When I look at the three massive manuscript volumes which contain our
work for the year 1894, I confess that it is very difficult for me, out of
such a wealth of material, to select the cases which are most interesting
in themselves, and at the same time most conducive to a display of those
peculiar powers for which my friend was famous. As I turn over the pages,
I see my notes upon the repulsive story of the red leech and the terrible
death of Crosby, the banker. Here also I find an account of the Addleton
tragedy, and the singular contents of the ancient British barrow. The
famous Smith-Mortimer succession case comes also within this period, and
so does the tracking and arrest of Huret, the Boulevard assassin –– an
exploit which won for Holmes an autograph letter of thanks from the French
President and the Order of the Legion of Honour. Each of these would
furnish a narrative, but on the whole I am of opinion that none of them
unites so many singular points of interest as the episode of Yoxley Old
Place, which includes not only the lamentable death of young Willoughby
Smith, but also those subsequent developments which threw so curious a
light upon the causes of the crime.
It was a wild, tempestuous night, towards the close of November.
Holmes and I sat together in silence all the evening, he engaged with a
powerful lens deciphering the remains of the original inscription upon a
palimpsest, I deep in a recent treatise upon surgery. Outside the wind
howled down Baker Street, while the rain beat fiercely against the
windows. It was strange there, in the very depths of the town, with ten
miles of man's handiwork on every side of us, to feel the iron grip of
Nature, and to be conscious that to the huge elemental forces all London
was no more than the molehills that dot the fields. I walked to the
window, and looked out on the deserted street. The occasional lamps
gleamed on the expanse of muddy road and shining pavement. A single cab
was splashing its way from the Oxford Street end.
"Well, Watson, it's as well we have not to turn out to-night," said
Holmes, laying aside his lens and rolling up the palimpsest. "I've done
enough for one sitting. It is trying work for the eyes. So far as I can
make out, it is nothing more exciting than an Abbey's accounts dating from
the second half of the fifteenth century. Halloa! halloa! halloa! What's
this?"
Amid the droning of the wind there had come the stamping of a horse's
hoofs, and the long grind of a wheel as it rasped against the curb. The
cab which I had seen had pulled up at our door.
"What can he want?" I ejaculated, as a man stepped out of it.
"Want? He wants us. And we, my poor Watson, want over-coats and
cravats and goloshes, and every aid that man ever invented to fight the
weather. Wait a bit, though! There's the cab off again! There's hope yet.
He'd have kept it if he had wanted us to come. Run down, my dear fellow,
and open the door, for all virtuous folk have been long in bed."
When the light of the hall lamp fell upon our midnight visitor, I had
no difficulty in recognizing him. It was young Stanley Hopkins, a
promising detective, in whose career Holmes had several times shown a very
practical interest.
"Is he in?" he asked, eagerly.
"Come up, my dear sir," said Holmes's voice from above. "I hope you
have no designs upon us on such a night as this."
The detective mounted the stairs, and our lamp gleamed upon his
shining waterproof. I helped him out of it, while Holmes knocked a blaze
out of the logs in the grate.
"Now, my dear Hopkins, draw up and warm your toes," said he. "Here's
a cigar, and the doctor has a prescription containing hot water and a
lemon, which is good medicine on a night like this. It must be something
important which has brought you out in such a gale."
"It is indeed, Mr. Holmes. I've had a bustling afternoon, I promise
you. Did you see anything of the Yoxley case in the latest editions?"
"I've seen nothing later than the fifteenth century to-day."
"Well, it was only a paragraph, and all wrong at that, so you have
not missed anything. I haven't let the grass grow under my feet. It's down
in Kent, seven miles from Chatham and three from the railway line. I was
wired for at 3:15, reached Yoxley Old Place at 5, conducted my
investigation, was back at Charing Cross by the last train, and straight
to you by cab."
"Which means, I suppose, that you are not quite clear about your
case?"
"lt means that I can make neither head nor tail of it. So far as I
can see, it is just as tangled a business as ever I handled, and yet at
first it seemed so simple that one couldn't go wrong. There's no motive,
Mr. Holmes. That's what bothers me –– I can't put my hand on a motive.
Here's a man dead –– there's no denying that –– but, so far as I can see,
no reason on earth why anyone should wish him harm."
Holmes lit his cigar and leaned back in his chair.
"Let us hear about it," said he.
"I've got my facts pretty clear," said Stanley Hopkins. "All I want
now is to know what they all mean. The story, so far as I can make it out,
is like this. Some years ago this country house, Yoxley Old Place, was
taken by an elderly man, who gave the name of Professor Coram. He was an
invalid, keeping his bed half the time, and the other half hobbling round
the house with a stick or being pushed about the grounds by the gardener
in a Bath chair. He was well liked by the few neighbours who ealled upon
him, and he has the reputation down there of being a very learned man. His
household used to consist of an elderly house-keeper, Mrs. Marker, and of
a maid, Susan Tarlton. These have both been with him since his arrival,
and they seem to be women of excellent character. The professor is writing
a learned book, and he found it necessary, about a year ago, to engage a
secretary. The first two that he tried were not successes, but the third,
Mr. Willoughby Smith, a very young man straight from the university, seems
to have been just what his employer wanted. His work consisted in writing
all the morning to the professor's dictation, and he usually spent the
evening in hunting up references and passages which bore upon the next
day's work. This Willoughby Smith has nothing against him, either as a boy
at Uppingham or as a young man at Cambridge. I have seen his testimonials,
and from the first he was a decent, quiet, hard- working fellow, with no
weak spot in him at all. And yet this is the lad who has met his death
this morning in the professor's study under circumstances which can point
only to murder."
