The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes (18 page)

grey eyes widening in her beautiful face.

"A sealed room!" she cried. "Oh, my God, a sealed room!"

Her cry became a shriek which ran through the house, and then she collapsed on the hearth-

rug in a dead faint.

Horrified, I poured some water from a carafe, dashed brandy into the water, and, after lifting

my patient gently into a chair, persuaded her to swallow it. Scarcely had I done so when the

noise of that cry brought my wife downstairs and into the consulting-room.

"Good heavens, John, what in the world—?" And here she broke off. "Why, it's Cora

Murray!"

"You know the young lady, then?"

"Know her! I should think I do! I knew Cora Murray in India. Her father and mine were

friends for years; and I wrote to her when you and I were married."

"You wrote to India?"

"No, no; she lives in England now. Cora is the very closest friend of Eleanor Grand, who

married that rather crotchety Colonel Warburton. Cora lives with Colonel and Mrs.

Warburton at some address in Cambridge Terrace."

As my wife finished speaking, our visitor opened her eyes. My wife patted her hand.

"Gently, Cora," said she. "I was only telling my husband that you lived in Cambridge

Terrace with Colonel and Mrs. Warburton."

"No longer!" cried Miss Murray wildly. "Colonel Warburton is dead, and his wife so

horribly wounded that she may be dying at this moment! When I saw them lying there under

that terrifying death-mask, I felt the evil thing itself had driven Colonel Warburton mad. He

must
have been mad! Why else should he have shot his wife and then himself in a locked

room? And yet I cannot believe he would have done this dreadful action."

Grasping my wife's hand with both of hers, she looked up at me with pathetic appeal.

"Oh, Dr. Watson, I did so hope you would help! Is there nothing your friend Mr. Sherlock

Holmes can do!"

You may well believe that my wife and I listened with amazement to this tale of domestic

tragedy.

"But you tell me that Colonel Warburton is dead," I demurred gently.

"Yet the shadow remains on his name. Oh, is my errand so hopeless?"

"Nothing is ever hopeless, Cora," said my wife. "John, what shall you do?"

"Do?" cried I, glancing at my watch. "Why, a hansom-cab to Baker Street at once! We shall

just catch Holmes before breakfast!"

As I had expected, Sherlock Holmes was moodily awaiting his breakfast, the room acrid

with the tang of his first daily pipe, which was composed of left-over dottles from the day

before. His Bohemian disposition saw nothing strange in Miss Murray's and my arrival at this

early hour, though he was inclined to be querulous.

"The fact is, Holmes," said I, "that I was interrupted this morning—"

"Quite so, my dear fellow," said he, "as you were engaged in your usual practice of

lighting the fire. Your left thumb proclaims as much." Then he caught sight of Miss Murray's

grief-stricken countenance, and his harsh face softened.

"But I think," he added, "that you could both do with a little breakfast before we discuss

the shock which this young lady so obviously has had."

And not a word would he permit us to speak until I had consumed some food, though

Miss Murray could touch only a cup of coffee.

"H'm!" said Holmes, with a shade of disappointment on his face after our fair client had

faltered out as much of her story as she had told me."This is indeed a grievous tragedy,

madam. But I cannot see what service I can render you. A certain Colonel Warburton goes

mad; he shoots first his wife and then himself. I presume there is no doubt of these facts?"

Miss Murray groaned.

"Unhappily, none," replied she. "Though at first we had hoped it might be the work of a

burglar."

"You
hoped
it might be the work of a burglar?"

I was much annoyed by the acidity of Holmes's tone, though I could not help divining its

cause. Ever since, in the previous month, he had been outwitted and beaten by Mrs. Godfrey

Norton,
née
Irene Adler, his attitude towards the whole female sex had become more bitter

than ever.

"Really, Holmes," I protested with some asperity, "Miss Murray meant only that the work

of a burglar-murderer would have saved Colonel Warburton's name from the stigma of

suicide. I hope you will not hold her responsible for an unfortunate choice of words."

