His Last Bow Part 13 (1/2)

”There is one thing occurs to me,” said he at last ”As we sat at the tableit I saw him once look hard over my shoulder, so I turned round and looked also The blind was up and theshut, but I could just make out the bushes on the lawn, and it see them I couldn't even say if it wasthere When I asked hi at, he toldThat is all that I can say”

”Did you not investigate?”

”No; the matter passed as unimportant”

”You left them, then, without any premonition of evil?”

”None at all”

”I am not clear how you ca”

”I aenerally take a walk before breakfast This e overtook me He told ent ot there we looked into that dreadful room The candles and the firethere in the dark until dawn had broken The doctor said Brenda ns of violence She just lay across the are and Oere singing snatches of songs and gibbering like two great apes Oh, it ful to see! I couldn't stand it, and the doctor was as white as a sheet Indeed, he fell into a chair in a sort of faint, and we nearly had him on our hands as well”

”Re his hat ”I think, perhaps, we had better go down to Tredannick Wartha without further delay I confess that I have seldoular proble did little to advance the investigation It was marked, however, at the outset by an incident which left the most sinister impression upon edy occurred is down a narroinding, country lane While wetowards us and stood aside to let it pass As it drove by us I caught a glirinning face glaring out at us Those staring eyes and gnashi+ng teeth flashed past us like a dreadful vision

”My brothers!” cried Morti them to Helston”

We looked with horror after the black carriage, lu upon its way Then we turned our steps towards this ill-oe fate

It was a large and bright dwelling, rather a villa than a cottage, with a considerable garden which was already, in that Cornish air, well filled with spring flowers Towards this garden theof the sitting-rooennis,of evil which had by sheer horror in a single instant blasted theirthe flower- plots and along the path before we entered the porch So absorbed was he in his thoughts, I re-pot, upset its contents, and deluged both our feet and the garden path Inside the house ere met by the elderly Cornish housekeeper, Mrs Porter, ith the aid of a young girl, looked after the wants of the family She readily answered all Holht Her employers had all been in excellent spirits lately, and she had never known them more cheerful and prosperous She had fainted with horror upon entering the roo that dreadful company round the table She had, when she recovered, thrown open theto let theair in, and had run down to the lane, whence she sent a farm-lad for the doctor The lady was on her bed upstairs if we cared to see her It took four strong e She would not herself stay in the house another day and was starting that very afternoon to rejoin her family at St Ives

We ascended the stairs and viewed the body Miss Brenda Tregennis had been a very beautiful girl, though now verging upon e Her dark, clear-cut face was handso of that convulsion of horror which had been her last hu-rooedy had actually occurred The charred ashes of the overnight fire lay in the grate On the table were the four guttered and burned-out candles, with the cards scattered over its surface The chairs had been ainst the walls, but all else was as it had been the night before Holht, swift steps about the roo the their positions He tested how arden was visible; he exa, and the fireplace; but never once did I see that sudden brightening of his eyes and tightening of his lips which would have told ht in this utter darkness

”Why a fire?” he asked once ”Had they always a fire in this sennis explained that the night was cold and damp For that reason, after his arrival, the fire was lit ”What are you going to do now, Mr Holmes?” he asked

My friend smiled and laid his hand upon my arm ”I think, Watson, that I shall resu which you have so often and so justly condeentlee, for I am not aware that any new factor is likely to come to our notice here I will turn the facts over inoccur to me I will certainly ommunicate with you and the vicar In the ”

It was not until long after ere back in Poldhu Cottage that Holmes broke his complete and absorbed silence He sat coiled in his arard and ascetic face hardly visible amid the blue swirl of his tobacco smoke, his black brows dran, his forehead contracted, his eyes vacant and far away Finally he laid down his pipe and sprang to his feet

”It won't do, Watson!” said he with a laugh ”Let us walk along the cliffs together and search for flint arrows We are more likely to find them than clues to this problem To let the brain ithout sufficient ine It racks itself to pieces The sea air, sunshi+ne, and patience, Watson--all else will come

”Now, let us calmly define our position, Watson,” he continued as we skirted the cliffs together ”Let us get a firrip of the very little which we DO know, so that when fresh facts arise we may be ready to fit them into their places I take it, in the first place, that neither of us is prepared to adin by ruling that entirely out of our rievously stricken by soround Nohen did this occur? Evidently, assu his narrative to be true, it was iennis had left the room That is a very important point The presumption is that it ithin a few minutes afterwards The cards still lay upon the table It was already past their usual hour for bed Yet they had not changed their position or pushed back their chairs I repeat, then, that the occurrence was immediately after his departure, and not later than eleven o'clock last night