The wind howled and screamed at the windows. Holmes and I drew closer
to the fire, while the young inspector slowly and point by point developed
his singular narrative.
"If you were to search all England," said he, "I don't suppose you
could find a household more self-contained or freer from outside
influences. Whole weeks would pass, and not one of them go past the garden
gate. The professor was buried in his work and existed for nothing else.
Young Smith knew nobody in the neighbourhood, and lived very much as his
employer did. The two women had nothing to take them from the house.
Mortimer, the gardener, who wheels the Bath chair, is an army pensioner ––
an old Crimean man of excellent character. He does not live in the house,
but in a three-roomed cottage at the other end of the garden. Those are
the only people that you would find within the grounds of Yoxley Old
Place. At the same time, the gate of the garden is a hundred yards from
the main London to Chatham road. It opens with a latch, and there is
nothing to prevent anyone from walking in.
"Now I will give you the evidence of Susan Tarlton, who is the only
person who can say anything positive about the matter. It was in the
forenoon, between eleven and twelve. She was engaged at the moment in
hanging some curtains in the upstairs front bedroom. Professor Coram was
still in bed, for when the weather is bad he seldom rises before midday.
The housekeeper was busied with some work in the back of the house. Wil-
loughby Smith had been in his bedroom, which he uses as a sitting-room,
but the maid heard him at that moment pass along the passage and descend
to the study immediately below her. She did not see him, but she says that
she could not be mistaken in his quick, firm tread. She did not hear the
study door close, but a minute or so later there was a dreadful cry in the
room below. It was a wild, hoarse scream, so strange and unnatural that it
might have come either from a man or a woman. At the same instant there
was a heavy thud, which shook the old house, and then all was silence. The
maid stood petrified for a moment, and then, recovering her courage, she
ran downstairs. The study door was shut and she opened it. Inside, young
Mr. Willoughby Smith was stretched upon the floor. At first she could see
no injury, but as she tried to raise him she saw that blood was pouring
from the underside of his neck. It was pierced by a very small but very
deep wound, which had divided the carotid artery. The instrument with
which the injury had been inflicted lay upon the carpet beside him. It was
one of those small sealing-wax knives to be found on old-fashioned
writing-tables, with an ivory handle and a stiff blade. It was part of the
fittings of the professor's own desk.
"At first the maid thought that young Smith was already dead, but on
pouring some water from the carafe over his forehead he opened his eyes
for an instant. 'The professor,' he murmured –– 'it was she.' The maid is
prepared to swear that those were the exact words. He tried desperately to
say something else, and he held his right hand up in the air. Then he fell
back dead.
"In the meantime the housekeeper had also arrived upon the scene, but
she was just too late to catch the young man's dying words. Leaving Susan
with the body, she hurried to the professor's room. He was sitting up in
bed horribly agitated, for he had heard enough to convince him that
something terrible had occurred. Mrs. Marker is prepared to swear that the
professor was still in his night-clothes, and indeed it was impossible for
him to dress without the help of Mortimer, whose orders were to come at
twelve o'clock. The professor declares that he heard the distant cry, but
that he knows nothing more. He can give no explanation of the young man's
last words, 'The professor –– it was she,' but imagines that they were the
outcome of delirium. He believes that Willoughby Smith had not an enemy in
the world, and can give no reason for the crime. His first action was to
send Mortimer, the gardener, for the local police. A little later the
chief constable sent for me. Nothing was moved before I got there, and
strict orders were given that no one should walk upon the paths leading to
the house. It was a splendid chance of putting your theories into
practice, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. There was really nothing wanting."
"Except Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said my companion, with a somewhat
bitter smile. "Well, let us hear about it. What sort of job did you make
of it?"
"I must ask you first, Mr. Holmes, to glance at this rough plan,
which will give you a general idea of the position of the professor's
study and the various points of the case. It will help you in following my
investigation."
He unfolded the rough chart, which I here reproduce, and he laid it
across Holmes's knee. I rose and, standing behind Holmes, studied it over
his shoulder.
"It is very rough, of course, and it only deals with the points which
seem to me to be essential. All the rest you will see later for yourself.
Now, first of all, presuming that the assassin entered the house, how did
he or she come in? Undoubtedly by the garden path and the back door, from
which there is direct access to the study. Any other way would have been
exceedingly complicated. The escape must have also been made along that
line, for of the two other exits from the room one was blocked by Susan as
she ran downstairs and the other leads straight to the professor's
bedroom. I therefore directed my attention at once to the garden path,
which was saturated with recent rain, and would certainly show any
footmarks.
