh{---}never so much
as suspected. This was the organization which I deduced, Watson, and
which I devoted my whole energy to exposing and breaking up.

{}``But the Professor was fenced round with safeguards so cunningly
devised that, do what I would, it seemed impossible to get evidence
which would convict in a court of law. You know my powers, my dear
Watson, and yet at the end of three months I was forced to confess
that I had at last met an antagonist who was my intellectual equal.
My horror at his crimes was lost in my admiration at his skill. But
at last he made a trip\mdsh{---}only a little, little trip\mdsh{---}but
it was more than he could afford when I was so close upon him. I had
my chance, and, starting from that point, I have woven my net round
him until now it is all ready to close. In three days\mdsh{---}that
is to say, on Monday next\mdsh{---}matters will be ripe, and the
Professor, with all the principal members of his gang, will be in
the hands of the police. Then will come the greatest criminal trial
of the century, the clearing up of over forty mysteries, and the rope
for all of them; but if we move at all prematurely, you understand,
they may slip out of our hands even at the last moment.

{}``Now, if I could have done this without the knowledge of Professor
Moriarty, all would have been well. But he was too wily for that.
He saw every step which I took to draw my toils round him. Again and
again he strove to break away, but I as often headed him off. I tell
you, my friend, that if a detailed account of that silent contest
could be written, it would take its place as the most brilliant bit
of thrust-and-parry work in the history of detection. Never have I
risen to such a height, and never have I been so hard pressed by an
opponent. He cut deep, and yet I just undercut him. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{memho11-fina-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Professor Moriarty stood
before me.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
This morning the last steps were taken, and three days only were wanted
to complete the business. I was sitting in my room thinking the matter
over, when the door opened and Professor Moriarty stood before me.

{}``My nerves are fairly proof, Watson, but I must confess to a start
when I saw the very man who had been so much in my thoughts standing
there on my threshhold. His appearance was quite familiar to me. He
is extremely tall and thin, his forehead domes out in a white curve,
and his two eyes are deeply sunken in this head. He is clean-shaven,
pale, and ascetic-looking, retaining something of the professor in
his features. His shoulders are rounded from much study, and his face
protrudes forward, and is forever slowly oscillating from side to
side in a curiously reptilian fashion. He peered at me with great
curiosity in his puckered eyes.

{}```You have less frontal development that I should have expected,'
said he, at last. `It is a dangerous habit to finger loaded firearms
in the pocket of one's dressing-gown.'

{}``The fact is that upon his entrance I had instantly recognized
the extreme personal danger in which I lay. The only conceivable escape
for him lay in silencing my tongue. In an instant I had slipped the
revolved from the drawer into my pocket, and was covering him through
the cloth. At his remark I drew the weapon out and laid it cocked
upon the table. He still smiled and blinked, but there was something
about his eyes which made me feel very glad that I had it there.

{}```You evidently don't know me,' said he.

{}```On the contrary,' I answered, `I think it is fairly evident
that I do. Pray take a chair. I can spare you five minutes if you
have anything to say.'

{}```All that I have to say has already crossed your mind,' said
he.

{}```Then possibly my answer has crossed yours,' I replied.

{}```You stand fast?'

{}```Absolutely.'

{}``He clapped his hand into his pocket, and I raised the pistol
from the table. But he merely drew out a memorandum-book in which
he had scribbled some dates.

{}```You crossed my path on the 4th of January,' said he. `On the
23d you incommoded me; by the middle of February I was seriously inconvenienced
by you; at the end of March I was absolutely hampered in my plans;
and now, at the close of April, I find myself placed in such a position
through your continual persecution that I am in positive danger of
losing my liberty. The situation is becoming an impossible one.'

{}```Have you any suggestion to make?'\ I asked.

{}```You must drop it, Mr.\ Holmes,' said he, swaying his face about.
`You really must, you know.'

{}```After Monday,' said I.

{}```Tut, tut,' said he. `I am quite sure that a man of your intelligence
will see that there can be but one outcome to this affair. It is necessary
that you should withdraw. You have worked things in such a fashion
that we have only one resource left. It has been an intellectual treat
to me to see the way in which you have grappled with this affair,
and I say, unaffectedly, that it would be a grief to me to be forced
to take any extreme measure. You smile, sir, abut I assure you that
it really would.'

{}```Danger is part of my trade,' I remarked.

{}```That is not danger,' said he. `It is inevitable destruction.
You stand in the way not merely of an individual, but of a mighty
organization, the full extent of which you, with all your cleverness,
have been unable to realize. You must stand clear, Mr.\ Holmes, or
be trodden under foot.'

