The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (27 page)

‘Why, what do you mean?'

For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed upon the white wrist.

‘You have been cruelly used,' said Holmes.

The lady coloured deeply, and covered over her injured wrist. ‘He is a hard man,' she said, ‘and perhaps he hardly knows his own strength.'

There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire.

‘This is very deep business,' he said at last. ‘There are a thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If we were to come to Stoke Moran today, would it be possible for us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your stepfather?'

‘As it happens, he spoke of coming into town today upon some most important business. It is probable that he will be away all day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily get her out of the way.'

‘Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?'

‘By no means.'

‘Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?'

‘I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to be there in time for your coming.'

‘And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and breakfast?'

‘No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you again this
afternoon.' She dropped her thick black veil over her face, and glided from the room.

‘And what do you think of it all, Watson?' asked Sherlock Holmes, leaning back in his chair.

‘It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business.'

‘Dark enough and sinister enough.'

‘Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her mysterious end.'

‘What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the very peculiar words of the dying woman?'

‘I cannot think.'

‘When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying allusion to a band, and finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of those metal bars which secured the shutters falling back into their place, I think there is good ground to think that the mystery may be cleared along those lines.'

‘But what, then, did the gipsies do?'

‘I cannot imagine.'

‘I see many objections to any such theory.'

‘And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what, in the name of the devil!'

The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his hat actually brushed the cross-bar of the doorway, and his breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and marked with every evil passion, was turned
from one to the other of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and the high thin fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old bird of prey.

‘Which of you is Holmes?' asked this apparition.

‘My name, sir, but you have the advantage of me,' said my companion quietly.

‘I am Dr Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran.'

‘Indeed, Doctor,' said Holmes blandly. ‘Pray take a seat.'

‘I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I have traced her. What has she been saying to you?'

‘It is a little cold for the time of the year,' said Holmes.

‘What has she been saying to you?' screamed the old man furiously.

‘But I have heard that the crocuses promise well,' continued my companion imperturbably.

‘Ha! You put me off, do you?' said our new visitor, taking a step forward, and shaking his hunting-crop. ‘I know you, you scoundrel! I have heard of you before. You are Holmes the meddler.'

My friend smiled.

‘Holmes the busybody!'

His smile broadened.

‘Holmes the Scotland Yard jack-in-office.'

Holmes chuckled heartily. ‘Your conversation is most entertaining,' said he. ‘When you go out close the door, for there is a decided draught.'

‘I will go when I have had my say. Don't you dare to meddle with my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here – I traced her! I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here.' He stepped swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with his huge brown hands.

‘See that you keep yourself out of my grip,' he snarled, and hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace, he strode out of the room.

‘He seems a very amiable person,' said Holmes, laughing. ‘I am not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him that my grip was not much more feeble than his own.' As he spoke he picked up the steel poker, and with a sudden effort straightened it out again.

‘Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official
detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk down to Doctors' Commons,
¹⁰
where I hope to get some data which may help us in this matter.'

It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled over with notes and figures.

‘I have seen the will of the deceased wife,' said he. ‘To determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little short of £1,100, is now through the fall in agricultural prices not more than £750. Each daughter can claim an income of £250, in case of marriage. It is evident, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to a serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs, so if you are ready we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your pocket. An Eley's No. 2
¹¹
is an excellent argument with gentlemen who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a toothbrush are, I think, all that we need.'

At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for Leatherhead, where we hired a trap
¹²
at the station inn, and drove for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the deepest thought.
Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the shoulder, and pointed over the meadows.

‘Look there!' said he.

A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amidst the branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a very old mansion.

‘Stoke Moran?' said he.

‘Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr Grimesby Roylott,' remarked the driver.

‘There is some building going on there,' said Holmes: ‘that is where we are going.'

‘There's the village,' said the driver, pointing to a cluster of roofs some distance to the left; ‘but if you want to get to the house, you'll find it shorter to go over this stile, and so by the footpath over the fields. There it is, where the lady is walking.'

‘And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner,' observed Holmes, shading his eyes. ‘Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest.'

We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way to Leatherhead.

‘I thought it as well,' said Holmes, as we climbed the stile, ‘that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. Good afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as our word.'

Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a face which spoke her joy. ‘I have been waiting so eagerly for you,' she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. ‘All has turned out splendidly. Dr Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely that he will be back before evening.'

‘We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance,' said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened.

‘Good heavens!' she cried, ‘he has followed me, then.'

‘So it appears.'

‘He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What will he say when he returns?'

‘He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone
more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself from him tonight. If he is violent, we shall take you away to your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to examine.'

The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high central portion, and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were broken, and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the stonework had been broken into, but there were no signs of any workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and down the ill-trimmed lawn, and examined with deep attention the outsides of the windows.

‘This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main building to Dr Roylott's chamber?'

‘Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one.'

‘Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end wall.'

‘There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from my room.'

‘Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There are windows in it, of course?'

‘Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass through.'

‘As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness to go into your room, and to bar your shutters.'

Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his lens he tested the
hinges, but they were of solid iron, built firmly into the massive masonry. ‘Hum!' said he, scratching his chin in some perplexity, ‘my theory certainly presents some difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon the matter.'

A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met her fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country houses. A brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room, save for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and the panelling of the walls were brown, worm-eaten oak, so old and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, taking in every detail of the apartment.

‘Where does that bell communicate with?' he asked at last, pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the tassel actually lying upon the pillow.

‘It goes to the housekeeper's room.'

‘It looks newer than the other things?'

‘Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago.'

‘Your sister asked for it, I suppose?'