The Return of Sherlock Holmes Part 14 (1/2)
”That won't do,his head, ”for no a monomaniac to find out where these busts were situated”
”Well, how do YOU explain it?”
”I don't attempt to do so I would only observe that there is a certain s For exaht arouse the fa broken, whereas in the surgery, where there was less danger of an alarm, it was s, and yet I dare call nothing trivial when I reflect that so commencement You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the Abernetty faht to my notice by the depth which the parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day I can't afford, therefore, to smile at your three broken busts, Lestrade, and I shall be very ed to you if you will let ular a chain of events”
The development for which my friend had asked caic for in , when there was a tap at the door and Holram in his hand He read it aloud: ”Coton ”LESTRADE”
”What is it, then?” I asked
”Don't know-- But I suspect it is the sequel of the story of the statues In that case our friend the iun operations in another quarter of London There's coffee on the table, Watson, and I have a cab at the door”
In half an hour we had reached Pitt Street, a quiet little backwater just beside one of the briskest currents of London life No 131 was one of a row, all flat-chested, respectable, and s As we drove up, we found the railings in front of the house lined by a curious crowd Hole! It's atte less will hold the London e-boy There's a deed of violence indicated in that fellow's round shoulders and outstretched neck What's this, Watson? The top steps swilled down and the other ones dry Footsteps enough, anyhow! Well, well, there's Lestrade at the front , and we shall soon know all about it”
The official received us with a very grave face and showed us into a sitting-rooitated elderlyup and down He was introduced to us as the owner of the house--Mr Horace Harker, of the Central Press Syndicate
”It's the Napoleon bust business again,” said Lestrade ”You seeht perhaps you would be glad to be present now that the affair has taken a very raver turn”
”What has it turned to, then?”
”To entle-gown turned upon us with a ,” said he, ”that allother people's news, and now that a real piece of news has come my oay I aether If I had come in here as a journalist, I should have interviewedpaper As it is, I aof different people, and I can make no use of it myself However, I've heard your name, Mr Sherlock Holmes, and if you'll only explain this queer business, I shall be paid foryou the story”
Holmes sat down and listened
”It all seeht for this very roo Brothers, two doors froreat deal of ht, and I often write until the earlyin my den, which is at the back of the top of the house, about three o'clock, when I was convinced that I heard some sounds downstairs I listened, but they were not repeated, and I concluded that they came from outside Then suddenly, about five minutes later, there came a most horrible yell--the most dreadful sound, Mr Hol as I live I sat frozen with horror for a minute or two Then I seized the poker and went downstairs When I entered this room I found the ide open, and I at once observed that the bust was gone fro passes , for it was only a plaster cast and of no real value whatever
”You can see for yourself that anyone going out through that opencould reach the front doorstep by taking a long stride This was clearly what the burglar had done, so I went round and opened the door Stepping out into the dark, I nearly fell over a dead ht and there was the poor fellow, a great gash in his throat and the whole place swi in blood He lay on his back, his knees drawn up, and his mouth horribly open I shall see him in my dreams I had just time to blow on my police-whistle, and then Iover me in the hall”
”Well, as theto shoho he was,” said Lestrade ”You shall see the body at theof it up to now He is a tall man, sunburned, very powerful, not more than thirty He is poorly dressed, and yet does not appear to be a labourer A horn-handled clasp knife was lying in a pool of blood beside him Whether it was the weapon which did the deed, or whether it belonged to the dead , and nothing in his pockets save an apple, soraph Here it is”
It was evidently taken by a snapshot from a small camera It represented an alert, sharp-featured simian man, with thick eyebrows and a very peculiar projection of the lower part of the face, like the muzzle of a baboon
”And what became of the bust?” asked Holmes, after a careful study of this picture
”We had news of it just before you caarden of an e round now to see it Will you come?”
”Certainly I must just take one look round” He examined the carpet and the”The fellow had either very long legs or was a most active man,” said he ”With an area beneath, it was no e and open thatGetting back was co with us to see the remains of your bust, Mr Harker?”
The disconsolate journalist had seated hi of it,” said he, ”though I have no doubt that the first editions of the evening papers are out already with full details It's like my luck! You remember when the stand fell at Doncaster? Well, I was the only journalist in the stand, and my journal the only one that had no account of it, for I was too shaken to write it And now I'll be too late with a murder done on my own doorstep”
As we left the roo shrilly over the foolscap
The spat where the fragments of the bust had been found was only a few hundred yards away For the first tireat emperor, which seemed to raise such frantic and destructive hatred in the mind of the unknown It lay scattered, in splintered shards, upon the grass Holmes picked up several of them and examined them carefully I was convinced, from his intent face and his purposeful manner, that at last he was upon a clue
”Well?” asked Lestrade
Holo yet,” said he ”And yet--and yet-- well, we have soestive facts to act upon The possession of this trifling bust orth e criminal, than a huular fact that he did not break it in the house, or immediately outside the house, if to break it was his sole object”
”He was rattled and bustled by ”
”Well, that's likely enough But I wish to call your attention very particularly to the position of this house, in the garden of which the bust was destroyed”
Lestrade looked about him
”It was an empty house, and so he knew that he would not be disturbed in the garden”
”Yes, but there is another empty house farther up the street which he must have passed before he came to this one Why did he not break it there, since it is evident that every yard that he carried it increased the risk of soive it up,” said Lestrade
Holmes pointed to the street la here, and he could not there That was his reason”
”By Jove! that's true,” said the detective ”Now that I come to think of it, Dr Barnicot's bust was broken not far from his red lamp Well, Mr Holmes, what are we to do with that fact?”
”To re later which will bear upon it What steps do you propose to take now, Lestrade?”
”Theat it, in my opinion, is to identify the dead man There should be no difficulty about that When we have found who he is and who his associates are, we should have a good start in learning what he was doing in Pitt Street last night, and who it ho met him and killed him on the doorstep of Mr Horace Harker Don't you think so?”
”No doubt; and yet it is not quite the way in which I should approach the case”
”What would you do then?”
”Oh, you o on your line and I on mine We can compare notes afterwards, and each will suppleood,” said Lestrade
”If you are going back to Pitt Street, you ht see Mr Horace Harker Tell him for me that I have quite erous homicidal lunatic, with Napoleonic delusions, was in his house last night It will be useful for his article”
Lestrade stared
”You don't seriously believe that?”
Holmes smiled
”Don't I? Well, perhaps I don't But I am sure that it will interest Mr Horace Harker and the subscribers of the Central Press Syndicate Now, Watson, I think that we shall find that we have a long and rather colad, Lestrade, if you could make it convenient toUntil then I should like to keep this photograph, found in the dead man's pocket It is possible that I may have to ask your company and assistance upon a sht, if ood-bye and good luck!”
Sherlock Holh Street, where we stopped at the shop of Harding Brothers, whence the bust had been purchased A young assistant infor would be absent until afternoon, and that he was hiive us no information Holmes's face showed his disappointment and annoyance
”Well, well, we can't expect to have it all our oay, Watson,” he said, at last ”Wewill not be here until then I a to trace these busts to their source, in order to find if there is not so peculiar which may account for their remarkable fate Let us ton Road, and see if he can throw any light upon the probleht us to the picture-dealer's establishment He was a small, stout man with a red face and a peppery manner