"My examination showed me that I was dealing with a cautious and
expert criminal. No footmarks were to be found on the path. There could be
no question, however, that someone had passed along the grass border which
lines the path, and that he had done so in order to avoid leaving a track.
I could not find anything in the nature of a distinct impression, but the
grass was trodden down, and someone had undoubtedly passed. It could only
have been the murderer, since neither the gardener nor anyone else had
been there that morning, and the rain had only begun during the night."
"One moment," said Holmes. "Where does this path lead to?"
"To the road."
"How long is it?"
"A hundred yards or so."
"At the point where the path passes through the gate, you could
surely pick up the tracks?"
"Unfortunately, the path was tiled at that point."
"Well, on the road itself?"
"No, it was all trodden into mire."
"Tut-tut! Well, then, these tracks upon the grass, were they coming
or going?"
"It was impossible to say. There was never any outline."
"A large foot or a small?"
"You could not distinguish."
Holmes gave an ejaculation of impatience.
"It has been pouring rain and blowing a hurricane ever since," said
he. "It will be harder to read now than that palimpsest. Well, well. it
can't be helped. What did you do. Hopkins, after you had made certain that
you had made certain of nothing?"
"I think I made certain of a good deal, Mr. Holmes. I knew that
someone had entered the house cautiously from without. I next examined the
corridor. It is lined with cocoanut matting and had taken no impression of
any kind. This brought me into the study itself. It is a scantily
furnished room. The main article is a large writing-table with a fixed
bureau. This bureau consists of a double column of drawers, with a central
small cupboard between them. The drawers were open, the cupboard locked.
The drawers, it seems, were always open, and nothing of value was kept in
them. There were some papers of importance in the cupboard, but there were
no signs that this had been tampered with, and the professor assures me
that nothing was missing. It is certain that no robbery has been
committed.
"I come now to the body of the young man. It was found near the
bureau, and just to the left of it, as marked upon that chart. The stab
was on the right side of the neck and from behind forward, so that it is
almost impossible tbat it could have been self-inflicted."
"Unless he fell upon the knife," said Holmes.
"Exactly. The idea crossed my mind. But we found the knife some feet
away from the body, so that seems impossible. Then, of course, there are
the man's own dying words. And, finally, there was this very important
piece of evidence which was found clasped in the dead man's right hand."
From his pocket Stanley Hopkins drew a small paper packet. He
unfolded it and disclosed a golden pince-nez, with two broken ends of
black silk cord dangling from the end of it.
"Willoughby Smith had excellent sight," he added. "There can be no
question that this was snatched from the face or the person of the
assassin."
Sherlock Holmes took the glasses into his hand, and examined them
with the utmost attention and interest. He held them on his nose,
endeavoured to read through them, went to the window and stared up the
street with them, looked at them most minutely in the full light of the
lamp, and finally, with a chuckle, seated himself at the table and wrote a
few lines upon a sheet of paper, which he tossed across to Stanley
Hopkins.
"That's the best I can do for you," said he. "It may prove to be of
some use."
The astonished detective read the note aloud. It ran as follows:
"Wanted. a woman of good address. attired like a lady. She has
a remarkably thick nose, with eyes which are set close upon
either side of it. She has a puckered forehead, a peering
expression, and probably rounded shoulders. There are
indications that she has had recourse to an optician at least
twice during the last few months. As her glasses are of
remarkable strength, and as opticians are not very numerous,
there should be no difficulty in tracing her."
Holmes smiled at the astonishment of Hopkins, which must have been
reflected upon my features.
"Surely my deductions are simplicity itself," said he. "It would be
difficult to name any articles which afford a finer field for inference
than a pair of glasses, especially so remarkable a pair as these. That
they belong to a woman I infer from their delicacy, and also, of course,
from the last words of the dying man. As to her being a person of
refinement and well dressed they are, as you perceive, handsomely mounted
in solid gold, and it is inconceivable that anyone who wore such glasses
could be slatternly in other respects. You will find that the clips are
too wide for your nose, showing that the lady's nose was very broad at the
base. This sort of nose is usually a short and coarse one, but there is a
sufficient number of exceptions to prevent me from being dogmatic or from
insisting upon this point in my description. My own face is a narrow one,
and yet I find that I cannot get my eyes into the centre, nor near the
centre, of these glasses. Therefore, the lady's eyes are set very near to
the sides of the nose. You will perceive, Watson, that the glasses are
concave and of unusual strength. A lady whose vision has been so extremely
contracted all her life is sure to have the physical characteristics of
such vision, which are seen in the forehead, the eyelids, and the
shoulders."
"Yes," I said, "I can follow each of your arguments. I confess,
however, that I am unable to understand how you arrive at the double visit
to the optician."
Holmes took the glasses in his hand.
"You will perceive," he said, "that the clips are lined with tiny
bands of cork to soften the pressure upon the nose. One of these is
discoloured and worn to some slight extent, but the other is new.
Evidently one has fallen off and been replaced. I should judge that the
older of them has not been there more than a few months. They exactly
correspond, so I gather that the lady went back to the same establishment
for the second."
