The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Part 38 (2/2)
I could see that she was pretty, and froht shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich ue in a tone as though asking a question, and when ave such a start that the lamp nearly fell fro in her ear, and then, pushi+ng her back into the rooain with the lamp in his hand
”'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this roo open another door It was a quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the centre, on which several German books were scattered Colonel Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a har an instant,' said he, and vanished into the darkness
”I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of norance of German I could see that two of the volu that I limpse of the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded across it It was a wonderfully silent house There was an old clock ticking loudly so was deadly still A vague feeling of uneasiness began to steal overliving in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no idea For that e toithin that radius, so the place ht not be so secluded, after all Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, that ere in the country I paced up and down the roo a tune under hly earning uinea fee
”Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in theslowly open The wo in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind her, the yellow light froer and beautiful face I could see at a glance that she was sick with fear, and the sight sent a chill to er to warn me to be silent, and she shot a fehispered words of broken English at htened horse, into the gloo hard, as it seeo I should not stay here There is no good for you to do'
”'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for I cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine'
”'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on 'You can pass through the door; no one hinders' And then, seeing that I smiled and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and ether 'For the love of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too late!'
”But I ae in an affair when there is souinea fee, of ht which see? Why should I slink aithout having carried out my commission, and without the payht, for all I knew, be a h her manner had shaken me more than I cared to confess, I still shookwhere I was She was about to renew her entreaties when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps was heard upon the stairs She listened for an instant, threw up her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and as noiselessly as she had come
”The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thickout of the creases of his double chin, as introduced to er,' said the colonel 'By the way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just now I fear that you have felt the draught'
”'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I felt the room to be a little close'
”He shot one of his suspicious looks at me 'Perhaps we had better proceed to business, then,' said he 'Mr Ferguson and I will take you up to see the machine'
”'I had better put my hat on, I suppose'
”'Oh, no, it is in the house'
”'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?'
”'No, no This is only where we compress it But never mind that
All ish you to do is to exa with it'
”We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the laer and I behind him It was a labyrinth of an old house, with corridors, passages, narroinding staircases, and little low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the generations who had crossed thens of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster was peeling off the walls, and the dareen, unhealthy blotches I tried to put on as unconcerned an air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the lady, even though I disregarded theuson appeared to be a morose and silent man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at least a fellow-countryman
”Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which he unlocked Within was a set at one tiuson remained outside, and the colonel ushered me in
”'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were to turn it on The ceiling of this s piston, and it comes doith the force of many tons upon this metal floor There are small lateral columns of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and multiply it in the oes readily enough, but there is so of it, and it has lost a little of its force Perhaps you will have the goodness to look it over and to show us hoe can set it right'
”I took the lahly It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of exercising enormous pressure When I passed outside, however, and pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by the whishi+ng sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders An examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to fill the socket along which it worked This was clearly the cause of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical questions as to how they should proceed to set it right When I had made it clear to theood look at it to satisfy lance that the story of the fuller's-earth was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a purpose The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a crust of metallic deposit all over it I had stooped and was scraping at this to see exactly what it hen I heard a muttered exclamation in Ger down atthere?' he asked
”I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as that which he had toldyour fuller's-earth,'
said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to your machine if I knehat the exact purpose was for which it was used'
”The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness ofup in his grey eyes