The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Part 7 (2/2)
”Well,at my expression
”It is a curious collection”
”Very curious, and the story that hangs round it will strike you as being more curious still”
”These relics have a history then?”
”So much so that they are history”
”What do you mean by that?”
Sherlock Hole of the table Then he reseated hileam of satisfaction in his eyes
”These,” said he, ”are all that I have left to rerave Ritual”
I had heard hih I had never been able to gather the details ”I should be so glad,” said I, ”if you would give me an account of it”
”And leave the litter as it is?” he cried, mischievously ”Your tidiness won't bear lad that you should add this case to your annals, for there are points in it which make it quite unique in the criminal records of this or, I believe, of any other country A collection ofachievements would certainly be incoular business
”You may remember how the affair of the Gloria Scott, and my conversation with the unhappy man whose fate I told you of, first turned my attention in the direction of the profession which has become my life's work You see me nohen enerally recognized both by the public and by the official force as being a final court of appeal in doubtful cases Even when you knew me first, at the time of the affair which you have commemorated in 'A Study in Scarlet,' I had already established a considerable, though not a very lucrative, connection You can hardly realize, then, how difficult I found it at first, and how long I had to wait before I succeeded inany headway
”When I first caue Street, just round the corner fro inall those branches of science which ain cases cah the introduction of old fellow-students, for during ood deal of talk there about myself and rave Ritual, and it is to the interest which was aroused by that singular chain of events, and the large issues which proved to be at stake, that I trace my first stride towards the position which I now hold
”Reginald Musgrave had been in the saht acquaintance with hiraduates, though it always seemed to me that as set down as pride was really an attempt to cover extrely aristocratic type, thin, high-nosed, and large-eyed, with languid and yet courtly manners He was indeed a scion of one of the very oldest fah his branch was a cadet one which had separated froraves some time in the sixteenth century, and had established itself in western Sussex, where the Manor House of Hurlstone is perhaps the oldest inhabited building in the county So to the man, and I never looked at his pale, keen face or the poise of his head without associating hiray archways and e of a feudal keep Once or te drifted into talk, and I can remember that more than once he expressed a keen interest in my methods of observation and inference
”For four years I had seen nothing of hiue Street He had changed little, was dressed like a young man of fashi+on--he was always a bit of a dandy--and preserved the sauished hirave?' I asked, after we had cordially shaken hands
”'You probably heard of my poor father's death,' said he; 'he was carried off about two years ago Since then I have of course had the Hurlstone estates to e, and as I am member for my district as well, my life has been a busy one But I understand, Hol to practical ends those pohich you used to a by hted to hear it, for your advice at present would be exceedingly valuable to s at Hurlstone, and the police have been able to throw no light upon the matter It is really the most extraordinary and inexplicable business'
”You can ierness I listened to hi during all those months of inaction seemed to have come within my reach In my inmost heart I believed that I could succeed where others failed, and now I had the opportunity to test myself
”'Pray, let rave sat down opposite to arette which I had pushed towards hih I am a bachelor, I have to keep up a considerable staff of servants at Hurlstone, for it is a ra after I preserve, too, and in the pheasant months I usually have a house-party, so that it would not do to be short-handed Altogether there are eight arden and the stables of course have a separate staff
”'Of these servants the one who had been longest in our service was Brunton the butler He was a young school-master out of place when he was first taken up by y and character, and he soon becarown, handsoh he has been with us for twenty years he cannot be es and his extraordinary gifts--for he can speak several languages and play nearly every musical instrument--it is wonderful that he should have been satisfied so long in such a position, but I suppose that he was coe The butler of Hurlstone is always a thing that is reon has one fault He is a bit of a Don Juan, and you can iine that for a man like him it is not a very difficult part to play in a quiet country district When he was ht, but since he has been a e have had no end of trouble with hio ere in hopes that he was about to settle down again for he becaed to Rachel Howells, our second house-maid; but he has thrown her over since then and taken up with Janet Tregellis, the daughter of the head gairl, but of an excitable Welsh teoes about the house now--or did until yesterday--like a black-eyed shadow of her former self That was our first drama at Hurlstone; but a second one carace and dismissal of butler Brunton
”'This was how it caent, and this very intelligence has caused his ruin, for it sees which did not in the least concern hiths to which this would carry him, until the merest accident opened my eyes to it
”'I have said that the house is a raht, to befoolishly taken a cup of strong cafe noir after ainst it until two in the , I felt that it was quite hopeless, so I rose and lit the candle with the intention of continuing a novel which I was reading The book, however, had been left in the billiard-rooet it
