The Return of Sherlock Holmes Part 21 (1/2)
”His carriage is at his door now,” said I ”There he is stepping into it I saw hilance up at ouras he did so Suppose I try my luck upon the bicycle?”
”No, no, my dear Watson! With all respect for your natural acumen, I do not think that you are quite a match for the worthy doctor I think that possibly I can attain our end by some independent explorations of my own I am afraid that I must leave you to your own devices, as the appearance of TWO inquiring strangers upon a sleepy countryside ossip than I care for No doubt you will find sohts to a back a ”
Once more, however, ht weary and unsuccessful
”I have had a blank day, Watson Having got the doctor's general direction, I spent the day in visiting all the villages upon that side of Ca notes with publicans and other local news agencies I have covered soton have each been explored, and have each proved disappointing The daily appearance of a brougham and pair could hardly have been overlooked in such Sleepy Hollows The doctor has scored once ram for me?”
”Yes, I opened it Here it is: ”Ask for Poe
I don't understand it”
”Oh, it is clear enough It is from our friend Overton, and is in answer to a question from me I'll just send round a note to Mr Jeremy Dixon, and then I have no doubt that our luck will turn By the way, is there any news of thepaper has an excellent account in its last edition Oxford won by a goal and two tries The last sentences of the description say: ”The defeat of the Light Blues may be entirely attributed to the unfortunate absence of the crack International, Godfrey Staunton, whose as felt at every instant of the game The lack of combination in the three-quarter line and their weakness both in attack and defencepack”
”Then our friend Overton's forebodings have been justified,” said Hol, and football does not coht, Watson, for I foresee that to-morrow li his tiny hypoderle weakness of his nature, and I feared the worst when I saw it glittering in his hand He laughed at my expression of dismay and laid it upon the table
”No, no, my dear fellow, there is no cause for alarm It is not upon this occasion the instrument of evil, but it will rather prove to be the key which will unlock our e I base allexpedition, and everything is favourable Eat a good breakfast, Watson, for I propose to get upon Dr Ar's trail to-day, and once on it I will not stop for rest or food until I run him to his burrow”
”In that case,” said I, ”we had best carry our breakfast with us, for he is e is at the door”
”Never o He will be clever if he can drive where I cannot follow him When you have finished, come downstairs with me, and I will introduce you to a detective who is a very eminent specialist in the work that lies before us”
When we descended I followed Holmes into the stable yard, where he opened the door of a loose-box and led out a squat, lop-eared, white-and-tan dog, sole and a foxhound
”Let me introduce you to Pohounds--no very great flier, as his build will show, but a staunch hound on a scent Well, Pompey, you may not be fast, but I expect you will be too fast for a couple of entle this leather leash to your collar Now, boy, co, and shohat you can do” He led hi sniffed round for an instant, and then with a shrill whine of excite at his leash in his efforts to go faster In half an hour, ere clear of the town and hastening down a country road
”What have you done, Holmes?” I asked
”A threadbare and venerable device, but useful upon occasion I walked into the doctor's yard this e full of aniseed over the hind wheel A draghound will follow aniseed fro, would have to drive through the Ca rascal! This is how he gavehad suddenly turned out of the rown lane Half a mile farther this opened into another broad road, and the trail turned hard to the right in the direction of the tohich we had just quitted The road took a sweep to the south of the town, and continued in the opposite direction to that in which we started
”This DETOUR has been entirely for our benefit, then?” said Holers led to nothing The doctor has certainly played the game for all it is worth, and one would like to know the reason for such elaborate deception This should be the village of Truha round the corner Quick, Watson--quick, or we are done!”
He sprang through a gate into a field, dragging the reluctant Poot under the shelter of the hedge when the carriage rattled past I caught a gli within, his shoulders bowed, his head sunk on his hands, the very iraver face that he also had seen
”I fear there is so before we know it Coe in the field!”
There could be no doubt that we had reached the end of our journey Poate, where the ham's wheels were still to be seen A footpath led across to the lonely cottage Hole, and we hastened onward My friend knocked at the little rustic door, and knocked again without response And yet the cottage was not deserted, for a low sound came to our ears--a kind of drone of misery and despair which was indescribably lanced back at the road which he had just traversed A brougharay horses
”By Jove, the doctor is co back!” cried Holmes ”That settles it We are bound to see what it means before he comes”
He opened the door, and we stepped into the hall The droning sound swelled louder upon our ears until it beca, deep wail of distress It came from upstairs Holmes darted up, and I followed him He pushed open a half-closed door, and we both stood appalled at the sight before us
A wo dead upon the bed Her calm pale face, with dile of golden hair At the foot of the bed, half sitting, half kneeling, his face buried in the clothes, was a young man, whose frarief, that he never looked up until Holmes's hand was on his shoulder
”Are you Mr Godfrey Staunton?”