"By George, it's marvellous!" cried Hopkins. in an ecstasy of
admiration. "To think that I had all that evidence in my hand and never
knew it! I had intended, however, to go the round of the London
opticians."
"Of course you would. Meanwhile, have you anything more to tell us
about the case?"
"Nothing, Mr. Holmes. I think that you know as much as I do now ––
probably more. We have had inquiries made as to any stranger seen on the
country roads or at the railway station. We have heard of none. What beats
me is the utter want of all object in the crime. Not a ghost of a motive
can anyone suggest."
"Ah! there I am not in a position to help you. But I suppose you want
us to come out to-morrow?"
"If it is not asking too much, Mr. Holmes. There's a train from
Charing Cross to Chatham at six in the morning, and we should be at Yoxley
Old Place between eight and nine."
"Then we shall take it. Your case has certainly some features of
great interest, and I shall be delighted to look into it. Well, it's
nearly one, and we had best get a few hours' sleep. I daresay you can
manage all right on the sofa in front of the fire. I'll light my spirit
lamp, and give you a cup of coffee before we start."
The gale had blown itself out next day, but it was a bitter morning
when we started upon our journey. We saw the cold winter sun rise over the
dreary marshes of the Thames and the long, sullen reaches of the river,
which I shall ever associate with our pursuit of the Andaman Islander in
the earlier days of our career. After a long and weary journey, we
alighted at a small station some miles from Chatham. While a horse was
being put into a trap at the local inn, we snatched a hurried breakfast,
and so we were all ready for business when we at last arrived at Yoxley
Old Place. A constable met us at the garden gate.
"Well, Wilson, any news?"
"No, sir –– nothing."
"No reports of any stranger seen?"
"No, sir. Down at the station they are certain that no stranger
either came or went yesterday."
"Have you had inquiries made at inns and lodgings?"
"Yes, sir: there is no one that we cannot account for."
"Well, it's only a reasonable walk to Chatham. Anyone might stay
there or take a train without being observed. This is the garden path of
which I spoke, Mr. Holmes. I'll pledge my word there was no mark on it
yesterday."
"On which side were the marks on the grass?"
"This side, sir. This narrow margin of grass between the path and the
flowerbed. I can't see the traces now, but they were clear to me then."
"Yes, yes: someone has passed along," said Holmes, stooping over the
grass border. "Our lady must have picked her steps carefully, must she
not, since on the one side she would leave a track on the path, and on the
other an even clearer one on the soft bed?"
"Yes, sir, she must have been a cool hand."
I saw an intent look pass over Holmes's face.
"You say that she must have come back this way?"
"Yes, sir, there is no other."
"On this strip of grass?"
"Certainly, Mr. Holmes."
"Hum! It was a very remarkable performance –– very remark-able. Well,
I think we have exhausted the path. Let us go farther. This garden door is
usually kept open, I suppose? Then this visitor had nothing to do but to
walk in. The idea of murder was not in her mind, or she would have
provided herself with some sort of weapon, instead of having to pick this
knife off the writing-table. She advanced along this corridor, leaving no
traces upon the cocoanut matting. Then she found herself in this study.
How long was she there? We have no means of judging."
"Not more than a few minutes, sir. I forgot to tell you that Mrs.
Marker, the housekeeper, had been in there tidying not very long before ––
about a quarter of an hour, she says."
"Well, that gives us a limit. Our lady enters this room, and what
does she do? She goes over to the writing-table. What for? Not for
anything in the drawers. If there had been anything worth her taking, it
would surely have been locked up. No, it was for something in that wooden
bureau. Halloa! what is that scratch upon the face of it? Just hold a
match, Watson. Why did you not tell me of this, Hopkins?"
The mark which he was examining began upon the brasswork on the
righthand side of the keyhole, and extended for about four inches, where
it had scratched the varnish from the surface.
"I noticed it, Mr. Holmes, but you'll always find scratches round a
keyhole."
"This is recent, quite recent. See how the brass shines where it is
cut. An old scratch would be the same colour as the surface. Look at it
through my lens. There's the varnish, too, like earth on each side of a
furrow. Is Mrs. Marker there?"
A sad-faced, elderly woman came into the room.
"Did you dust this bureau yesterday morning?"
"Yes, sir."
"Did you notice this scratch?"
"No, sir, I did not."
"I am sure you did not, for a duster would have swept away these
shreds of varnish. Who has the key of this bureau?"
"The professor keeps it on his watch-chain."
"Is it a simple key?"
"No, sir, it is a Chubb's key."
"Very good. Mrs. Marker, you can go. Now we are making a little
progress. Our lady enters the room, advances to the bureau, and either
opens it or tries to do so. While she is thus engaged, young Willoughby
Smith enters the room. In her hurry to with-draw the key, she makes this
scratch upon the door. He seizes her, and she, snatching up the nearest
object, which happens to be this knife, strikes at him in order to make
him let go his hold. The blow is a fatal one. He falls and she escapes,
either with or without the object for which she has come. Is Susan, the
maid, there? Could anyone have got away through that door after the time
that you heard the cry, Susan?"
"No, sir, it is impossible. Before I got down the stair, I'd have
seen anyone in the passage. Besides, the door never opened, or I would
have heard it."