{}```I am afraid,' said I, rising, `that in the pleasure of this
conversation I am neglecting business of importance which awaits me
elsewhere.'

{}``He rose also and looked at me in silence, shaking his head sadly.

{}```Well, well,' said he, at last. `It seems a pity, but I have
done what I could. I know every move of your game. You can do nothing
before Monday. It has been a duel between you and me, Mr.\ Holmes.
You hope to place me in the dock. I tell you that I will never stand
in the dock. You hope to beat me. I tell you that you will never beat
me. If you are clever enough to bring destruction upon me, rest assured
that I shall do as much to you.'

{}```You have paid me several compliments, Mr.\ Moriarty,' said
I. `Let me pay you one in return when I say that if I were assured
of the former eventuality I would, in the interests of the public,
cheerfully accept the latter.'

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-fina-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``He turned his rounded back
upon me.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```I can promise you the one, but not the other,' he snarled, and
so turned his rounded back upon me, and went peering and blinking
out of the room.

{}``That was my singular interview with Professor Moriarty. I confess
that it left an unpleasant effect upon my mind. His soft, precise
fashion of speech leaves a conviction of sincerity which a mere bully
could not produce. Of course, you will say: `Why not take police precautions
against him?' The reason is that I am well convinced that it is from
his agents the blow will fall. I have the best proofs that it would
be so.''

{}``You have already been assaulted?''

{}``My dear Watson, Professor Moriarty is not a man who lets the
grass grow under his feet. I went out about mid-day to transact some
business in Oxford Street. As I passed the corner which leads from
Bentinck Street on to the Welbeck Street crossing a two-horse van
furiously driven whizzed round and was on me like a flash. I sprang
for the foot-path and saved myself by the fraction of a second. The
van dashed round by Marylebone Lane and was gone in an instant. I
kept to the pavement after that, Watson, but as I walked down Vere
Street a brick came down from the roof of one of the houses, and was
shattered to fragments at my feet. I called the police and had the
place examined. There were slates and bricks piled up on the roof
preparatory to some repairs, and they would have me believe that the
wind had toppled over one of these. Of course I knew better, but I
could prove nothing. I took a cab after that and reached my brother's
rooms in Pall Mall, where I spent the day. Now I have come round to
you, and on my way I was attacked by a rough with a bludgeon. I knocked
him down, and the police have him in custody; but I can tell you with
the most absolute confidence that no possible connection will ever
be traced between the gentleman upon whose front teeth I have barked
my knuckles and the retiring mathematical coach, who is, I dare say,
working out problems upon a black-board ten miles away. You will not
wonder, Watson, that my first act on entering your rooms was to close
your shutters, and that I have been compelled to ask your permission
to leave the house by some less conspicuous exit than the front door.''

I had often admired my friend's courage, but never more than now,
as he sat quietly checking off a series of incidents which must have
combined to make up a day of horror.

{}``You will spend the night here?'' I said.

{}``No, my friend, you might find me a dangerous guest. I have my
plans laid, and all will be well. Matters have gone so far now that
they can move without my help as far as the arrest goes, though my
presence is necessary for a conviction. It is obvious, therefore,
that I cannot do better than get away for the few days which remain
before the police are at liberty to act. It would be a great pleasure
to me, therefore, if you could come on to the Continent with me.''

{}``The practice is quiet,'' said I, {}``and I have an accommodating
neighbor. I should be glad to come.''

{}``And to start to-morrow morning?''

{}``If necessary.''

{}``Oh yes, it is most necessary. Then these are your instructions,
and I beg, my dear Watson, that you will obey them to the letter,
for you are now playing a double-handed game with me against the cleverest
rogue and the most powerful syndicate of criminals in Europe. Now
listen! You will dispatch whatever luggage you intend to take by a
trusty messenger unaddressed to Victoria to-night. In the morning
you will send for a hansom, desiring your man to take neither the
first nor the second which may present itself. Into this hansom you
will jump, and you will drive to the Strand end of the Lowther Arcade,
handling the address to the cabman upon a slip of paper, with a request
that he will not throw it away. Have your fare ready, and the instant
that your cab stops, dash through the Arcade, timing yourself to reach
the other side at a quarter-past nine. You will find a small brougham
waiting close to the curb, driven by a fellow with a heavy black cloak
tipped at the collar with red. Into this you will step, and you will
reach Victoria in time for the Continental express.''

{}``Where shall I meet you?''

