His Last Bow Part 1 (2/2)
”And it is ainst hi to tell us about it when you entered the room I think, Watson, a brandy and soda would do hiest that you take no notice of this addition to your audience, and that you proceed with your narrative exactly as you would have done had you never been interrupted”
Our visitor had gulped off the brandy and the colour had returned to his face With a dubious glance at the inspector's notebook, he plunged at once into his extraordinary state of a sociable turn I cultivate a large nu these are the fa at Aberton It was at his table that Ifellow named Garcia He was, I understood, of Spanish descent and connected in solish, was pleasing in hisa man as ever I saw in my life
”In so fellow and I He seemed to take a fancy tohe ca led to another, and it ended in his inviting e, between Esher and Oxshott Yesterday evening I went to Esher to fulfil this engagement
”He had described his household to me before I went there He lived with a faithful servant, a countryman of his oho looked after all his needs This fellow could speak English and did his housekeeping for him Then there was a wonderful cook, he said, a half-breed whom he had picked up in his travels, who could serve an excellent dinner I remember that he remarked what a queer household it was to find in the heart of Surrey, and that I agreed with hiht
”I drove to the place--about two miles on the south side of Esher The house was a fair-sized one, standing back froh evergreen shrubs It was an old, tu in a crazy state of disrepair When the trap pulled up on the grass-grown drive in front of the blotched and weather-stained door, I had doubts as to htly He opened the door hireat show of cordiality I was handed over to the manservant, ain his hand, toOur dinner was tete-a-tete, and though hts seeuely and wildly that I could hardly understand hinawed his nails, and gave other signs of nervous impatience The dinner itself was neither well served nor well cooked, and the gloomy presence of the taciturn servant did not help to enliven us I can assure you thatI wished that I could invent so co upon the business that you two gentle of it at the time Near the end of dinner a note was handed in by the servant I noticed that after e than before He gave up all pretence at conversation and sat, shts, but he lad to go to bed Some time later Garcia looked in at my door--the roo I said that I had not He apologized for having disturbedthat it was nearly one o'clock I dropped off after this and slept soundly all night
”And now I co part of lanced at my watch, and the time was nearly nine I had particularly asked to be called at eight, so I was veryfor the servant There was no response I rang again and again, with the same result Then I came to the conclusion that the bell was out of order I huddled on ly bad teine my surprise when I found that there was no one there I shouted in the hall There was no answer Then I ran from room to room All were deserted My host had shown ht before, so I knocked at the door No reply I turned the handle and walked in The rooone with the rest The foreign host, the foreign footht! That was the end ofhis hands and chuckling as he added this bizarre incident to his collection of strange episodes
”Your experience is, so far as I know, perfectly unique,” said he ”May I ask, sir, what you did then?”
”I was furious My first idea was that I had been the victied the hall door behindin ents in the village, and found that it was from this firm that the villa had been rented It struckcould hardly be for the purpose of et out of the rent It is late in March, so quarter- day is at hand But this theory would not work The agent was obliged to , but told me that the rent had been paid in advance Then I made my way to town and called at the Spanish embassy The man was unknown there After this I went to see Melville, at whose house I had first met Garcia, but I found that he really knew rather less about hiot your reply to ather that you are a person who gives advice in difficult cases But now, Mr Inspector, I understand, from what you said when you entered the rooedy had occurred I can assure you that every word I have said is the truth, and that, outside of what I have told you, I know absolutely nothing about the fate of this man My only desire is to help the law in every possible way”
”I am sure of it, Mr Scott Eccles--I ason in a very a which you have said agrees very closely with the facts as they have come to our notice For exa dinner Did you chance to observe what became of it?”
”Yes, I did Garcia rolled it up and threw it into the fire”
”What do you say to that, Mr Baynes?”
The country detective was a stout, puffy, red rossness by two extraordinarily bright eyes, almost hidden behind the heavy creases of cheek and brow With a slow smile he drew a folded and discoloured scrap of paper frorate, Mr Holmes, and he overpitched it I picked this out unburned from the back of it”
Holmes smiled his appreciation
”You le pellet of paper”
”I did, Mr Holson?”
The Londoner nodded
”The note is written upon ordinary cream-laid paper without watermark It is a quarter-sheet The paper is cut off in two snips with a short-bladed scissors It has been folded over three times and sealed with purple wax, put on hurriedly and pressed doith some flat oval object It is addressed to Mr Garcia, Wisteria Lodge It says: ”Our own colours, green and white Green open, white shut Main stair, first corridor, seventh right, green baize Godspeed D
”It is a wo, done with a sharp-pointed pen, but the address is either done with another pen or by someone else It is thicker and bolder, as you see”
”A very re it over ”I must compliment you, Mr Baynes, upon your attention to detail in your exaht perhaps be added The oval seal is undoubtedly a plain sleeve-link--what else is of such a shape? The scissors were bent nail scissors Short as the two snips are, you can distinctly see the saht curve in each”
The country detective chuckled
”I thought I had squeezed all the juice out of it, but I see there was a little over,” he said ”I' of the note except that there was so on hand, and that a woman, as usual was at the bottoeted in his seat during this conversation
”I alad you found the note, since it corroboratesto point out that I have not yet heard what has happened to Mr Garcia, nor what has becoson, ”that is easily answered He was found dead thisupon Oxshott Common, nearly a mile from his home His head had been s or some such instrument, which had crushed rather than wounded It is a lonely corner, and there is no house within a quarter of a mile of the spot He had apparently been struck down first fro after he was dead It was a most furious assault There are no footsteps nor any clue to the criminals”
”Robbed?”
”No, there was no attempt at robbery”
”This is very painful--very painful and terrible,” said Mr Scott Eccles in a querulous voice, ”but it is really unco off upon a nocturnal excursion andso sad an end How do I come to be mixed up with the case?”
”Very simply, sir,” Inspector Baynes answered ”The only document found in the pocket of the deceased was a letter froht of his death It was the envelope of this letter which gave us the deade reached his house and found neither you nor anyone else inside it I wired to Mr Gregson to run you down in London while I exason, and here we are”
”I think now,” said Gregson, rising, ”we had best put this matter into an official shape You will come round with us to the station, Mr Scott Eccles, and let us have your state”
”Certainly, I will come at once But I retain your services, Mr Holet at the truth”
My friend turned to the country inspector
”I suppose that you have no objection to hly honoured, sir, I am sure”
”You appear to have been very prompt and businesslike in all that you have done Was there any clue, may I ask, as to the exact hour that the man met his death?”
”He had been there since one o'clock There was rain about that time, and his death had certainly been before the rain”
”But that is perfectly impossible, Mr Baynes,” cried our client ”His voice is unmistakable I could swear to it that it was he who addressed me in my bedroom at that very hour”
”Re
”You have a clue?” asked Gregson
”On the face of it the case is not a very coh it certainly presents soe of facts is necessary before I would venture to give a final and definite opinion By the way, Mr Baynes, did you find anything remarkable besides this note in your examination of the house?”
The detective looked at ular way
”There were,” said he, ”one or two VERY res Perhaps when I have finished at the police-station you would care to coive me your opinion of them”
In a the bell ”You will show these gentlera reply”
We sat for some time in silence after our visitors had left Holmes smoked hard, with his browns dran over his keen eyes, and his head thrust forward in the eager way characteristic of thesuddenly upon me, ”what do you make of it?”