"That settles this exit. Then no doubt the lady-went out the way she
came. I understand that this other passage leads only to the professor's
room. There is no exit that way?"
"No, sir."
"We shall go down it and make the acquaintance of the professor.
Halloa, Hopkins! this is very important, very important indeed. The
professor's corridor is also lined with cocoanut matting."
"Well, sir, what of that?"
"Don't you see any bearing upon the case? Well, well. I don't insist
upon it. No doubt I am wrong. And yet it seems to me to be suggestive.
Come with me and introduce me."
We passed down the passage, which was of the same length as that
which led to the garden. At the end was a short flight of steps ending in
a door. Our guide knocked, and then ushered us into the professor's
bedroom.
It was a very large chamber, lined with innumerable volumes, which
had overflowed from the shelves and lay in piles in the corners, or were
stacked all round at the base of the cases. The bed was in the centre of
the room, and in it, propped up with pillows, was the owner of the house.
I have seldom seen a more remarkable-looking person. It was a gaunt,
aquiline face which was turned towards us, with piercing dark eyes, which
lurked in deep hollows under overhung and tufted brows. His hair and beard
were white, save that the latter was curiously stained with yellow around
his mouth. A cigarette glowed amid the tangle of white hair, and the air
of the room was fetid with stale tobacco smoke. As he held out his hand to
Holmes, I perceived that it was also stained with yellow nicotine.
"A smoker, Mr. Holmes?" said he, speaking in well-chosen English,
with a curious little mincing accent. "Pray take a cigarette. And you,
sir? I can recommend them, for I have them especially prepared by lonides,
of Alexandria. He sends me a thousand at a time, and I grieve to say that
I have to arrange for a fresh suprly every fortnight. Bad, sir, very bad,
but an old man has few pleasures. Tobacco and my work –– that is all that
is left to me."
Holmes had lit a cigarette and was shooting little darting glances
all over the room.
"Tobacco and my work, but now only tobacco," the old man exclaimed.
"Alas! what a fatal interruption! Who could have foreseen such a terrible
catastrophe? So estimable a young man! I assure you that, after a few
months' training, he was an admirable assistant. What do you think of the
matter, Mr. Holmes?"
"I have not yet made up my mind."
"I shall indeed be indebted to you if you can throw a light where all
is so dark to us. To a poor bookworm and invalid like myself such a blow
is paralyzing. I seem to have lost the faculty of thought. But you are a
man of action –– you are a man of affairs. It is part of the everyday
routine of your life. You can preserve your balance in every emergency. We
are fortunate, indeed, in having you at our side."
Holmes was pacing up and down one side of the room whilst the old
professor was talking. I observed that he was smoking with extraordinary
rapidity. It was evident that he shared our host's liking for the fresh
Alexandrian cigarettes.
"Yes, sir, it is a crushing blow," said the old man. "That is my
magnum opus –– the pile of papers on the side table yonder. It is my
analysis of the documents found in the Coptic monasteries of Syria and
Egypt, a work which will cut deep at the very foundation of revealed
religion. With my enfeebled health I do not know whether I shall ever be
able to complete it, now that my assistant has been taken from me. Dear
me! Mr. Holmes, why, you are even a quicker smoker than I am myself."
Holmes smiled.
"I am a connoisseur," said he, taking another cigarette from the box
–– his fourth –– and lighting it from the stub of that which he had
finished. "I will not trouble you with any lengthy cross-examination,
Professor Coram, since I gather that you were in bed at the time of the
crime, and could know nothing about it. I would only ask this: What do you
imagine that this poor fellow meant by his last words: 'The professor ––
it was she'?"
The professor shook his head.
"Susan is a country girl," said he, "and you know the incredible
stupidity of that class. I fancy that the poor fellow murmured some
incoherent, delirious words, and that she twisted them into this
meaningless message."
"I see. You have no explanation yourself of the tragedy?"
"Possibly an accident, possibly –– I only breathe it among ourselves
–– a suicide. Young men have their hidden troubles –– some affair of the
heart, perhaps, which we have never known. It is a more probable
supposition than murder."
"But the eyeglasses?"
"Ah! I am only a student –– a man of dreams. I cannot explain the
practical things of life. But still, we are aware, my friend, that
love-gages may take strange shapes. By all means take another cigarette.
It is a pleasure to see anyone appreciate them so. A fan, a glove, glasses
–– who knows what article may be carried as a token or treasured when a
man puts an end to his life? This gentleman speaks of footsteps in the
grass, but, after all, it is easy to be mistaken on such a point. As to
the knife, it might well be thrown far from the unfortunate man as he
fell. It is possible that I speak as a child, but to me it seems that
Willoughby Smith has met his fate by his own hand."
Holmes seemed struck by the theory thus put forward, and hc continued
to walk up and down for some time, lost in thought and consuming cigarette
after cigarette.
"Tell me, Professor Coram," he said. at last, "what is in that
cupboard in the bureau?"
"Nothing that would help a thief. Family papers, letters from my poor
wife, diplomas of universities which have done me honour. Here is the key.