{}``At the station. The second first-class carriage from the front
will be reserved for us.''

{}``The carriage is our rendezvous, then?''

{}``Yes.''

It was in vain that I asked Holmes to remain for the evening. It was
evident to me that he though he might bring trouble to the roof he
was under, and that that was the motive which impelled him to go.
With a few hurried words as to our plans for the morrow he rose and
came out with me into the garden, clambering over the wall which leads
into Mortimer Street, and immediately whistling for a hansom, in which
I heard him drive away.

In the morning I obeyed Holmes's injunctions to the letter. A hansom
was procured with such precaution as would prevent its being one which
was placed ready for us, and I drove immediately after breakfast to
the Lowther Arcade, through which I hurried at the top of my speed.
A brougham was waiting with a very massive driver wrapped in a dark
cloak, who, the instant that I had stepped in, whipped up the horse
and rattled off to Victoria Station. On my alighting there he turned
the carriage, and dashed away again without so much as a look in my
direction.

So far all had gone admirably. My luggage was waiting for me, and
I had no difficulty in finding the carriage which Holmes had indicated,
the less so as it was the only one in the train which was marked {}``Engaged.''
My only source of anxiety now was the non-appearance of Holmes. The
station clock marked only seven minutes from the time when we were
due to start. In vain I searched among the groups of travellers and
leave-takers for the little figure of my friend. There was no sign
of him. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-fina-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small My decrepit Italian friend.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
I spent a few minutes in assisting a venerable Italian priest, who
was endeavoring to make a porter understand, in his broken English,
that his luggage was to be booked through to Paris. Then, having taken
another look round, I returned to my carriage, where I found that
the porter, in spite of the ticket, had given me my decrepit Italian
friend as a traveling companion. It was useless for me to explain
to him that his presence was an intrusion, for my Italian was even
more limited than his English, so I shrugged my shoulders resignedly,
and continued to look out anxiously for my friend. A chill of fear
had come over me, as I thought that his absence might mean that some
blow had fallen during the night. Already the doors had all been shut
and the whistle blown, when\mdsh{---}

{}``My dear Watson,'' said a voice, {}``you have not even condescended
to say good-morning.''

I turned in uncontrollable astonishment. The aged ecclesiastic had
turned his face towards me. For an instant the wrinkles were smoothed
away, the nose drew away from the chin, the lower lip ceased to protrude
and the mouth to mumble, the dull eyes regained their fire, the drooping
figure expanded. The next the whole frame collapsed again, and Holmes
had gone as quickly as he had come.

{}``Good heavens!'' I cried; {}``how you startled me!''

{}``Every precaution is still necessary,'' he whispered. {}``I
have reason to think that they are hot upon our trail. Ah, there is
Moriarty himself.''

The train had already begun to move as Holmes spoke. Glancing back,
I saw a tall man pushing his way furiously through the crowd, and
waving his hand as if he desired to have the train stopped. It was
too late, however, for we were rapidly gathering momentum, and an
instant later had shot clear of the station.

{}``With all our precautions, you see that we have cut it rather
fine,'' said Holmes, laughing. He rose, and throwing off the black
cassock and hat which had formed his disguise, he packed them away
in a hand-bag.

{}``Have you seen the morning paper, Watson?''

{}``No.''

{}``You haven't seen about Baker Street, then?''

{}``Baker Street?''

{}``They set fire to our rooms last night. No great harm was done.''

{}``Good heavens, Holmes!\ this is intolerable.''

{}``They must have lost my track completely after their bludgeon-man
was arrested. Otherwise they could not have imagined that I had returned
to my rooms. They have evidently taken the precaution of watching
you, however, and that is what has brought Moriarty to Victoria. You
could not have made any slip in coming?''

{}``I did exactly what you advised.''

{}``Did you find your brougham?''

{}``Yes, it was waiting.''

{}``Did you recognize your coachman?''

{}``No.''

{}``It was my brother Mycroft. It is an advantage to get about in
such a case without taking a mercenary into your confidence. But we
must plan what we are to do about Moriarty now.''

{}``As this is an express, and as the boat runs in connection with
it, I should think we have shaken him off very effectively.''

{}``My dear Watson, you evidently did not realize my meaning when
I said that this man may be taken as being quite on the same intellectual
plane as myself. You do not imagine that if I were the pursuer I should
allow myself to be baffled by so slight an obstacle. Why, then, should
you think so meanly of him?''

{}``What will he do?''

{}``What I should do?''

{}``What would you do, then?''

{}``Engage a special.''