"An unfortunate choice of words, Watson, has hanged a murderer ere this. Well, well, we

shall not distress the young lady! But is it possible, madam, for you to be explicit?"

To my surprise, a smile of singular wistfulness as well as strength illuminated the pale face of

our visitor.

"My father, Mr. Holmes, was Captain Murray of the Sepoy Mutiny. You will see whether I

can be explicit."

"Come, this is distinctly better!—Well?"

"Colonel Warburton and his wife," said she, "lived at number Nine Cambridge Terrace.

You will have seen many such prosperous, solid houses in the Hyde Park district. On either

side of the front door, behind a small strip of rock-garden, there is a room with two French

windows. Colonel Warburton and my dear Eleanor were alone in the room to the left of the

front door, called the curio room. The time was just after dinner last night. The door of that

room was locked on the inside. Each of the French windows was double-bolted on the inside

though the curtains remained undrawn. No other person was there or hidden there; nor was

there any other access to the room. A pistol lay at the colonel's right hand. There had been no

tampering with any bolt or fastening; the room was locked like a fortress. These things, Mr.

Holmes, you may accept as facts."

And, as I am now able to testify, Miss Murray spoke the literal truth.

"Yes, distinctly this is more satisfactory!" said Holmes, rubbing his long, thin fingers together.

"Was it Colonel Warburton's habit to bolt the door upon himself and his wife—in the curio

room, you said?—each evening after dinner?"

A sudden perplexity showed in our visitor's face,

"Good heavens, no!" she answered. "I never thought of it."

"Still, I fear it cannot affect the issue. On the contrary, it strengthens the indications of

madness."

Cora Murray's grey eyes were steady now.

"No one, Mr. Holmes, is better aware of it than I. If it had been Colonel Warburton's

wish to destroy Eleanor and himself—well, can I deny he would have bolted the door?"

"If I may say so, madam," remarked Sherlock Holmes, "you are a young lady of uncommon

good sense. Apart from his Indian curios, would you say that the colonel was a man of

conventional habits?"

"Eminently so. And yet..."

"You would speak of feminine intuition?"

"Sir, what are your own boasted judgements but masculine intuition?"

"They are logic, madam! However, pray forgive my irascible temper of a morning."

Miss Murray bowed her head graciously.

"The household was roused by the two shots," she continued after a moment. "When we

looked through the window, and saw those two crumpled figures lying on the floor and the light

of the shaded lamps striking a cold blue glitter from the lapis-lazuli eyes of that horrible

death-mask, I was seized with superstitious dread."

Holmes was lounging back in his arm-chair, his old mouse-coloured dressing-gown drawn

about his shoulders, in a bored and discontented fashion.

"My dear Watson," said he, "you will find the cigars in the coal-scuttle. Be good enough

to pass me the box: that is, if Miss Murray has no objection to the smoke of a cigar?"

"The daughter of an Anglo-Indian, Mr. Holmes," said our fair visitor, "would scarcely object

to that." She hesitated, biting her lip.

"Indeed, when Major Earnshaw and Captain Lasher and I burst into that locked room,

my most distinct memory is the smell of Colonel Warburton's cigar."

This casual remark was followed by a moment of intense silence. Sherlock Holmes had

sprung to his feet, the cigar-box in his hand, and was staring down at Miss Murray.

"I would not distress you, madam, but are you quite sure of what you say?"

"Mr. Sherlock Holmes," retorted the lady, "I am not in the habit of meaningless speech. I

remember even the incongruous thought flashing through my mind that incense would have

been more suitable than cigar-smoke in a room glimmering with brasswork and wooden idols

and rose-coloured lamps."

For a moment Holmes stood motionless before the fire. "It is possible that there may be a

hundred and forty-first sort," he observed thoughtfully. "At the same time, Miss Murray, I

should like to hear a little more of what happened. For example, you mentioned a Major

Earnshaw and a Captain Lasher. Were these gentlemen also guests at the house?"

