The Return of Sherlock Holmes Part 20 (1/2)
He tore off a strip of the blotting-paper and turned towards us the following hieroglyphic: GRAPHIC Cyril Overton was lass!” he cried
”That is unnecessary,” said Hole Here it is” He turned it over, and we read: GRAPHIC [Stand by us for Gods sake]
”So that is the tail end of the telegram which Godfrey Staunton dispatched within a few hours of his disappearance There are at least six words of the e which have escaped us; but what re er which approached him, and from which someone else could protect him `US,' mark you! Another person was involved Who should it be but the pale-faced, bearded man, who seemed himself in so nervous a state? What, then, is the connection between Godfrey Staunton and the bearded ht for help against pressing danger? Our inquiry has already narrowed down to that”
”We have only to find to whoested
”Exactly, h profound, had already crossed my mind But I daresay it may have coe, there may be soe you There is so much red tape in these matters However, I have no doubt that with a little delicacy and finesse the end may be attained Meanwhile, I should like in your presence, Mr Overton, to go through these papers which have been left upon the table”
There were a number of letters, bills, and notebooks, which Holers and darting, penetrating eyes ”Nothing here,” he said, at last ”By the way, I suppose your friend was a healthy young fellow--nothing amiss with him?”
”Sound as a bell”
”Have you ever known him ill?”
”Not a day He has been laid up with a hack, and once he slipped his knee-cap, but that was nothing”
”Perhaps he was not so strong as you suppose I should think he may have had some secret trouble With your assent, I will put one or two of these papers in my pocket, in case they should bear upon our future inquiry”
”One moment--one moment!” cried a querulous voice, and we looked up to find a queer little oldin the doorway He was dressed in rusty black, with a very broad-bri that of a very rustic parson or of an undertaker's mute Yet, in spite of his shabby and even absurd appearance, his voice had a sharp crackle, and his manner a quick intensity which coht do you touch this gentleman's papers?” he asked
”I a to explain his disappearance”
”Oh, you are, are you? And who instructed you, eh?”
”This gentleman, Mr Staunton's friend, was referred to me by Scotland Yard”
”Who are you, sir?”
”I aram My name is Lord Mount-Ja me So you have instructed a detective?”
”Yes, sir”
”And are you prepared to meet the cost?”
”I have no doubt, sir, that my friend Godfrey, e find him, will be prepared to do that”
”But if he is never found, eh? Answer me that!”
”In that case, no doubt his fa of the sort, sir!” screamed the little man ”Don't look to me for a penny--not a penny! You understand that, Mr Detective! I aot, and I tell you that I am not responsible If he has any expectations it is due to the fact that I have never wasted in to do so now As to those papers hich you areso free, Iof any value a them, you will be held strictly to account for what you do with theood, sir,” said Sherlock Holmes ”May I ask, in the meanwhile, whether you have yourself any theory to account for this youngenough and old enough to look after himself, and if he is so foolish as to lose himself, I entirely refuse to accept the responsibility of hunting for him”
”I quite understand your position,” said Holmes, with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes ”Perhaps you don't quite understand mine Godfrey Staunton appears to have been a poor man If he has been kidnapped, it could not have been for anything which he hione abroad, Lord Mount-Ja of thieves have secured your nephew in order to gain from him some information as to your house, your habits, and your treasure”
The face of our unpleasant little visitor turned as white as his neckcloth
”Heavens, sir, what an idea! I never thought of such villainy! What inhuues there are in the world! But Godfrey is a fine lad--a staunch lad Nothing would induce hiive his old uncle away I'll have the plateIn theyou to leave no stone unturned to bring him safely back As to oes you can always look to me”
Even in his chastened fraive us no information which could help us, for he knew little of the private life of his nephew Our only clue lay in the truncated telegram, and with a copy of this in his hand Holmes set forth to find a second link for his chain We had shaken off Lord Mount-Jaone to consult with the other members of his team over the raph-office at a short distance fro, Watson,” said Holmes ”Of course, with a warrant we could demand to see the counterfoils, but we have not reached that stage yet I don't suppose they remember faces in so busy a place Let us venture it”
”I am sorry to trouble you,” said he, in his blandest ; ”there is soram I sent yesterday I have had no answer, and I very much fear that I must have omitted to put my name at the end Could you tellwoman turned over a sheaf of counterfoils
”What o'clock was it?” she asked
”A little after six”
”Wholanced at me ”The last words in it were `For God's sake,'” he whispered, confidentially; ”I a woman separated one of the for it out upon the counter
”Then that, of course, accounts forno answer,” said Hol,relieved my mind” He chuckled and rubbed his hands e found ourselves in the street once ress, ress I had seven different scheram, but I could hardly hope to succeed the very first ti-point for our investigation” He hailed a cab ”King's Cross Station,” said he
”We have a journey, then?”
”Yes, I think we ether All the indications seem to me to point in that direction”
”Tell me,” I asked, as we rattled up Gray's Inn Road, ”have you any suspicion yet as to the cause of the disappearance? I don't think that a all our cases I have known one where the ine that he ainst his wealthy uncle?”
”I confess, my dear Watson, that that does not appeal to me as a very probable explanation It struckthe one which was ly unpleasant old person”
”It certainly did that; but what are your alternatives?”
”I could estive that this incident should occur on the eve of this important match, and should involve the only man whose presence seems essential to the success of the side ItAood deal of outside betting goes on aht be worth soet at a race-horse There is one explanation A second very obvious one is that this young reat property, however modest his means may at present be, and it is not iht be concocted”
”These theories take no account of the telegrara hich we have to deal, and we must not perht upon the purpose of this telegrae The path of our investigation is at present obscure, but I shall be verywe have not cleared it up, orit”
It was already dark e reached the old university city Holmes took a cab at the station and ordered theA few e hfare We were shown in, and after a long ere at last ad-room, where we found the doctor seated behind his table
It argues the degree in which I had lost touch withwas unknown to me Now I am aware that he is not only one of the heads of the medical school of the university, but a thinker of European reputation inhis brilliant record one could not fail to be ilance at theeyes under the thatched brows, and the graniteof the inflexible jaw A rim, ascetic, self-contained, for He held my friend's card in his hand, and he looked up with no very pleased expression upon his dour features