A Study In Scarlet Part 8 (1/2)
”He walked down the road and went into one or two liquor shops, staying for nearly half-an-hour in the last of theered in his walk, and was evidently pretty well on There was a hansom just in front of me, and he hailed it I followed it so close that the nose of my horse ithin a yard of his driver the whole way We rattled across Waterloo Bridge and through miles of streets, until, to my astonishment, we found ourselves back in the Terrace in which he had boarded I could not i there; but I went on and pulled up my cab a hundred yards or so from the house He entered it, and his hansolass of water, if you please My lass, and he drank it down
”That's better,” he said ”Well, I waited for a quarter of an hour, orinside the house Nextopen and two men appeared, one of as Drebber, and the other was a young chap whom I had never seen before This fellow had Drebber by the collar, and when they caave him a shove and a kick which sent hi his stick at hiirl!' He was so hot that I think he would have thrashed Drebber with his cudgel, only that the cur staggered away down the road as fast as his legs would carry hi my cab, he hailed me and jumped in `Drive me to Halliday's Private Hotel,' said he
”When I had him fairly inside my cab, my heart jumped so with joy that I feared lest at this last hing in ht out into the country, and there in some deserted lane have my last intervieith him I had almost decided upon this, when he solved the probleain, and he orderedword that I should wait for hi tiaine that I intended to kill hiid justice if I had done so, but I could not bringdetermined that he should have a show for his life if he chose to take advantage of it Alife, I was once janitor and sweeper out of the laboratory at York College One day the professor was lecturing on poisions, {25} and he showed his students some alkaloid, as he called it, which he had extracted from some South American arrow poison, and which was so powerful that the least grain meant instant death I spotted the bottle in which this preparation was kept, and when they were all gone, I helped ood dispenser, so I worked this alkaloid into small, soluble pills, and each pill I put in a box with a similar pill made without the poison I deterentlemen should each have a draw out of one of these boxes, while I ate the pill that reood deal less noisy than firing across a handkerchief From that day I had always my pill boxes about with me, and the time had now come when I was to use theht, blowing hard and raining in torrents Dislad that I could have shouted out froentle twenty long years, and then suddenly found it within your reach, you would understand ar, and puffed at it to steady , andwith excitement As I drove, I could see old John Ferrier and sweet Lucy looking atat me, just as plain as I see you all in this room All the way they were ahead of me, one on each side of the horse until I pulled up at the house in the Brixton Road
”There was not a soul to be seen, nor a sound to be heard, except the dripping of the rain When I looked in at the , I found Drebber all huddled together in a drunken sleep I shook hiht, cabby,' said he
”I suppose he thought we had coot out without another word, and followed arden I had to walk beside him to keep him steady, for he was still a little top-heavy When we came to the door, I opened it, and led hiive you hter alking in front of us
”`It's infernally dark,' said he, staht,' I said, striking a ht withto hiht to azed at me with bleared, drunken eyes for aup in them, and convulse his whole features, which showed ered back with a livid face, and I saw the perspiration break out upon his brohile his teeth chattered in his head At the sight, I leanedI had always known that vengeance would be sweet, but I had never hoped for the content!' I said; `I have hunted you fro, and you have always escaped s have come to an end, for either you or I shall never see to-morrow's sun rise' He shrunk still further away as I spoke, and I could see on his face that he thought I was mad So I was for the tie-hammers, and I believe I would have had a fit of soushed from my nose and relieved me
”`What do you think of Lucy Ferrier now?' I cried, locking the door, and shaking the key in his face `Punish, but it has overtaken you at last' I saw his coward lips treed for his life, but he kneell that it was useless
”`Would you murder me?' he stammered
”`There is no ? What ed her frohtered father, and bore her away to your accursed and shameless harem'
”`It was not I who killed her father,' he cried
”`But it was you who broke her innocent heart,' I shrieked, thrusting the box before hie between us Choose and eat There is death in one and life in the other I shall take what you leave Let us see if there is justice upon the earth, or if we are ruled by chance'
”He cowered aild cries and prayers for mercy, but I drew my knife and held it to his throat until he had obeyedone another in silence for ato see which was to live and which was to die Shall I ever forget the look which cas told hihed as I saw it, and held Lucy'sin front of his eyes It was but for a moment, for the action of the alkaloid is rapid A spasm of pain contorted his features; he threw his hands out in front of hiered, and then, with a hoarse cry, fell heavily upon the floor I turned him over with my foot, and placed my hand upon his heart There was nofrom my nose, but I had taken no notice of it I don't knohat it was that put it into my head to write upon the ith it Perhaps it was so track, for I felt light-hearted and cheerful I re found in New York with RACHE written up above hiued at the time in the newspapers that the secret societies uessed that what puzzled the New Yorkers would puzzle the Londoners, so I dipped er in my own blood and printed it on a convenient place on the wall Then I walked down to my cab and found that there was nobody about, and that the night was still very wild I had driven some distance when I put , and found that it was not there I was thunderstruck at this, for it was the only ht have dropped it when I stooped over Drebber's body, I drove back, and leaving my cab in a side street, I went boldly up to the house -- for I was ready to dare anything rather than lose the ring When I arrived there, I walked right into the ared to disar to be hopelessly drunk
”That was how Enoch Drebber came to his end All I had to do then was to do as erson, and so pay off John Ferrier's debt I knew that he was staying at Halliday's Private Hotel, and I hung about all day, but he never ca when Drebber failed to put in an appearance He was cunning, was Stangerson, and always on his guard If he thought he could keepindoors he was very much mistaken I soon found out which was theof his bedrooe of so in the lane behind the hotel, and so rey of the dawn I woke him up and told him that the hour had co before I described Drebber's death to hiave hi at the chance of safety which that offered hi from his bed and flew at my throat In self-defence I stabbed him to the heart It would have been the sauilty hand to pick out anything but the poison
”I have little more to say, and it's as well, for I a it for a day or so, intending to keep at it until I could save enough to take ed youngster asked if there was a cabby there called Jefferson Hope, and said that his cab anted by a gentle no har man here had the bracelets on my wrists, and as neatly snackled {27} as ever I saw in entlemen You may consider me to be a murderer; but I hold that I am just ashad the man's narrative been, and his manner was so impressive that we had sat silent and absorbed Even the professional detectives, blase {28} as they were in every detail of crime, appeared to be keenly interested in the man's story When he finished we sat for someof Lestrade's pencil as he gave the finishi+ng touches to his shorthand account
”There is only one point on which I should like a little more information,” Sherlock Holmes said at last ”Who was your acco which I advertised?”
The prisoner winked at my friend jocosely ”I can tell et other people into trouble I saw your advertiseht be the ring which I wanted My friend volunteered to go and see I think you'll own he did it smartly”
”Not a doubt of that,” said Holravely, ”the forms of the law ht before the istrates, and your attendance will be required Until then I will be responsible for hi the bell as he spoke, and Jefferson Hope was led off by a couple of warders, while my friend and I made our way out of the Station and took a cab back to Baker Street
CHAPTER VII
THE CONCLUSION
WE had all been warned to appear before the istrates upon the Thursday; but when the Thursday cae had taken the matter in hand, and Jefferson Hope had been summoned before a tribunal where strict justice would be ht after his capture the aneuris stretched upon the floor of the cell, with a placid s moments to look back upon a useful life, and on ell done
”Gregson and Lestrade will be wild about his death,” Hol ”Where will their grand advertisement be now?”