The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Part 6 (1/2)
”You look a little bewildered,” said he
”I cannot see how such a e as this could inspire horror It seerotesque than otherwise”
”Very likely Yet the fact remains that the reader, as a fine, robust old man, was knocked clean down by it as if it had been the butt end of a pistol”
”You arouse my curiosity,” said I ”But why did you say just now that there were very particular reasons why I should study this case?”
”Because it was the first in which I was ever engaged”
I had often endeavored to elicit from my companion what had first turned his ht him before in a communicative humor Now he sat forward in this arm-chair and spread out the documents upon his knees Then he lit his pipe and sat for so them over
”You never heard me talk of Victor Trevor?” he asked ”He was the only friend I e I was never a very sociable fellow, Watson, always rather fond ofout ht, so that I neverI had few athletic tastes, and then my line of study was quite distinct from that of the other fellows, so that we had no points of contact at all Trevor was the only h the accident of his bull terrier freezing on toas I went down to chapel
”It was a prosaic way of for a friendshi+p, but it was effective I was laid by the heels for ten days, but Trevor used to come in to inquire after me At first it was only a thened, and before the end of the term ere close friends He was a hearty, full-blooded fellow, full of spirits and energy, the very opposite to me in most respects, but we had some subjects in common, and it was a bond of union when I found that he was as friendless as I Finally, he invited me down to his father's place at Donnithorpe, in Norfolk, and I accepted his hospitality for avacation
”Old Trevor was evidently a man of some wealth and consideration, a JP, and a landed proprietor Donnithorpe is a little hamere, in the country of the Broads The house was an old-fashi+oned, wide-spread, oak-bea up to it There was excellent wild-duck shooting in the fens, re, a small but select library, taken over, as I understood, from a former occupant, and a tolerable cook, so that he would be a fastidious man who could not put in a pleasant month there
”Trevor senior was a er, and hter, I heard, but she had died of diphtheria while on a visit to Birham The father interested me extremely He was a man of little culture, but with a considerable ath, both physically and mentally He knew hardly any books, but he had traveled far, had seen much of the world And had remembered all that he had learned In person he was a thick-set, burly rizzled hair, a broeather-beaten face, and blue eyes which were keen to the verge of fierceness Yet he had a reputation for kindness and charity on the country-side, and was noted for the leniency of his sentences fro, shortly after lass of port after dinner, when young Trevor began to talk about those habits of observation and inference which I had already forh I had not yet appreciated the part which they were to play in erating in his description of one or two trivial feats which I had perforood-hu from me'
”'I fear there is not very one about in fear of some personal attack within the last twelveh faded froreat surprise
”'Well, that's true enough,' said he 'You know, Victor,' turning to his son, 'e broke up that poaching gang they swore to knife us, and Sir Edward Holly has actually been attacked I've always been on h I have no idea how you know it'
”'You have a very handsome stick,' I answered 'By the inscription I observed that you had not had it more than a year But you have taken some pains to bore the head of it and pour melted lead into the hole so as to ued that you would not take such precautions unless you had so
”'You have boxed a good deal in your youth'
”'Right again How did you know it? Is ht?'
”'No,' said I 'It is your ears They have the peculiar flattening and thickening whichelse?'
”'You have done a good deal of digging by your callosities'
”'Made all old fields'
”'You have been in New Zealand'
”'Right again'
”'You have visited japan'
”'Quite true'
”'And you have been most intimately associated with some one whose initials were J A, and whoet'
”Mr Trevor stood slowly up, fixed his large blue eyes upon e wild stare, and then pitched forward, with his face a the nutshells which strewed the cloth, in a dead faint
”You can iine, Watson, how shocked both his son and I were His attack did not last long, however, for e undid his collar, and sprinkled the water froasp or two and sat up
”'Ah, boys,' said he, forcing a s as I look, there is a weak place in my heart, and it does not take e this, Mr Holmes, but it seems to me that all the detectives of fact and of fancy would be children in your hands That's your line of life, sir, and youof the world'
”And that recoerated estimate of my ability hich he prefaced it, was, if you will believewhich ever ht be made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby At the moment, however, I was too much concerned at the sudden illness ofelse
”'I hope that I have said nothing to pain you?' said I
”'Well, you certainly touched upon rather a tender point Might I ask how you know, and howfashi+on, but a look of terror still lurked at the back of his eyes
”'It is simplicity itself,' said I 'When you bared your arm to draw that fish into the boat I saw that J A Had been tattooed in the bend of the elbow The letters were still legible, but it was perfectly clear fro of the skin round them, that efforts had been made to obliterate them It was obvious, then, that those initials had once been very faet theh of relief 'It is just as you say But on't talk of it Of all ghosts the ghosts of our old lovers are the worst Coar'
”From that day, amid all his cordiality, there was always a touch of suspicion in Mr Trevor's iven the governor such a turn,' said he, 'that he'll never be sure again of what you know and what you don't know' He did not ly in his mind that it peeped out at every action At last I beca him uneasiness that I drew my visit to a close On the very day, however, before I left, and incident occurred which proved in the sequel to be of iarden chairs, the three of us, basking in the sun and ad the view across the Broads, when a maid came out to say that there was a man at the door anted to see Mr Trevor
”'What is his naive any'
”'What does he want, then?'
”'He says that you know him, and that he only wants a moment's conversation'
”'Show him round here' An instant afterwards there appeared a little wizened felloith a cringingHe wore an open jacket, with a splotch of tar on the sleeve, a red-and-black check shi+rt, dungaree trousers, and heavy boots badly worn His face was thin and brown and crafty, with a perpetual sular line of yellow teeth, and his crinkled hands were half closed in a way that is distinctive of sailors As he ca across the lawn I heard Mr Trevorout of his chair, he ran into the house He was back in areek of brandy as he passed me
”'Well, my man,' said he 'What can I do for you?'
”The sailor stood looking at him with puckered eyes, and with the same loose-lipped smile upon his face
”'You don't know me?' he asked
”'Why, dear me, it is surely Hudson,' said Mr Trevor in a tone of surprise
”'Hudson it is, sir,' said the seaman 'Why, it's thirty year and more since I saw you last Here you are in your house, andmy salt meat out of the harness cask'
”'Tut, you will find that I have not forgotten old ti towards the sailor, he said so in a low voice 'Go into the kitchen,' he continued out loud, 'and you will get food and drink I have no doubt that I shall find you a situation'
”'Thank you, sir,' said the sea his fore-lock 'I'ht-knot traet it either with Mr Beddoes or with you'