The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Part 8 (2/2)
”This was excellent news, Watson, for it showed ht road I looked up at the sun It was low in the heavens, and I calculated that in less than an hour it would lie just above the topmost branches of the old oak One condition mentioned in the Ritual would then be fulfilled And the shadow of the elm must mean the farther end of the shadow, otherwise the trunk would have been chosen as the guide I had, then, to find where the far end of the shadoould fall when the sun was just clear of the oak”
”That er there”
”Well, at least I knew that if Brunton could do it, I could also Besides, there was no real difficulty I ith Musgrave to his study and whittledwith a knot at each yard Then I took two lengths of a fishi+ng-rod, which came to just six feet, and I went back withthe top of the oak I fastened the rod on end, marked out the direction of the shadow, and th
”Of course the calculation noas a simple one If a rod of six feet threw a shadow of nine, a tree of sixty-four feet would throw one of ninety-six, and the line of the one would of course be the line of the other I htinto the spot You can i I saw a conical depression in the ground I knew that it was the mark made by Brunton in his measurements, and that I was still upon his trail
”Fro first taken the cardinal points byparallel with the wall of the house, and again IThen I carefully paced off five to the east and two to the south It brought me to the very threshold of the old door Two steps to the west ed passage, and this was the place indicated by the Ritual
”Never have I felt such a cold chill of disappointment, Watson For a moment is seemed to me that theresun shone full upon the passage floor, and I could see that the old, foot-worn gray stones hich it was paved were firether, and had certainly not beenyear Brunton had not been at work here I tapped upon the floor, but it sounded the san of any crack or crevice But, fortunately, Musgrave, who had begun to appreciate the s, and as now as excited as myself, took out his manuscript to check my calculation
”'And under,' he cried 'You have oht that it , but now, of course, I saw at once that I rong 'There is a cellar under this then?' I cried
”'Yes, and as old as the house Down here, through this door'
”We went doinding stone stair, and e lantern which stood on a barrel in the corner In an instant it was obvious that we had at last come upon the true place, and that we had not been the only people to visit the spot recently
”It had been used for the storage of wood, but the billets, which had evidently been littered over the floor, were now piled at the sides, so as to leave a clear space in the stone with a rusted iron ring in the centre to which a thick shepherd's-check muffler was attached
”'By Jove!' cried my client 'That's Brunton's muffler I have seen it on hi here?'
”At estion a couple of the county police were summoned to be present, and I then endeavored to raise the stone by pulling on the cravat I could only htly, and it ith the aid of one of the constables that I succeeded at last in carrying it to one side A black hole yawned beneath into which we all peered, while Musgrave, kneeling at the side, pushed down the lantern
”A small chamber about seven feet deep and four feet square lay open to us At one side of this was a squat, brass-bound wooden box, the lid of which was hinged upwards, with this curious old-fashi+oned key projecting from the lock It was furred outside by a thick layer of dust, and dah the wood, so that a crop of livid fungi was growing on the inside of it Several discs of metal, old coins apparently, such as I hold here, were scattered over the botto else
”At the ht for the old chest, for our eyes were riveted upon that which crouched beside it It was the figure of a man, clad in a suit of black, who squatted down upon his hae of the box and his two arms thrown out on each side of it The attitude had drawn all the stagnant blood to the face, and no nized that distorted liver-colored countenance; but his height, his dress, and his hair were all sufficient to show my client, e had drawn the body up, that it was indeed hisbutler He had been dead some days, but there was no wound or bruise upon his person to sho he had met his dreadful end When his body had been carried from the cellar we found ourselves still confronted with a problem which was almost as formidable as that hich we had started
”I confess that so far, Watson, I had been disappointed inthe matter when once I had found the place referred to in the Ritual; but noas there, and was apparently as far as ever fro what it hich the family had concealed with such elaborate precautions It is true that I had thrown a light upon the fate of Brunton, but now I had to ascertain how that fate had come upon him, and what part had been played in thein the corner and thought the whole matter carefully over
”You know my methods in such cases, Watson I put ed his intelligence, I try to iine how I should myself have proceeded under the same circumstances In this case thequite first-rate, so that it was unnecessary to make any allowance for the personal equation, as the astrono valuable was concealed He had spotted the place He found that the stone which covered it was just too heavy for a et help from outside, even if he had so of doors and considerable risk of detection It was better, if he could, to have his helpirl had been devoted to him A man always finds it hard to realize that he may have finally lost a woman's love, however badly he may have treated her He would try by a few attentions to e her as his accoht to the cellar, and their united force would suffice to raise the stone So far I could follow their actions as if I had actually seen them
”But for two of the of that stone A burly Sussex policeht job What would they do to assist them? Probably what I should have done myself I rose and examined carefully the different billets of hich were scattered round the floor Almost at once I cath, had a very marked indentation at one end, while several were flattened at the sides as if they had been coht Evidently, as they had dragged the stone up they had thrust the chunks of wood into the chink, until at last, when the opening was large enough to crawl through, they would hold it open by a billet placed lengthwise, which ht very well becoht of the stone would press it down on to the edge of this other slab So far I was still on safe ground
”And noas I to proceed to reconstruct this ht drama? Clearly, only one could fit into the hole, and that one was Brunton The girl must have waited above Brunton then unlocked the box, handed up the contents presumably--since they were not to be found--and then--and then what happened?
