His Last Bow Part 14 (1/2)
Sterndale sprang to his feet
”I believe that you are the devil himself!” he cried
Holmes smiled at the compliment ”It took two, or possibly three, handfuls before the lodger came to theYou beckoned him to co-room You entered by theThere was an interview--a short one--during which you walked up and down the roo on the lawn outside s what occurred Finally, after the death of Tregennis, you withdrew as you had come Now, Dr Sterndale, how do you justify such conduct, and ere the motives for your actions? If you prevaricate or trifle with ive you my assurance that the matter will pass out of ray as he listened to the words of his accuser Now he sat for soht with his face sunk in his hands Then with a sudden iraph from his breast-pocket and threw it on the rustic table before us
”That is why I have done it,” said he
It showed the bust and face of a very beautiful woennis,” said he
”Yes, Brenda Tregennis,” repeated our visitor ”For years I have loved her For years she has loved me There is the secret of that Cornish seclusion which people haveon earth that was dear to me I could not marry her, for I have a ho has left land, I could not divorce For years Brenda waited For years I waited And this is e have waited for” A terrible sob shook his great frame, and he clutched his throat under his brindled beard Then with an effort he mastered himself and spoke on: ”The vicar knew He was in our confidence He would tell you that she was an angel upon earth That hy he telegraphed to e or Africa to ? There you have theclue to my action, Mr Holmes”
”Proceed,” said my friend
Dr Sterndale drew from his pocket a paper packet and laid it upon the table On the outside ritten ”Radix pedis diaboli” with a red poison label beneath it He pushed it towards me ”I understand that you are a doctor, sir Have you ever heard of this preparation?”
”Devil's-foot root! No, I have never heard of it”
”It is no reflection upon your professional knowledge,” said he, ”for I believe that, save for one sample in a laboratory at Buda, there is no other specimen in Europe It has not yet found its way either into the phary The root is shaped like a foot, half huiven by a botanical missionary It is used as an ordeal poison by the medicine-men in certain districts of West Africa and is kept as a secret a them This particular specimen I obtained under very extraordinary circui country” He opened the paper as he spoke and disclosed a heap of reddish-brown, snuff-like powder
”Well, sir?” asked Holmes sternly
”I am about to tell you, Mr Holmes, all that actually occurred, for you already know so much that it is clearly to my interest that you should know all I have already explained the relationshi+p in which I stood to the Tregennis family For the sake of the sister I was friendly with the brothers There was a faed this man Mortimer, but it was supposed to be made up, and I afterwardsave me a suspicion of him, but I had no cause for any positive quarrel
”One day, only a couple of weeks ago, he cae and I showed his I exhibited this powder, and I told hie properties, how it stimulates those brain centres which control the emotion of fear, and how either madness or death is the fate of the unhappy native who is subjected to the ordeal by the priest of his tribe I told him also hoerless European science would be to detect it How he took it I cannot say, for I never left the roo cabinets and stooping to boxes, that he ed to abstract some of the devil's-foot root I well remember how he plied me with questions as to the amount and the time that was needed for its effect, but I little drea
”I thought no raht that I would be at sea before the news could reach me, and that I should be lost for years in Africa But I returned at once Of course, I could not listen to the details without feeling assured that my poison had been used I came round to see you on the chance that soested itself to you But there could be none I was convinced that Mortiennis was the murderer; that for the sake of money, and with the idea, perhaps, that if the other uardian of their joint property, he had used the devil's-foot powder upon them, driven two of them out of their senses, and killed his sister Brenda, the one hu whom I have ever loved or who has ever loved me There was his crime; as to be his punishment?
”Should I appeal to the law? Where were my proofs? I knew that the facts were true, but could I help to ht or I ht not But I could not afford to fail My soul cried out for revenge I have said to you once before, Mr Holmes, that I have spent much of my life outside the law, and that I have come at last to be a law to myself So it was even now I deteriven to others should be shared by himself Either that or I would do justice upon hiland there can be no man who sets less value upon his own life than I do at the present moment
”Now I have told you all You have yourself supplied the rest I did, as you say, after a restless night, set off early froathered soravel from the pile which you have mentioned, and I used it to throw up to hisHe ca-room I laid his offence before hie and executioner The wretch sank into a chair, paralyzed at the sight of my revolver I lit the lamp, put the powder above it, and stood outside the , ready to carry out my threat to shoot him should he try to leave the room In five minutes he died My God! how he died! Butwhichhad not felt before him There is my story, Mr Holmes Perhaps, if you loved a woman, you would have done as much yourself At any rate, I am in your hands You can take what steps you like As I have already said, there is nowho can fear death less than I do”
Holmes sat for some little time in silence
”What were your plans?” he asked at last
”I had intended to bury myself in central Africa My work there is but half finished”
”Go and do the other half,” said Holmes ”I, at least, am not prepared to prevent you”
Dr Sterndale raised his giant figure, bowed gravely, and walked from the arbour Holmes lit his pipe and handed me his pouch
”Soe,” said he ”I think you ree, Watson, that it is not a case in which we are called upon to interfere Our investigation has been independent, and our action shall be so also You would not denounce the man?”