{}``But it must be late.''

{}``By no means. This train stops at Canterbury; and there is always
at least a quarter of an hour's delay at the boat. He will catch us
there.''

{}``One would think that we were the criminals. Let us have him arrested
on his arrival.''

{}``It would be to ruin the work of three months. We should get the
big fish, but the smaller would dart right and left out of the net.
On Monday we should have them all. No, an arrest is inadmissible.''

{}``What then?''

{}``We shall get out at Canterbury.''

{}``And then?''

{}``Well, then we must make a cross-country journey to Newhaven,
and so over to Dieppe. Moriarty will again do what I should do. He
will get on to Paris, mark down our luggage, and wait for two days
at the depot. In the meantime we shall treat ourselves to a couple
of carpet-bags, encourage the manufactures of the countries through
which we travel, and make our way at our leisure into Switzerland,
via Luxembourg and Basle.''

At Canterbury, therefore, we alighted, only to find that we should
have to wait an hour before we could get a train to Newhaven.

I was still looking rather ruefully after the rapidly disappearing
luggage-van which contained my wardrobe, when Holmes pulled my sleeve
and pointed up the line.

{}``Already, you see,'' said he.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-fina-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small It passed with a rattle and a
roar.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Far away, from among the Kentish woods there rose a thin spray of
smoke. A minute later a carriage and engine could be seen flying along
the open curve which leads to the station. We had hardly time to take
our place behind a pile of luggage when it passed with a rattle and
a roar, beating a blast of hot air into our faces.

{}``There he goes,'' said Holmes, as we watched the carriage swing
and rock over the point. {}``There are limits, you see, to our friend's
intelligence. It would have been a \emph{coup-de-ma\^{\i}tre} had
he deduced what I would deduce and acted accordingly.''

{}``And what would he have done had he overtaken us?''

{}``There cannot be the least doubt that he would have made a murderous
attack upon me. It is, however, a game at which two may play. The
question, now is whether we should take a premature lunch here, or
run our chance of starving before we reach the buffet at Newhaven.''

We made our way to Brussels that night and spent two days there, moving
on upon the third day as far as Strasburg. On the Monday morning Holmes
had telegraphed to the London police, and in the evening we found
a reply waiting for us at our hotel. Holmes tore it open, and then
with a bitter curse hurled it into the grate.

{}``I might have known it!'' he groaned. {}``He has escaped!''

{}``Moriarty?''

{}``They have secured the whole gang with the exception of him. He
has given them the slip. Of course, when I had left the country there
was no one to cope with him. But I did think that I had put the game
in their hands. I think that you had better return to England, Watson.''

{}``Why?''

{}``Because you will find me a dangerous companion now. This man's
occupation is gone. He is lost if he returns to London. If I read
his character right he will devote his whole energies to revenging
himself upon me. He said as much in our short interview, and I fancy
that he meant it. I should certainly recommend you to return to your
practice.''

It was hardly an appeal to be successful with one who was an old campaigner
as well as an old friend. We sat in the Strasburg \emph{salle-\`{a}-manger}
arguing the question for half an hour, but the same night we had resumed
our journey and were well on our way to Geneva.

For a charming week we wandered up the Valley of the Rhone, and then,
branching off at Leuk, we made our way over the Gemmi Pass, still
deep in snow, and so, by way of Interlaken, to Meiringen. It was a
lovely trip, the dainty green of the spring below, the virgin white
of the winter above; but it was clear to me that never for one instant
did Holmes forget the shadow which lay across him. In the homely Alpine
villages or in the lonely mountain passes, I could tell by his quick
glancing eyes and his sharp scrutiny of every face that passed us,
that he was well convinced that, walk where we would, we could not
walk ourselves clear of the danger which was dogging our footsteps.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-fina-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small A large rock clattered down.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Once, I remember, as we passed over the Gemmi, and walked along the
border of the melancholy Daubensee, a large rock which had been dislodged
from the ridge upon our right clattered down and roared into the lake
behind us. In an instant Holmes had raced up on to the ridge, and,
standing upon a lofty pinnacle, craned his neck in every direction.
It was in vain that our guide assured him that a fall of stones was
a common chance in the spring-time at that spot. He said nothing,
but he smiled at me with the air of a man who sees the fulfillment
of that which he had expected.

And yet for all his watchfulness he was never depressed. On the contrary,
I can never recollect having seen him in such exuberant spirits. Again
and again he recurred to the fact that if he could be assured that
society was freed from Professor Moriarty he would cheerfully bring
his own career to a conclusion.

