His Last Bow Part 3 (1/2)
It was a sarden which ran behind the house Lestrade went in and brought out a yellow cardboard box, with a piece of brown paper and so There was a bench at the end of the path, and we all sat dohile Homes examined one by one, the articles which Lestrade had handed to hi,” he re at it ”What do you , Lestrade?”
”It has been tarred”
”Precisely It is a piece of tarred twine You have also, no doubt, re has cut the cord with a scissors, as can be seen by the double fray on each side This is of importance”
”I cannot see the importance,” said Lestrade
”The importance lies in the fact that the knot is left intact, and that this knot is of a peculiar character”
”It is very neatly tied I had already made a note of that effect,” said Lestrade co, then,” said Hol, ”now for the box wrapper Brown paper, with a distinct smell of coffee What, did you not observe it? I think there can be no doubt of it Address printed in rather straggling characters: 'Miss S Cushi+ng, Cross Street, Croydon' Done with a broad-pointed pen, probably a J, and with very inferior ink The word 'Croydon' has been originally spelled with an 'i', which has been changed to 'y' The parcel was directed, then, by ais distinctly masculine--of limited education and unacquainted with the town of Croydon So far, so good! The box is a yellow, half-pound honeydew box, with nothing distinctive save two thuh salt of the quality used for preserving hides and other of the coarser coular enclosures”
He took out the two ears as he spoke, and laying a board across his knee he exa forward on each side of hilanced alternately at these dreadful relics and at the thoughtful, eager face of our companion Finally he returned them to the box once more and sat for a while in deep meditation
”You have observed, of course,” said he at last, ”that the ears are not a pair”
”Yes, I have noticed that But if this were the practical joke of so-rooms, it would be as easy for them to send two odd ears as a pair”
”Precisely But this is not a practical joke”
”You are sure of it?”
”The presu-rooms are injected with preservative fluid These ears bear no signs of this They are fresh, too They have been cut off with a blunt instruain, carbolic or rectified spirits would be the preservatives which would suggest theh salt I repeat that there is no practical joke here, but that we are investigating a serious crih ravity which had hardened his features This brutal prelie and inexplicable horror in the background Lestrade, however, shook his head like a man who is only half convinced
”There are objections to the joke theory, no doubt,” said he, ”but there are ainst the other We know that this woe and here for the last twenty years She has hardly been away fro that time Why on earth, then, should any criuilt, especially as, unless she is a most consummate actress, she understands quite as little of the matter as we do?”
”That is the problem which we have to solve,” Holmes answered, ”and foris correct, and that a double murder has been committed One of these ears is a wo The other is a man's, sun-burned, discoloured, and also pierced for an earring These two people are presumably dead, or we should have heard their story before now To-day is Friday The packet was posted on Thursday edy, then, occurred on Wednesday or Tuesday, or earlier If the two people were n of his work to Miss Cushi+ng? We may take it that the sender of the packet is thereason for sending Miss Cushi+ng this packet What reason then? It must have been to tell her that the deed was done! or to pain her, perhaps But in that case she knoho it is Does she know? I doubt it If she knehy should she cal the police in? She ht have buried the ears, and no one would have been the wiser That is what she would have done if she had wished to shi+eld the criive his na to” He had been talking in a high, quick voice, staring blankly up over the garden fence, but now he sprang briskly to his feet and walked towards the house
”I have a few questions to ask Miss Cushi+ng,” said he
”In that case I may leave you here,” said Lestrade, ”for I have another s further to learn for You will find me at the police-station”
”We shall look in on our way to the train,” answered Holmes A moment later he and I were back in the front roo away at her antimacassar She put it down on her lap as we entered and looked at us with her frank, searching blue eyes
”I am convinced, sir,” she said, ”that this matter is a mistake, and that the parcel was never entlehs at me I have not an enemy in the world, as far as I know, so why should anyone playto be of the sa a seat beside her ”I think that it is lancing round to see that he was staring with singular intentness at the lady's profile Surprise and satisfaction were both for an instant to be read upon his eager face, though when she glanced round to find out the cause of his silence he had becorizzled hair, her tris, her placid features; but I could see nothing which could account for my companion's evident excitement
”There were one or two questions--”
”Oh, I a impatiently
”You have two sisters, I believe”
”How could you know that?”
”I observed the very instant that I entered the rooroup of three ladies upon the mantelpiece, one of wholy like you that there could be no doubt of the relationshi+p”
”Yes, you are quite right Those are my sisters, Sarah and Mary”
”And here at my elbow is another portrait, taken at Liverpool, of your younger sister, in the company of a man who appears to be a steward by his uniform I observe that she was un”
”That is ht But she was married to Mr Browner a few days afterwards He was on the South American line when that was taken, but he was so fond of her that he couldn't abide to leave her for so long, and he got into the Liverpool and London boats”
”Ah, the Conqueror, perhaps?”
”No, the May Day, when last I heard Jim came down here to see e; but afterwards he would always take drink when he was ashore, and a little drink would send hi lass in his hand again First he dropped me, then he quarrelled with Sarah, and now that Mary has stopped writing we don't kno things are going with the had come upon a subject on which she felt very deeply Like most people who lead a lonely life, she was shy at first, but ended by beco extremely communicative She told us many details about her brother-in-law the steward, and then wandering off on the subject of her for account of their delinquencies, with their names and those of their hospitals Hol in a question from time to time
”About your second sister, Sarah,” said he ”I wonder, since you are both ether”
”Ah! you don't know Sarah's temper or you would wonder no more I tried it when I cao, e had to part I don't want to say a word against my own sister, but she was always meddlesome and hard to please, was Sarah”
”You say that she quarrelled with your Liverpool relations”
”Yes, and they were the best of friends at one time Why, she went up there to live in order to be near theh for Jim Browner The last sixbut his drinking and his ways He had caught her iven her a bit of his mind, and that was the start of it”
”Thank you, Miss Cushi+ng,” said Hol ”Your sister Sarah lives, I think you said, at New Street, Wallington? Good-bye, and I am very sorry that you should have been troubled over a case hich, as you say, you have nothing whatever to do”
There was a cab passing as we caton?” he asked
”Only about a ood Jump in, Watson We must strike while the iron is hot Simple as the case is, there have been one or two very instructive details in connection with it Just pull up at a telegraph office as you pass, cabby”
Holmes sent off a short wire and for the rest of the drive lay back in the cab, with his hat tilted over his nose to keep the sun from his face Our drive pulled up at a house which was not unlike the one which we had just quitted My companion ordered him to wait, and had his hand upon the knocker, when the door opened and a grave young gentleman in black, with a very shi+ny hat, appeared on the step
”Is Miss Cushi+ng at ho is extre since yesterday froreat severity As her medical adviser, I cannot possibly take the responsibility of allowing anyone to see her I should recoloves, closed the door, and marched off down the street
”Well, if we can't we can't,” said Holmes, cheerfully
”Perhaps she could not or would not have told youI only wanted to look at her However, I think that I have got all that I want Drive us to some decent hotel, cabby, where we may have some lunch, and afterwards we shall drop down upon friend Lestrade at the police- station”
We had a pleasant littlebut violins, narrating with great exultation how he had purchased his own Stradivarius, which orth at least five hundred guineas, at a Jew broker's in Tottenhaanini, and we sat for an hour over a bottle of claret while he told me anecdote after anecdote of that extraordinary lare had softened into a low before we found ourselves at the police-station Lestrade aiting for us at the door
”A telegram for you, Mr Holmes,” said he