”Our next obvious step is to check, so far as we can, the ennis after he left the room In this there is no difficulty, and they see my methods as you do, you were, of course, conscious of the somewhat clumsy water-pot expedient by which I obtained a clearer iht otherwise have been possible The wet, sandy path took it adht was also wet, you will re obtained a sa others and to follow his movements He appears to have walked aiftly in the direction of the vicarage

”If, then, Mortiennis disappeared from the scene, and yet some outside person affected the card-players, how can we reconstruct that person, and hoas such an impression of horror conveyed? Mrs Porter may be eliminated She is evidently harardenand in some manner produced so terrific an effect that he drove those who saw it out of their senses? The only suggestion in this direction coennis himself, who says that his brother spoke about soarden That is certainly reht was rainy, cloudy, and dark Anyone who had the design to alarainst the glass before he could be seen There is a three-foot flower- border outside this , but no indication of a footine, then, how an outsider could have made so terrible an impression upon the coe and elaborate an attempt You perceive our difficulties, Watson?”

”They are only too clear,” I answered with conviction

”And yet, with a little more material, we may prove that they are not insur your extensive archives, Watson, you may find some which were nearly as obscure Meanwhile, we shall put the case aside until more accurate data are available, and devote the rest of ourto the pursuit of neolithic man”

I may have commented upon my friend's power of mental detachment, but never have I wondered at itin Cornhen for two hours he discoursed upon celts, arrowheads, and shards, as lightly as if no sinisterfor his solution It was not until we had returned in the afternoon to our cottage that we found a visitor awaiting us, who soon brought our minds back to the matter in hand Neither of us needed to be told who that visitor was The huge body, the craggy and deeply searizzled hair which nearly brushed our cottage ceiling, the beard--golden at the fringes and white near the lips, save for the nicotine stain froar--all these were as well known in London as in Africa, and could only be associated with the trereat lion-hunter and explorer

We had heard of his presence in the district and had once or twice caught sight of his tall figure upon the moorland paths He made no advances to us, however, nor would we have drea so to him, as it ell known that it was his love of seclusion which caused hireater part of the intervals between his journeys in a salow buried in the lonely wood of Beauchamp Arriance Here, amid his books and histo his own si little apparent heed to the affairs of his neighbours It was a surprise to er voice whether he had made any advance in his reconstruction of this mysterious episode ”The county police are utterly at fault,” said he, ”but perhaps your wider experience has suggested so taken into your confidence is that during my ennis very well--indeed, upon my Cornish e fate has naturally been a great shock to ot as far as Plymouth upon , and I caain to help in the inquiry”

Holh it?”

”I will take the next”

”Dear me! that is friendshi+p indeed”

”I tell you they were relatives”

”Quite so--cousins of your e aboard the shi+p?”

”Some of it, but the main part at the hotel”

”I see But surely this event could not have found its way into the Plyraht I ask froaunt face of the explorer

”You are very inquisitive, Mr Holmes”

”It is my business”

With an effort Dr Sterndale recovered his ruffled co you,” he said ”It was Mr Roundhay, the vicar, who sent ram which recalled me”

”Thank you,” said Holinal question that I have not cleared my mind entirely on the subject of this case, but that I have every hope of reaching some conclusion It would be pre me if your suspicions point in any particular direction?”

”No, I can hardly answer that”

”Then I have wastede in considerable ill- humour, and within five minutes Hol, when he returned with a slow step and haggard face which assured ation He glanced at a telegrarate

”From the Plymouth hotel, Watson,” he said ”I learned the name of it from the vicar, and I wired to make certain that Dr Leon Sterndale's account was true It appears that he did indeed spend last night there, and that he has actually allowed soo on to Africa, while he returned to be present at this investigation What do you make of that, Watson?”

”He is deeply interested”

”Deeply interested--yes There is a thread here which we had not yet grasped and which le Cheer up, Watson, for I am very sure that our material has not yet all come to hand When it does we may soon leave our difficulties behind us”

Little did I think how soon the words of Hole and sinister would be that new developation I was shaving atwhen I heard the rattle of hoofs and, looking up, saw a dog-cart coallop down the road It pulled up at our door, and our friend, the vicar, sprang froarden path Holmes was already dressed, and we hastened down to meet him

Our visitor was so excited that he could hardly articulate, but at last in gasps and bursts his tragic story came out of him

”We are devil-ridden, Mr Holmes! My poor parish is devil- ridden!” he cried ”Satan hiiven over into his hands!” He danced about in his agitation, a ludicrous object if it were not for his ashy face and startled eyes Finally he shot out his terrible news

”Mr Mortiht, and with exactly the sa to his feet, all energy in an instant

”Can you fit us both into your dog-cart?”