You can look for yourself."
Holmes picked up the key, and looked at it for an instant, then he
handed it back.
"No, I hardly think that it would help me," said he. "I should prefer
to go quietly down to your garden, and turn the whole matter over in my
head. There is something to be said for the theory of suicide which you
have put forward. We must apologize for having intruded upon you,
Professor Coram, and I promise that we won't disturb you until after
lunch. At two o'clock we will come again, and report to you anything which
may have happened in the interval."
Holmes was curiously distrait, and we walked up and down the garden
path for some time in silence.
"Have you a clue?" I asked, at last.
"It depends upon those cigarettes that I smoked," said he. "It is
possible that I am utterly mistaken. The cigarettes will show me."
"My dear Holmes," I exclaimed, "how on earth –– "
"Well, well, you may see for yourself. If not, there's no harm done.
Of course, we always have the optician clue to fall back upon, but I take
a short cut when I can get it. Ah, here is the good Mrs. Marker! Let us
enjoy five minutes of instructive conversation with her."
I may have remarked before that Holmes had, when he liked, a
peculiarly ingratiating way with women, and that he very readily
established terms of confidence with them. In half the time which he had
named, he had captured the housekeeper's goodwill and was chatting with
her as if he had known her for years.
"Yes, Mr. Holmes, it is as you say, sir. He does smoke something
terrible. All day and sometimes all night, sir. I've seen that room of a
morning –– well, sir, you'd have thought it was a London fog. Poor young
Mr. Smith, he was a smoker also, but not as bad as the professor. His
health –– well, I don't know that it's better nor worse for the smoking."
"Ah!" said Holmes, "but it kills the appetite."
"Well, I don't know about that, sir."
"I suppose the professor eats hardly anything?"
"Well, he is variable. I'll say that for him."
"I'll wager he took no breakfast this morning, and won't face his
lunch after all the cigarettes I saw him consume."
"Well, you're out there, sir, as it happens, for he ate a remarkable
big breakfast this morning. I don't know when I've known him make a better
one, and he's ordered a good dish of cutlets for his lunch. I'm surprised
myself, for since I came into that room yesterday and saw young Mr. Smith
lying there on the floor, I couldn't bear to look at food. Well, it takes
all sorts to make a world, and the professor hasn't let it take his
appetite away."
We loitered the morning away in the garden. Stanley Hopkins had gone
down to the village to look into some rumours of a strange woman who had
been seen by some children on the Chatham Road the previous morning. As to
my friend, all his usual energy seemed to have deserted him. I had never
known him handle a case in such a half-hearted fashion. Even the news
brought back by Hopkins that he had found the children, and that they had
undoubtedly seen a woman exactly corresponding with Holmes's description,
and wearing either spectacles or eyeglasses, failed to rouse any sign of
keen interest. He was more attentive when Susan, who waited upon us at
lunch, volunteered the information that she believed Mr. Smith had been
out for a walk yesterday morning, and that he had only returned half an
hour before the tragedy occurred. I could not myself see the bearing of
this incident, but I clearly perceived that Holmes was weaving it into the
general scheme which he had formed in his brain. Suddenly he sprang from
his chair and glanced at his watch. "Two o'clock, gentlemen." said he. "We
must go up and have it out with our friend, the professor."
The old man had just finished his lunch, and certainly his empty dish
bore evidence to the good appetite with which his housekeeper had credited
him. He was, indeed, a weird figure as he turned his white mane and his
glowing eyes towards us. The eternal cigarette smouldered in his mouth. He
had been dressed and was seated in an armchair by the fire.
"Well, Mr. Holmes, have you solved this mystery yet?" He shoved the
large tin of cigarettes which stood on a table beside him towards my
companion. Holmes stretched out his hand at the same moment, and between
them they tipped the box over the edge. For a minute or two we were all on
our knees retrieving stray cigarettes from impossible places. When we rose
again, I observed Holmes's eyes were shining and his cheeks tinged with
colour. Only at a crisis have I seen those battle-signals flying.
"Yes," said he, "I have solved it."
Stanley Hopkins and I stared in amazement. Something like a sneer
quivered over the gaunt features of the old professor.
"Indeed! In the garden?"
"No, here."
"Here! When?"
"This instant."
"You are surely joking, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. You compel me to tell
you that this is too serious a matter to be treated in such a fashion."
"I have forged and tested every link of my chain, Professor Coram,
and I am sure that it is sound. What your motives are, or what exact part
you play in this strange business, I am not yet able to say. In a few
minutes I shall probably hear it from your own lips. Meanwhile I will
reconstruct what is past for your benefit, so that you may know the
information which I still require.
"A lady yesterday entered your study. She came with the intention of
possessing herself of certain documents which were in your bureau. She had
a key of her own. I have had an opportunity of examining yours, and I do
not find that slight discolouration which the scratch made upon the
varnish would have produced. You were not an accessory, therefore, and she
came, so far as I can read the evidence, without your knowledge to rob
you."
The professor blew a cloud from his lips. "This is most interesting
and instructive," said he. "Have you no more to add? Surely, having traced
this lady so far, you can also say what has become of her."