"Major Earnshaw has been a guest for some time, yes. But Captain Lasher"—was it my

fancy, or did a blush tinge Cora Murray's face at the mention of the captain's name?

—"Captain Lasher merely paid a brief call. He is Colonel Warburton's nephew, his only

relative, in fact, and is—is much younger than Major Earnshaw."

"But your account of last night, madam?"

Cora Murray paused for a time as though marshalling her thoughts, and then began to

speak in a low but intense voice.

"Eleanor Warburton was my best friend in India. She is an exceptionally beautiful

woman, and I am not being unkind when I say we were all surprised when she consented to

become the wife of Colonel Warburton. He was a soldier of distinguished reputation and strong

character; but not, I should judge, an easy man with whom to share one's domestic life. He was

inclined to be fussy and short-tempered, especially about his large collection of Indian

antiquities.

"Please understand that I liked George well enough, else I should not be here now. And,

though their life was not without its quarrels—in fact, there was a quarrel last night—there

was nothing, I swear, to account for this present horror!

"When they left India, I accompanied them to the house in Cambridge Terrace. There we

lived almost as though we were at a hill-station in India, even to the white-clad figure of

Chundra Lal, George's native butler, in a house full of strange gods and perhaps strange

influences too.

"Last night, after dinner, Eleanor demanded to speak with her husband. They retired to the

curio room, while Major Earnshaw and I were sitting in a little study called the den."

"One moment," interposed Sherlock Holmes, who had made a note on his shirt-cuff. "A

while ago you stated that the house had two rooms facing the front garden, one of these

being Colonel Warburton's curio room. Was the other front room this den?"

"No; the other front room is the dining-room. The den lies behind it, and the two do not

communicate. Major Earnshaw was holding forth rather wearisomely when Jack hurried in.

Jack... ."

"A welcome arrival?" interposed Holmes. "I take it you refer to Captain Lasher?"

Our visitor raised her frank, clear eyes.

"A very welcome arrival," she smiled. Then her face clouded. "He told us that on his way

through the hall, he had heard the sounds of a quarrel between his uncle and Eleanor. Poor

Jack, how annoyed he was. 'Here I've come all the way from Kensington to see the old man,' he

cried, 'and now I daren't interrupt them. What keeps them quarrelling all the time?'

"I protested that he was doing them an injustice.

" 'Well, I hate rows,' he replied, 'and I do feel, if only for uncle's sake, that

Eleanor might make more effort to get on with the family.'

" 'She is devoted to your uncle,' I said, 'and, as for yourself, it is only that she feels as we

all do that you live your life too recklessly.'

"When Major Earnshaw suggested three-handed whist, at twopence a point, I'm afraid

Jack wasn't very courteous. If he must be reckless, he said, he preferred to drink a glass of

port in the dining-room. So Major Earnshaw and I settled down to a game of bezique."

"Did either you or Major Earnshaw leave the room after that?"

"Yes! As a matter of fact, the major did say something about fetching his snuff-box from

upstairs." Under other circumstances I felt Cora Murray might have laughed. "He rushed

out, fumbling in all his pockets, and swearing he couldn't settle to cards without his snuff.

"I sat there, Mr. Holmes, with the cards in my hand and as I waited in that silent

room it seemed as though all the nameless fears of the night gathered slowly round me. I

remembered the glitter in Eleanor's eyes at dinner. I remembered the brown face of

Chundra Lal, the native butler, who has seemed to gloat ever since the death-mask was

brought into the house. At that precise moment, Mr. Holmes, I heard the two revolver shots."

In her agitation, Cora Murray had risen to her feet.

"Oh, please don't think I was mistaken! Don't think I was misled by some other

noise, or that these were not the shots which killed George and . . ."

Drawing a deep breath, she sat down again.

"For a moment, I was absolutely petrified. Then I ran out into the hall and almost

collided with Major Earnshaw. He was muttering some incoherent reply to my questions