The Return of Sherlock Holmes Part 13 (2/2)
”So you sent the letters to entleman that ever lived, a allant heart and died You reed and prayed you for h now, only your coward heart cannot keep your lips froain, but it was that night which taught me how I could meet you face to face, and alone Well, Charles Milverton, what have you to say?”
”Don't i to his feet ”I have only to raise my voice and I could call my servants and have you arrested But I will er Leave the room at once as you came, and I will say no more”
The woman stood with her hand buried in her bosom, and the same deadly smile on her thin lips
”You will ruin nonoTake that, you hound--and that!--and that!-- and that!”
She had drawn a little glea revolver, and emptied barrel after barrel into Milverton's body, the muzzle within two feet of his shi+rt front He shrank away and then fell forward upon the table, coughing furiously and clawing aered to his feet, received another shot, and rolled upon the floor ”You've done me,” he cried, and lay still The woround her heel into his upturned face She looked again, but there was no sound or ht air blew into the heated rooone
No interference upon our part could have saved the man from his fate, but, as the wo body I was about to spring out, when I felt Holrasp upon urip--that it was no affair of ours, that justice had overtaken a villain, that we had our own duties and our own objects, which were not to be lost sight of But hardly had the woman rushed from the room when Holmes, with swift, silent steps, was over at the other door He turned the key in the lock At the same instant we heard voices in the house and the sound of hurrying feet The revolver shots had roused the household With perfect coolness Holmes slipped across to the safe, filled his two arms with bundles of letters, and poured theain he did it, until the safe was empty Someone turned the handle and beat upon the outside of the door Holmes looked swiftly round The letter which had been the er of death for Milverton lay, all mottled with his blood, upon the table Hol papers Then he drew the key froh after me, and locked it on the outside ”This way, Watson,” said he, ”we can scale the garden wall in this direction”
I could not have believed that an alare house was one blaze of light The front door was open, and figures were rushi+ng down the drive The whole garden was alive with people, and one fellow raised a view-halloa as we eed from the veranda and followed hard at our heels Holrounds perfectly, and he threaded his iftly a a plantation of small trees, I close at his heels, and our fore behind us It was a six-foot hich barred our path, but he sprang to the top and over As I did the sarab at rass-strewn coping I fell uponsoether we dashed away across the huge expanse of Hampstead Heath We had run two miles, I suppose, before Holmes at last halted and listened intently All was absolute silence behind us We had shaken off our pursuers and were safe
We had breakfasted and were s pipe on the day after the remarkable experience which I have recorded, when Mr Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, very sole-roo May I ask if you are very busy just now?”
”Not too busy to listen to you”
”I thought that, perhaps, if you had nothing particular on hand, you ht care to assist us in a ht at Hampstead”
”Dear me!” said Holmes ”What was that?”
”A murder--a most dramatic and res, and I would take it as a great favour if you would step down to Appledore Towers, and give us the benefit of your advice It is no ordinary crime We have had our eyes upon this Mr Milverton for some time, and, between ourselves, he was a bit of a villain He is known to have held papers which he used for black purposes These papers have all been burned by the murderers No article of value was taken, as it is probable that the criood position, whose sole object was to prevent social exposure”
”Criminals?” said Holmes ”Plural?”
”Yes, there were two of them They were as nearly as possible captured red-handed We have their footmarks, we have their description, it's ten to one that we trace them The first felloas a bit too active, but the second was caught by the under-gardener, and only got away after a struggle He was a ly built man--square jaw, thick neck, ue,” said Sherlock Holht be a description of Watson!”