”'In order to reach the billiard-rooht of stairs and then to cross the head of a passage which led to the library and the gun-rooine li frouished the la to bed Naturally lars The corridors at Hurlstone have their walls largely decorated with trophies of old weapons Fro e and peeped in at the open door
”'Brunton, the butler, was in the library He was sitting, fully dressed, in an easy-chair, with a slip of paper which looked like a map upon his knee, and his forehead sunk forward upon his hand in deep thought I stood du hie of the table shed a feeble light which sufficed to show me that he was fully dressed Suddenly, as I looked, he rose fro over to a bureau at the side, he unlocked it and drew out one of the drawers Fro to his seat he flattened it out beside the taper on the edge of the table, and began to study it with nation at this calm examination of our family documents overca up, sawto his feet, his face turned livid with fear, and he thrust into his breast the chart-like paper which he had been originally studying
”'”So!” said I ”This is how you repay the trust which we have reposed in you You will leave my service to-morrow”
”'He boith the look of a man who is utterly crushed, and slunk past me without a word The taper was still on the table, and by its light I glanced to see what the paper hich Brunton had taken fro of any importance at all, but siular old observance called the Musgrave Ritual It is a sort of cererave for centuries past has gone through on his co of private interest, and perhaps of soist, like our own blazonings and charges, but of no practical use whatever'
”'We had better come back to the paper afterwards,' said I
”'If you think it really necessary,' he answered, with some hesitation 'To continuethe key which Brunton had left, and I had turned to go when I was surprised to find that the butler had returned, and was standing before rave, sir,” he cried, in a voice which was hoarse with erace, sir I've always been proud above race would kill me My blood will be on your head, sir--it will, indeed--if you drive me to despair If you cannot keep ive you notice and leave in a rave, but not to be cast out before all the folk that I knoell”
”'”You don't deserve much consideration, Brunton,” I answered ”Your conduct has beentirace upon you ATake yourself away in a week, and give what reason you like for going”
”'”Only a week, sir?” he cried, in a despairing voice ”A fortnight--say at least a fortnight!”
”'”A week,” I repeated, ”and you may consider yourself to have been very leniently dealt with”
”'He crept away, his face sunk upon his breast, like a broken ht and returned to my room
”'”For two days after this Brunton was most assiduous in his attention to his duties I made no allusion to what had passed, and waited with sorace On the third , however he did not appear, as was his custom, after breakfast to receive -room I happened to meet Rachel Howells, the maid I have told you that she had only recently recovered fro so wretchedly pale and wan that I re at work
”'”You should be in bed,” I said ”Coer”
”'She looked at an to suspect that her brain was affected
”'”I arave,” said she
”'”We will see what the doctor says,” I answered ”You o downstairs just say that I wish to see Brunton”
”'”The butler is gone,” said she
”'”Gone! Gone where?”
”'”He is gone No one has seen hione!” She fell back against the ith shriek after shriek of laughter, while I, horrified at this sudden hysterical attack, rushed to the bell to su and sobbing, while I made inquiries about Brunton There was no doubt about it that he had disappeared His bed had not been slept in, he had been seen by no one since he had retired to his rooht before, and yet it was difficult to see how he could have left the house, as both s and doors were found to be fastened in theHis clothes, his watch, and even his money were in his roo His slippers, too, were gone, but his boots were left behind Where then could butler Brunton have gone in the night, and what could have become of him now?
”'Of course we searched the house froarret, but there was no trace of him It is, as I have said, a labyrinth of an old house, especially the original wing, which is now practically uninhabited; but we ransacked every roo one away leaving all his property behind him, and yet where could he be? I called in the local police, but without success Rain had fallen on the night before and we examined the lawn and the paths all round the house, but in vain Matters were in this state, when a new developinal mystery
”'For two days Rachel Howells had been so ill, sometimes delirious, sometimes hysterical, that a nurse had been eht after Brunton's disappearance, the nurse, finding her patient sleeping nicely, had dropped into a nap in the ar to find the bed ens of the invalid I was instantly aroused, and, with the two footirl It was not difficult to tell the direction which she had taken, for, starting from under her e could follow her foote of the ravel path which leads out of the grounds The lake there is eight feet deep, and you can isthat the trail of the poor dee of it
”'Of course, we had the drags at once, and set to work to recover the remains, but no trace of the body could we find On the other hand, we brought to the surface an object of awhich contained within it a mass of old rusted and discolored lass This strange find was all that we could get froh we made every possible search and inquiry yesterday, we know nothing of the fate either of Rachel Howells or of Richard Brunton The county police are at their wits' end, and I have coine, Watson, hat eagerness I listened to this extraordinary sequence of events, and endeavored to piece theether, and to devise so The butler was gone The one The maid had loved the butler, but had afterwards had cause to hate him She was of Welsh blood, fiery and passionate She had been terribly excited i into the lake a bag containing some curious contents These were all factors which had to be taken into consideration, and yet none of the-point of this chain of events? There lay the end of this tangled line