"I will endeavour to do so. In the first place she was seized by your
secretary, and stabbed him in order to escape. This catastrophe I am
inclined to regard as an unhappy accident, for I am convinced that the
lady had no intention of inflicting so grievous an injury. An assassin
does not come unarmed. Horrified by what she had done, she rushed wildly
away from the scene of the tragedy. Unfortunately for her, she had lost
her glasses in the scuffle, and as she was extremely shortsighted she was
really helpless without them. She ran down a corridor, which she imagined
to be that by which she had come –– both were lined with cocoanut matting
–– and it was only when it was too late that she understood that she had
taken the wrong passage, and that her retreat was cut off behind her. What
was she to do? She could not go back. She could not remain where she was.
She must go on. She went on. She mounted a stair, pushed open a door, and
found herself in your room."
The old man sat with his mouth open, staring wildly at Holmes.
Amazement and fear were stamped upon his expressive features. Now, with an
effort, he shrugged his shoulders and burst into insincere laughter.
"All very fine, Mr. Holmes," said he. "But there is one little flaw
in your splendid theory. I was myself in my room, and I never left it
during the day."
"I am aware of that, Professor Coram."
"And you mean to say that I could lie upon that bed and not be aware
that a woman had entered my room?"
"I never said so. You were aware of it. You spoke with her. You
recognized her. You aided her to escape."
Again the professor burst into high-keyed laughter. He had risen to
his feet, and his eyes glowed like embers.
"You are mad!" he cried. "You are talking insanely. I helped her to
escape? Where is she now?"
"She is there," said Holmes, and he pointed to a high book-case in
the corner of the room.
I saw the old man throw up his arms, a terrible convulsion passed
over his grim face, and he fell back in his chair. At the same instant the
bookcase at which Holmes pointed swung round upon a hinge, and a woman
rushed out into the room. "You are right!" she cried, in a strange foreign
voice. "You are right! I am here."
She was brown with the dust and draped with the cobwebs which had
come from the walls of her hiding-place. Her face, too, was streaked with
grime, and at the best she could never have been handsome, for she had the
exact physical characteristics which Holmes had divined, with, in
addition, a long and obstinate chin. What with her natural blindness, and
what with the change from dark to light, she stood as one dazed, blinking
about her to see where and who we were. And yet, in spite of all these
disadvantages, there was a certain nobility in the woman's bearing –– a
gallantry in the defiant chin and in the upraised head, which compelled
something of respect and admiration.
Stanley Hopkins had laid his hand upon her arm and claimed her as his
prisoner, but she waved him aside gently, and yet with an over-mastering
dignity which compelled obedience. The old man lay back in his chair with
a twitching face, and stared at her with brooding eyes.
"Yes, sir, I am your prisoner," she said. "From where I stood I could
hear everything, and I know that you have learned the truth. I confess it
all. It was I who killed the young man. But you are right –– you who say
it was an accident. I did not even know that it was a knife which I held
in my hand, for in my despair I snatched anything from the table and
struck at him to make him let me go. It is the truth that I tell."
"Madam," said Holmes, "I am sure that it is the truth. I fear that
you are far from well."
She had turned a dreadful colour, the more ghastly under the dark
dust-streaks upon her face. She seated herself on the side of the bed;
then she resumed.
"I have only a little time here," she said, "but I would have you to
know the whole truth. I am this man's wife. He is not an Englishman. He is
a Russian. His name I will not tell."
For the first time the old man stirred. "God bless you, Anna!" he
cried. "God bless you!"
She cast a look of the deepest disdain in his direction. "Why should
you cling so hard to that wretched life of yours, Sergius?" said she. "It
has done harm to many and good to none –– not even to yourself. However,
it is not for me to cause the frail thread to be snapped before God's
time. I have enough already upon my soul since I crossed the threshold of
this cursed house. But I must speak or I shall be too late.
"I have said, gentlemen, that I am this man's wife. He was fifty and
I a foolish girl of twenty when we married. It was in a city of Russia, a
university –– I will not name the place."
"God bless you, Anna!" murmured the old man again.
"We were reformers –– revolutionists –– Nihilists, you understand. He
and I and many more. Then there came a time of trouble, a police officer
was killed, many were arrested, evidence was wanted, and in order to save
his own life and to earn a great reward, my husband betrayed his own wife
and his companions. Yes, we were all arrested upon his confession. Some of
us found our way to the gallows, and some to Siberia. I was among these
last, but my term was not for life. My husband came to England with his
ill-gotten gains and has lived in quiet ever since, knowing well that if
the Brotherhood knew where he was not a week would pass before justice
would be done."
The old man reached out a trembling hand and helped himself to a
cigarette. "I am in your hands, Anna," said he. "You were always good to
me."
"I have not yet told you the height of his villainy," said she.
"Among our comrades of the Order, there was one who was the friend of my
heart. He was noble, unselfish, loving –– all that my husband was not. He
hated violence. We were all guilty –– if that is guilt –– but he was not.