{}``I think that I may go so far as to say, Watson, that I have not
lived wholly in vain,'' he remarked. {}``If my record were closed
to-night I could still survey it with equanimity. The air of London
is the sweeter for my presence. In over a thousand cases I am not
aware that I have ever used my powers upon the wrong side. Of late
I have been tempted to look into the problems furnished by nature
rather than those more superficial ones for which our artificial state
of society is responsible. Your memoirs will draw to an end, Watson,
upon the day that I crown my career by the capture or extinction of
the most dangerous and capable criminal in Europe.''

I shall be brief, and yet exact, in the little which remains for me
to tell. It is not a subject on which I would willingly dwell, and
yet I am conscious that a duty devolves upon me to omit no detail.

It was on the 3d of May that we reached the little village of Meiringen,
where we put up at the Englischer Hof, then kept by Peter Steiler
the elder. Our landlord was an intelligent man, and spoke excellent
English, having served for three years as waiter at the Grosvenor
Hotel in London. At his advice, on the afternoon of the 4th we set
off together, with the intention of crossing the hills and spending
the night at the hamlet of Rosenlaui. We had strict injunctions, however,
on no account to pass the falls of Reichenbach, which are about half-way
up the hill, without making a small detour to see them.

It is indeed, a fearful place. The torrent, swollen by the melting
snow, plunges into a tremendous abyss, from which the spray rolls
up like the smoke from a burning house. The shaft into which the river
hurls itself is a immense chasm, lined by glistening coal-black rock,
and narrowing into a creaming, boiling pit of incalculable depth,
which brims over and shoots the stream onward over its jagged lip.
The long sweep of green water roaring forever down, and the thick
flickering curtain of spray hissing forever upward, turn a man giddy
with their constant whirl and clamor. We stood near the edge peering
down at the gleam of the breaking water far below us against the black
rocks, and listening to the half-human shout which came booming up
with the spray out of the abyss.

The path has been cut half-way round the fall to afford a complete
view, but it ends abruptly, and the traveler has to return as he came.
We had turned to do so, when we saw a Swiss lad come running along
it with a letter in his hand. It bore the mark of the hotel which
we had just left, and was addressed to me by the landlord. It appeared
that within a very few minutes of our leaving, an English lady had
arrived who was in the last stage of consumption. She had wintered
at Davos Platz, and was journeying now to join her friends at Lucerne,
when a sudden hemorrhage had overtaken her. It was thought that she
could hardly live a few hours, but it would be a great consolation
to her to see an English doctor, and, if I would only return, \textit{etc}.
The good Steiler assured me in a postscript that he would himself
look upon my compliance as a very great favor, since the lady absolutely
refused to see a Swiss physician, and he could not but feel that he
was incurring a great responsibility.

The appeal was one which could not be ignored. It was impossible to
refuse the request of a fellow-countrywoman dying in a strange land.
Yet I had my scruples about leaving Holmes. It was finally agreed,
however, that he should retain the young Swiss messenger with him
as guide and companion while I returned to Meiringen. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-fina-08.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small I saw Holmes gazing down at the
rush of the waters.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
My friend would stay some little time at the fall, he said, and would
then walk slowly over the hill to Rosenlaui, where I was to rejoin
him in the evening. As I turned away I saw Holmes, with his back against
a rock and his arms folded, gazing down at the rush of the waters.
It was the last that I was ever destined to see of him in this world.

When I was near the bottom of the descent I looked back. It was impossible,
from that position, to see the fall, but I could see the curving path
which winds over the shoulder of the hill and leads to it. Along this
a man was, I remember, walking very rapidly.

I could see his black figure clearly outlined against the green behind
him. I noted him, and the energy with which he walked but he passed
from my mind again as I hurried on upon my errand.

It may have been a little over an hour before I reached Meiringen.
Old Steiler was standing at the porch of his hotel.

{}``Well,'' said I, as I came hurrying up, {}``I trust that she
is no worse?''

A look of surprise passed over his face, and at the first quiver of
his eyebrows my heart turned to lead in my breast.

{}``You did not write this?'' I said, pulling the letter from my
pocket. {}``There is no sick Englishwoman in the hotel?''

{}``Certainly not!''\ he cried. {}``But it has the hotel mark
upon it! Ha, it must have been written by that tall Englishman who
came in after you had gone. He said\mdsh{---}''

But I waited for none of the landlord's explanations. In a tingle
of fear I was already running down the village street, and making
for the path which I had so lately descended. It had taken me an hour
to come down. For all my efforts two more had passed before I found
myself at the fall of Reichenbach once more. There was Holmes's Alpine-stock
still leaning against the rock by which I had left him. But there
was no sign of him, and it was in vain that I shouted. My only answer
was my own voice reverberating in a rolling echo from the cliffs around
me.

