The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Part 12 (1/2)
”Well, we ain if Mrs Barclay should prove to be in serious trouble”
”In that case, of course, I'd co up this scandal against a dead man, foully as he has acted You have at least the satisfaction of knowing that for thirty years of his life his conscience bitterly reproached hioes Major Murphy on the other side of the street Good-by, Wood I want to learn if anything has happened since yesterday”
We were in time to overtake the major before he reached the corner
”Ah, Holmes,” he said: ”I suppose you have heard that all this fuss has co?”
”What then?”
”The inquest is just over The medical evidence showed conclusively that death was due to apoplexy You see it was quite a simple case after all”
”Oh, re ”Come, Watson, I don't think we shall be wanted in Aldershot any ,” said I, as alked down to the station ”If the husband's name was James, and the other was Henry, as this talk about David?”
”That one word, my dear Watson, should have told me the whole story had I been the ideal reasoner which you are so fond of depicting It was evidently a term of reproach”
”Of reproach?”
”Yes; David strayed a little occasionally, you know, and on one occasion in the saeant James Barclay You remember the se is a trifle rusty, I fear, but you will find the story in the first or second of Samuel”
Adventure VIII
The Resident Patient
Glancing over the somewhat incoherent series of Memoirs hich I have endeavored to illustrate a few of the mental peculiarities of my friend Mr Sherlock Holmes, I have been struck by the difficulty which I have experienced in picking out examples which shall in every way answer my purpose For in those cases in which Holmes has perfor, and has deation, the facts theht or so co them before the public On the other hand, it has frequently happened that he has been concerned in some research where the facts have been of the most remarkable and dramatic character, but where the share which he has hi their causes has been less pronounced than I, as his biographer, could wish The s of ”A Study in Scarlet,” and that other later one connected with the loss of the Gloria Scott, may serve as examples of this Scylla and Charybdis which are forever threatening the historian It may be that in the business of which I am now about to write the part which my friend played is not sufficiently accentuated; and yet the whole train of circu myself to omit it entirely from this series
It had been a close, rainy day in October Our blinds were half-drawn, and Hol a letter which he had received by thepost For myself, my term of service in India had trained me to stand heat better than cold, and a thermometer of 90 was no hardshi+p But the paper was uninteresting Parliament had risen Everybody was out of town, and I yearned for the glades of the New Forest or the shi+ngle of Southsea A depleted bank account had caused me to postpone my holiday, and as to my cohtest attraction to him He loved to lie in the very centre of fiveout and running through them, responsive to every little rumor or suspicion of unsolved criifts, and his only change hen he turned his mind from the evil-doer of the town to track down his brother of the country
Finding that Holmes was too absorbed for conversation, I had tossed aside the barren paper, and leaning back in my chair, I fell into a brown study Suddenly hts
”You are right, Watson,” said he ”It does see a dispute”
”Most preposterous!” I exclai how he had echoed the inht of my soul, I sat up in my chair and stared at him in blank amazement
”What is this, Hol which I could have ihed heartily at my perplexity
”You reo, when I read you the passage in one of Poe's sketches, in which a close reasoner follows the unspoken thought of his companion, you were inclined to treat thethat I was constantly in the habit of doing the sa you expressed incredulity”
”Oh, no!”
”Perhaps not with your tongue, my dear Watson, but certainly with your eyebrows So when I saw you thron your paper and enter upon a train of thought, I was very happy to have the opportunity of reading it off, and eventually of breaking into it, as a proof that I had been in rapport with you”
But I was still far from satisfied ”In the example which you read to me,” said I, ”the reasoner drew his conclusions froht, he stumbled over a heap of stones, looked up at the stars, and so on But I have been seated quietly in iven you?”
”You do yourself an injustice The features are given to man as the means by which he shall express his emotions, and yours are faithful servants”
”Do you hts from my features?”
”Your features, and especially your eyes Perhaps you cannot yourself recall how your reverie commenced?”
”No, I cannot”
”Then I will tell you After throwing down your paper, which was the action which drew my attention to you, you sat for half a minute with a vacant expression Then your eyes fixed themselves upon your newly-framed picture of General Gordon, and I saw by the alteration in your face that a train of thought had been started But it did not lead very far Your eyes turned across to the unframed portrait of Henry Ward Beecher which stands upon the top of your books You then glanced up at the wall, and of course yourthat if the portrait were framed it would just cover that bare space and correspond with Gordon's picture over there”
”You have followed me wonderfully!” I exclaione astray But now your thoughts went back to Beecher, and you looked hard across as if you were studying the character in his features Then your eyes ceased to pucker, but you continued to look across, and your face was thoughtful You were recalling the incidents of Beecher's career I ell aware that you could not do this without thinking of the mission which he undertook on behalf of the North at the ti your passionate indignation at the way in which he was received by the ly about it that I knew you could not think of Beecher without thinking of that also When a moment later I saw your eyes wander away from the picture, I suspected that your mind had now turned to the Civil War, and when I observed that your lips set, your eyes sparkled, and your hands clinched, I was positive that you were indeed thinking of the gallantry which was shown by both sides in that desperate struggle But then, again, your face grew sadder; you shook your head You were dwelling upon the sadness and horror and useless waste of life Your hand stole towards your own old wound, and a smile quivered on your lips, which showedinternational questions had forced itself upon your reed with you that it was preposterous, and was glad to find that all my deductions had been correct”
”Absolutely!” said I ”And now that you have explained it, I confess that I am as amazed as before”
”It was very superficial, my dear Watson, I assure you I should not have intruded it upon your attention had you not shown soht a breeze with it What do you say to a ra-rooether, watching the ever-changing kaleidoscope of life as it ebbs and flows through Fleet Street and the Strand His characteristic talk, with its keen observance of detail and subtle power of inference held me amused and enthralled It was ten o'clock before we reached Baker Street again A broughaeneral practitioner, I perceive,” said Holood deal to do Come to consult us, I fancy! Lucky we came back!”
I was sufficiently conversant with Hol, and to see that the nature and state of the variousin the laiven hiht in ourabove showed that this late visit was indeed intended for us With some curiosity as to what could have sent a brother medico to us at such an hour, I followed Holmes into our sanctum
A pale, taper-faced man with sandy whiskers rose up froe may not have been ard expression and unhealthy hue told of a life which has sapped his strength and robbed him of his youth His entleman, and the thin white hand which he laid on the mantelpiece as he rose was that of an artist rather than of a surgeon His dress was quiet and sombre--a black frock-coat, dark trousers, and a touch of color about his necktie
”Good-evening, doctor,” said Hollad to see that you have only been waiting a very few minutes”
”You spoke to my coachman, then?”
”No, it was the candle on the side-table that told me Pray resume your seat and let me kno I can serve you”
”My name is Doctor Percy Trevelyan,” said our visitor, ”and I live at 403 Brook Street”
”Are you not the author of a raph upon obscure nervous lesions?” I asked
His pale cheeks flushed with pleasure at hearing that his as known to ht it was quite dead,” said he ”My publishers gaveaccount of its sale You are yourself, I presueon”