He wrote forever dissuading us from such a course. These letters would
have saved him. So would my diary, in which, from day to day, I had
entered both my feelings towards him and the view which each of us had
taken. My husband found and kept both diary and letters. He hid them, and
he tried hard to swear away the young man's life. In this he failed, but
Alexis was sent a convict to Siberia, where now, at this moment, he works
in a salt mine. Think of that, you villain, you villain! –– now, now, at
this very moment, Alexis, a man whose name you are not worthy to speak,
works and lives like a slave, and yet I have your life in my hands, and I
let you go."
"You were always a noble woman, Anna," said the old man, puffing at
his cigarette.
She had risen, but she fell back again with a little cry of pain.
"I must finish," she said. "When my term was over I set myself to get
the diary and letters which, if sent to the Russian government, would
procure my friend's release. I knew that my husband had come to England.
After months of searching I discovered where he was. I knew that he still
had the diary, for when I was in Siberia I had a letter from him once,
reproaching me and quoting some passages from its pages. Yet I was sure
that, with his revengeful nature, he would never give it to me of his own
free-will. I must get it for myself. With this object I engaged an agent
from a private detective firm, who entered my husband's house as a
secretary –– it was your second secretary Sergius, the one who left you so
hurriedly. He found that papers were kept in the cupboard, and he got an
impression of the key. He would not go farther. He furnished me with a
plan of the house, and he told me that in the forenoon the study was
always empty, as the secretary was employed up here. So at last I took my
courage in both hands, and I came down to get the papers for myself. I
succeeded; but at what a cost!
"I had just taken the papers and was locking the cupboard, when the
young man seized me. I had seen him already that morning. He had met me on
the road, and I had asked him to tell me where Professor Coram lived, not
knowing that he was in his employ.
"Exactly! Exactly!" said Holmes. "The secretary came back, and told
his employer of the woman he had met. Then, in his last breath, he tried
to send a message that it was she –– the she whom he had just discussed
with him."
"You must let me speak," said the woman, in an imperative voice, and
her face contracted as if in pain. "When he had fallen I rushed from the
room, chose the wrong door, and found myself in my husband's room. He
spoke of giving me up. I showed him that if he did so, his life was in my
hands. If he gave me to the law, I could give him to the Brotherhood. It
was not that I wished to live for my own sake, but it was that I desired
to accomplish my purpose. He knew that I would do what I said –– that his
own fate was involved in mine. For that reason, and for no other, he
shielded me. He thrust me into that dark hiding-place –– a relic of old
days, known only to himself. He took his meals in his own room, and so was
able to give me part of his food. It was agreed that when the police left
the house I should slip away by night and come back no more. But in some
way you have read our plans." She tore from the bosom of her dress a small
packet. "These are my last words," said she; "here is the packet which
will save Alexis. I confide it to your honour and to your love of justice.
Take it! You will deliver it at the Russian Embassy. Now, I have done my
duty, and –– "
"Stop her!" cried Holmes. He had bounded across the room and had
wrenched a small phial from her hand.
"Too late!" she said, sinking back on the bed. "Too late! I took the
poison before I left my hiding-place. My head swims! I am going! I charge
you, sir, to remember the packet."
"A simple case, and yet, in some ways, an instructive one," Holmes
remarked, as we travelled back to town. "It hinged from the outset upon
the pince-nez. But for the fortunate chance of the dying man having seized
these, I am not sure that we could ever have reached our solution. It was
clear to me, from the strength of the glasses, that the wearer must have
been very blind and helpless when deprived of them. When you asked me to
believe that she walked along a narrow strip of grass without once making
a false step, I remarked, as you may remember, that it was a noteworthy
performance. In my mind I set it down as an impossible performance, save
in the unlikely case that she had a second pair of glasses. I was forced,
therefore, to consider seriously the hypothesis that she had remained
within the house. On perceiving the similarity of the two corridors. it
became clear that she might very easily have made such a mistake, and, in
that case, it was evident that she must have entered the professor's room.
I was keenly on the alert, therefore, for whatever would bear out this
supposition, and I examined the room narrowly for anything in the shape of
a hiding-place. The carpet seemed continuous and firmly nailed, so I
dismissed the idea of a trap-door. There might well be a recess behind the
books. As you are aware, such devices are common in old libraries. I ob-
served that books were piled on the floor at all other points, but that
one bookcase was left clear. This, then, might be the door. I could see no
marks to guide me, but the carpet was of a dun colour, which lends itself
very well to examination. I therefore smoked a great number of those
excellent cigarettes, and I dropped the ash all over the space in front of
the suspected bookcase. It was a simple trick, but exceedingly effective.
I then went downstairs, and I ascertained, in your presence, Watson,
without your perceiving the drift of my remarks, that Professor Coram's
consumption of food had increased –– as one would expect when he is
supplying a second person. We then ascended to the room again, when, by
upsetting the cigarette-box, I obtained a very excellent view of the
floor, and was able to see quite clearly, from the traces upon the
cigarette ash, that the prisoner had in our absence come out from her
retreat. Well Hopkins, here we are at Charing Cross, and I congratulate
you on having brought your case to a successful conclusion. You are going
to headquarters, no doubt. I think, Watson, you and I will drive together
to the Russian Embassy."