”What s into flame in this passionate Celtic woed her, perhaps, far more than we suspected--in her power? Was it a chance that the wood had slipped, and that the stone had shut Brunton into what had becouilty of silence as to his fate? Or had some sudden blow from her hand dashed the support away and sent the slab crashi+ng down into its place? Be that as itat her treasure trove and flying wildly up the winding stair, with her ears ringing perhaps with theof frenzied hands against the slab of stone which was choking her faithless lover's life out
”Here was the secret of her blanched face, her shaken nerves, her peals of hysterical laughter on the nextBut what had been in the box? What had she done with that? Of course, it must have been the old ed from the mere She had thrown them in there at the first opportunity to remove the last trace of her cri the ing his lantern and peering down into the hole
”'These are coins of Charles the First,' said he, holding out the fehich had been in the box; 'you see ere right in fixing our date for the Ritual'
”'Weelse of Charles the First,' I cried, as the probableof the first two questions of the Ritual broke suddenly uponwhich you fished from the mere'
”We ascended to his study, and he laid the debris beforeit as of small importance when I looked at it, for the metal was almost black and the stones lustreless and dull I rubbed one of thelowed afterwards like a spark in the dark hollow of , but it had been bent and twisted out of its original shape
”'You must bear in land even after the death of the king, and that when they at last fled they probably left many of their most precious possessions buried behind the for therave, was a proht-hand s,' said my friend
”'Ah, indeed!' I answered 'Well now, I think that really should give us the last link that anted I h in rather a tragic reat intrinsic value, but of even greater importance as an historical curiosity'
”'What is it, then?' he gasped in astonish less than the ancient crown of the kings of England'
”'The crown!'
”'Precisely Consider what the Ritual says: How does it run? ”Whose was it?” ”His who is gone” That was after the execution of Charles Then, ”Who shall have it?” ”He ill come” That was Charles the Second, whose advent was already foreseen There can, I think, be no doubt that this battered and shapeless diadem once encircled the brows of the royal Stuarts'
”'And how came it in the pond?'
”'Ah, that is a question that will take some time to answer' And with that I sketched out to hi chain of surht had closed in and the htly in the sky before my narrative was finished
”'And hoas it then that Charles did not get his crohen he returned?' asked Musgrave, pushi+ng back the relic into its linen bag
”'Ah, there you lay your finger upon the one point which we shall probably never be able to clear up It is likely that the Musgrave who held the secret died in the interval, and by souide to his descendant without explaining theof it From that day to this it has been handed down from father to son, until at last it came within reach of a man who tore its secret out of it and lost his life in the venture'
”And that's the story of the Musgrave Ritual, Watson They have the cron at Hurlstone--though they had soal bother and a considerable sum to pay before they were allowed to retain it I am sure that if you mentioned my na was ever heard, and the probability is that she got away out of England and carried herself and the memory of her crime to soate Puzzle
It was some time before the health of my friend Mr Sherlock Holmes recovered fro of '87 The whole question of the Netherland-Sumatra Company and of the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis are too recent in the minds of the public, and are too inti subjects for this series of sketches They led, however, in an indirect fashi+on to a singular and coavethe value of a fresh weapon aainst cri to my notes I see that it was upon the 14th of April that I received a telegra ill in the Hotel Dulong Within twenty-four hours I was in his sick-roo formidable in his symptoms Even his iron constitution, however, had broken down under the strain of an investigation which had extended over twowhich period he had never worked less than fifteen hours a day, and had more than once, as he assured me, kept to his task for five days at a stretch Even the triumphant issue of his labors could not save him from reaction after so terrible an exertion, and at a ti with his naratulatory telegrams I found hie that he had succeeded where the police of three countries had failed, and that he had outmanoeuvred at every point the most accomplished swindler in Europe, was insufficient to rouse him from his nervous prostration
Three days later ere back in Baker Street together; but it was evident that ht of a week of spring time in the country was full of attractions to me also My old friend, Colonel Hayter, who had cohanistan, had now taken a house near Reigate in Surrey, and had frequently asked me to come down to him upon a visit On the last occasion he had relad to extend his hospitality to him also A little diplomacy was needed, but when Holmes understood that the establishment was a bachelor one, and that he would be allowed the fullest freedom, he fell in with my plans and a week after our return from Lyons ere under the Colonel's roof Hayter was a fine old soldier who had seen much of the world, and he soon found, as I had expected, that Hol of our arrival ere sitting in the Colonel's gun-room after dinner, Holmes stretched upon the sofa, while Hayter and I looked over his little armory of Eastern weapons
”By the way,” said he suddenly, ”I think I'll take one of these pistols upstairs with me in case we have an alarm”
”An alarm!” said I
”Yes, we've had a scare in this part lately Old Acton, who is one of our county reat dae”
”No clue?” asked Hol his eye at the Colonel
”None as yet But the affair is a petty one, one of our little country crimes, which must seereat international affair”
Holh his smile showed that it had pleased him
”Was there any feature of interest?”