It was the sight of that Alpine-stock which turned me cold and sick.
He had not gone to Rosenlaui, then. He had remained on that three-foot
path, with sheer wall on one side and sheer drop on the other, until
his enemy had overtaken him. The young Swiss had gone too. He had
probably been in the pay of Moriarty, and had left the two men together.
And then what had happened? Who was to tell us what had happened then?

I stood for a minute or two to collect myself, for I was dazed with
the horror of the thing. Then I began to think of Holmes's own methods
and to try to practise them in reading this tragedy. It was, alas,
only too easy to do. During our conversation we had not gone to the
end of the path, and the Alpine-stock marked the place where we had
stood. The blackish soil is kept forever soft by the incessant drift
of spray, and a bird would leave its tread upon it. Two lines of footmarks
were clearly marked along the farther end of the path, both leading
away from me. There were none returning. A few yards from the end
the soil was all ploughed up into a patch of mud, and the branches
and ferns which fringed the chasm were torn and bedraggled. I lay
upon my face and peered over with the spray spouting up all around
me. It had darkened since I left, and now I could only see here and
there the glistening of moisture upon the black walls, and far away
down at the end of the shaft the gleam of the broken water. I shouted;
but only the same half-human cry of the fall was borne back to my
ears.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-fina-09.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small A small square of paper fluttered
down.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
But it was destined that I should after all have a last word of greeting
from my friend and comrade. I have said that his Alpine-stock had
been left leaning against a rock which jutted on to the path. From
the top of this bowlder the gleam of something bright caught my eye,
and, raising my hand, I found that it came from the silver cigarette-case
which he used to carry. As I took it up a small square of paper upon
which it had lain fluttered down on to the ground. Unfolding it, I
found that it consisted of three pages torn from his note-book and
addressed to me. It was characteristic of the man that the direction
was a precise, and the writing as firm and clear, as though it had
been written in his study.

\begin{quotation}
\noindent \noun{My dear Watson} {[}it said{]},

I write these few lines through the courtesy of Mr.\ Moriarty, who
awaits my convenience for the final discussion of those questions
which lie between us. He has been giving me a sketch of the methods
by which he avoided the English police and kept himself informed of
our movements. They certainly confirm the very high opinion which
I had formed of his abilities. I am pleased to think that I shall
be able to free society from any further effects of his presence,
though I fear that it is at a cost which will give pain to my friends,
and especially, my dear Watson, to you. I have already explained to
you, however, that my career had in any case reached its crisis, and
that no possible conclusion to it could be more congenial to me than
this. Indeed, if I may make a full confession to you, I was quite
convinced that the letter from Meiringen was a hoax, and I allowed
you to depart on that errand under the persuasion that some development
of this sort would follow. Tell Inspector Patterson that the papers
which he needs to convict the gang are in pigeonhole M., done up in
a blue envelope and inscribed {}``Moriarty.'' I made every disposition
of my property before leaving England, and handed it to my brother
Mycroft. Pray give my greetings to Mrs.\ Watson, and believe me to
be, my dear fellow,

\hspace{\stretch{1}}Very sincerely yours,

\hspace{\stretch{1}}\noun{Sherlock Holmes}
\end{quotation}
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\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{memho11-fina-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small The death of Sherlock Holmes.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
A few words may suffice to tell the little that remains. An examination
by experts leaves little doubt that a personal contest between the
two men ended, as it could hardly fail to end in such a situation,
in their reeling over, locked in each other's arms. Any attempt at
recovering the bodies was absolutely hopeless, and there, deep down
in that dreadful caldron of swirling water and seething foam, will
lie for all time the most dangerous criminal and the foremost champion
of the law of their generation. The Swiss youth was never found again,
and there can be no doubt that he was one of the numerous agents whom
Moriarty kept in this employ. As to the gang, it will be within the
memory of the public how completely the evidence which Holmes had
accumulated exposed their organization, and how heavily the hand of
the dead man weighed upon them. Of their terrible chief few details
came out during the proceedings, and if I have now been compelled
to make a clear statement of his career it is due to those injudicious
champions who have endeavored to clear his memory by attacks upon
him whom I shall ever regard as the best and the wisest man whom I
have ever known.
\end{document}