”Yes, yes, I am--but you are too late She is dead”
The man was so dazed that he could not bebut doctors who had been sent to his assistance Hol to utter a feords of consolation and to explain the alarm which had been caused to his friends by his sudden disappearance when there was a step upon the stairs, and there was the heavy, stern, questioning face of Dr Arentlemen,” said he, ”you have attained your end and have certainly chosen a particularly delicate moment for your intrusion I would not brawl in the presence of death, but I can assure you that if I were a younger man your monstrous conduct would not pass with i, I think we are a little at cross-purposes,” said nity ”If you could step downstairs with us, we ht to the other upon this ri-room below
”Well, sir?” said he
”I wish you to understand, in the first place, that I am not employed by Lord Mount-Jaainst that nobleman When adone so theas there is nothing criminal I aive theine, there is no breach of the law in this matter, you can absolutely depend uponthe facts out of the papers”
Dr Ar Holood fellow,” said he ”I hadpoor Staunton all alone in this plight caused e back and so toas much as you do, the situation is very easily explained A year ago Godfrey Staunton lodged in London for a tihter, whoood as she was beautiful and as intelligent as she was good No man need be ashamed of such a wife But Godfrey was the heir to this crabbed old noblee would have been the end of his inheritance I knew the lad well, and I loved him for his many excellent qualities I did all I could to help hiht We did our very best to keep the thing froets about, it is not long before everyone has heard it Thanks to this lonely cottage and his own discretion, Godfrey has up to now succeeded Their secret was known to no one save to one for assistance to Truton But at last there caerous illness to his wife It was consumption of the rief, and yet he had to go to London to play this et out of it without explanations which would expose his secret I tried to cheer hi ram which you appear in soent the danger was, for I knew that he could do no good here, but I sent the truth to the girl's father, and he very injudiciously coht away in a state bordering on frenzy, and has re at the end of her bed, until this s That is all, Mr Holmes, and I am sure that I can rely upon your discretion and that of your friend”
Holrasped the doctor's hand
”Corief into the pale sunlight of the winter day
THE ADVENTURE OF THE ABBEY GRANGE
It was on a bitterly cold and frosty , towards the end of the winter of '97, that I akened by a tugging at my shoulder It was Hol face, and toldwas aame is afoot Not a word! Into your clothes and come!”
Ten h the silent streets on our way to Charing Cross Station The first faint winter's daas beginning to appear, and we could diure of an early workman as he passed us, blurred and indistinct in the opalescent London reek Hollad to do the same, for the air was most bitter, and neither of us had broken our fast
It was not until we had consumed some hot tea at the station and taken our places in the Kentish train that ere sufficiently thawed, he to speak and I to listen Hole, Marshalad of your immediate assistance in what pro quite in your line Except for releasing the lady I will see that everything is kept exactly as I have found it, but I beg you not to lose an instant, as it is difficult to leave Sir Eustace there Yours faithfully, STANLEY HOPKINS
”Hopkins has called me in seven times, and on each occasion his summons has been entirely justified,” said Holmes ”I fancy that every one of his cases has found its way into your collection, and I must admit, Watson, that you have some power of selection, which atones for much which I deplore in your narratives Your fatal habit of looking at everything from the point of view of a story instead of as a scientific exercise has ruined what ht have been an instructive and even classical series of demonstrations You slur over work of the utmost finesse and delicacy, in order to dwell upon sensational details which may excite, but cannot possibly instruct, the reader”
”Why do you not write them yourself?” I said, with some bitterness
”I will, my dear Watson, I will At present I am, as you know, fairly busy, but I propose to devoteyears to the composition of a textbook, which shall focus the whole art of detection into one volume Our present research appears to be a case of murder”
”You think this Sir Eustace is dead, then?”
”I should say so Hopkins's writing shows considerable agitation, and he is not an eather there has been violence, and that the body is left for our inspection A mere suicide would not have caused him to send for me As to the release of the lady, it would appear that she has been locked in her rooh life, Watson, crackling paper, `EB' ram, coat-of-arms, picturesque address I think that friend Hopkins will live up to his reputation, and that we shall have an interesting ht”
”How can you possibly tell?”