”It's true,” said the inspector, with aht be a description of Watson”
”Well, I'm afraid I can't help you, Lestrade,” said Holmes ”The fact is that I knew this fellow Milverton, that I considered hierous men in London, and that I think there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to so I have made up my mind My sympathies are with the criminals rather than with the victim, and I will not handle this case”
Holedy which we had witnessed, but I observed all the ave me the impression, from his vacant eyes and his abstractedto his memory We were in theto his feet ”By Jove, Watson, I've got it!” he cried ”Take your hat! Come withOxford Street, until we had alent Circus Here, on the left hand, there stands a shopfilled with photographs of the celebrities and beauties of the day Hol his gaze I saw the picture of a regal and stately lady in Court dress, with a high diamond tiara upon her noble head I looked at that delicately curved nose, at thelittle chin beneath it Then I caught reat nobleman and statesman whose wife she had been My eyes er to his lips as we turned away from the
THE ADVENTURE OF THE SIX NAPOLEONS
It was no very unusual thing for Mr Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, to look in upon us of an evening, and his visits elcome to Sherlock Holoing on at the police headquarters In return for the nehich Lestrade would bring, Holmes was always ready to listen with attention to the details of any case upon which the detective was engaged, and was able occasionally, without any active interference, to give soe and experience
On this particular evening, Lestrade had spoken of the weather and the newspapers Then he had fallen silent, puffing thoughtfully at his cigar Hol remarkable on hand?” he asked
”Oh, no, Mr Hol very particular”
”Then tell hed
”Well, Mr Hol on my mind And yet it is such an absurd business, that I hesitated to bother you about it On the other hand, although it is trivial, it is undoubtedly queer, and I know that you have a taste for all that is out of the common But, in my opinion, it comes more in Dr Watson's line than ours”
”Disease?” said I
”Madness, anyhow And a queerat this time of day who had such a hatred of Napoleon the First that he would break any ie of him that he could see”
Holmes sank back in his chair
”That's no business of mine,” said he
”Exactly That's what I said But then, when the es which are not his own, that brings it away froain
”Burglary! This isLet me hear the details”
Lestrade took out his official notebook and refreshed his es
”The first case reported was four days ago,” said he ”It was at the shop of Morse Hudson, who has a place for the sale of pictures and statues in the Kennington Road The assistant had left the front shop for an instant, when he heard a crash, and hurrying in he found a plaster bust of Napoleon, which stood with several other works of art upon the counter, lying shi+vered into fragh several passers-by declared that they had noticed a man run out of the shop, he could neither see anyone nor could he find anythe rascal It seeanism which occur from time to time, and it was reported to the constable on the beat as such The plaster cast was not worth s, and the whole affair appeared to be too childish for any particular investigation
”The second case, however, was ular It occurred only last night
”In Kennington Road, and within a few hundred yards of Morse Hudson's shop, there lives a well-known medical practitioner, naest practices upon the south side of the Tha-rooery and dispensary at Lower Brixton Road, two miles away This Dr Barnicot is an enthusiastic admirer of Napoleon, and his house is full of books, pictures, and relics of the French Eo he purchased from Morse Hudson two duplicate plaster casts of the famous head of Napoleon by the French sculptor, Devine One of these he placed in his hall in the house at Kennington Road, and the other on the ery at Lower Brixton Well, when Dr Barnicot ca he was astonished to find that his house had been burgled during the night, but that nothing had been taken save the plaster head froely against the garden wall, under which its splintered fragments were discovered”
Holmes rubbed his hands
”This is certainly very novel,” said he
”I thought it would please you But I have not got to the end yet Dr Barnicot was due at his surgery at twelve o'clock, and you can i there, he found that thehad been opened in the night and that the broken pieces of his second bust were strewn all over the room It had been smashed to atons which could give us a clue as to the criminal or lunatic who had done the ot the facts”
”They are singular, not to say grotesque,” said Holmes ”May I ask whether the two busts smashed in Dr Barnicot's rooms were the exact duplicates of the one which was destroyed in Morse Hudson's shop?”
”They were taken froainst the theory that the eneral hatred of Napoleon Considering how reat Emperor must exist in London, it is too much to suppose such a coincidence as that a proin upon three speciht as you do,” said Lestrade ”On the other hand, this Morse Hudson is the purveyor of busts in that part of London, and these three were the only ones which had been in his shop for years So, although, as you say, there are many hundreds of statues in London, it is very probable that these three were the only ones in that district Therefore, a local fanatic would begin with them What do you think, Dr Watson?”
”There are no limits to the possibilities of monomania,” I answered ”There is the condition which the ists have called the `IDEE FIXE,' whichin character, and accompanied by complete sanity in every other way A man who had read deeply about Napoleon, or who had possibly received soht conceivably form such an IDEE FIXE and under its influence be capable of any fantastic outrage”