”Certainly not,” I answered
”I have never loved, Watson, but if I did and if the woht act even as our lawless lion- hunter has done Who knows? Well, Watson, I will not offend your intelligence by explaining what is obvious The gravel upon the -sill was, of course, the starting-point of arden Only when e did I find its counterpart The laht and the remains of powder upon the shi+eld were successive links in a fairly obvious chain And now, my dear Watson, I think we o back with a clear conscience to the study of those Chaldean roots which are surely to be traced in the Cornish branch of the great Celtic speech”
His Last Bow
An Epilogue of Sherlock Holust--the ht have thought already that God's curse hung heavy over a degenerate world, for there was an awesoue expectancy in the sultry and stagnant air The sun had long set, but one blood-red gash like an open wound lay low in the distant west Above, the stars were shi+ning brightly, and below, the lights of the shi+pping glimmered in the bay The two faarden walk, with the long, low, heavily gabled house behind them, and they looked down upon the broad sweep of the beach at the foot of the great chalk cliff in which Von Bork, like sole, had perched hiether, talking in low, confidential tones Froht have been the s down in the darkness
A remarkableall the devoted agents of the Kaiser It was his talents which had first recolish mission, the most important mission of all, but since he had taken it over those talents had become more and more manifest to the half-dozen people in the world ere really in touch with the truth One of these was his present coation, whose huge 100-horse-power Benz car was blocking the country lane as it waited to waft its owner back to London
”So far as I can judge the trend of events, you will probably be back in Berlin within the week,” the secretary was saying ”When you get there, my dear Von Bork, I think you will be surprised at the welcoht in the highest quarters of your work in this country” He was a huge man, the secretary, deep, broad, and tall, with a slow, heavy fashi+on of speech which had been his hed
”They are not very hard to deceive,” he reined”
”I don't know about that,” said the other thoughtfully ”They have strange limits and one must learn to observe them It is that surface sier One's first impression is that they are entirely soft Then one co very hard, and you know that you have reached the limit and must adapt yourself to the fact They have, for example, their insular conventions which siood forhed as one who had sufferedBritish prejudice in all its queer manifestations As an example I may quote one of my oorst blunders--I can afford to talk of h to be aware of my successes It was onat the country house of a cabinet ly indiscreet”
Von Bork nodded ”I've been there,” said he dryly
”Exactly Well, I naturally sent a resuood chancellor is a little heavy- handed in these matters, and he transmitted a remark which showed that he are of what had been said This, of course, took the trail straight up tosoft about our British hosts on that occasion, I can assure you I o years living it down Now you, with this sporting pose of yours--”
”No, no, don't call it a pose A pose is an artificial thing This is quite natural I am a born sportsman I enjoy it”
”Well, that ainst them, you hunt with theame, your four-in-hand takes the prize at Oly with the young officers What is the result? nobody takes you seriously You are a 'good old sport' 'quite a decent fellow for a Gerht-club, knock-about-town, devil- fellow And all the time this quiet country house of yours is the centre of half thesquire the most astute secret-service enius!”
”You flatter me, Baron But certainly I may claim my four years in this country have not been unproductive I've never shown youin for a ht on to the terrace Von Bork pushed it back, and, leading the way, he clicked the switch of the electric light He then closed the door behind the bulky form which followed him and carefully adjusted the heavy curtain over the latticedOnly when all these precautions had been taken and tested did he turn his sunburned aquiline face to his guest
”Soone,” said he ”Whenthey took the less important with them I must, of course, claim the protection of the embassy for the others”
”Your name has already been files as one of the personal suite There will be no difficulties for you or your baggage Of course, it is just possible that we land may leave France to her fate We are sure that there is no binding treaty between theium, too”
Von Bork shook his head ”I don't see how that could be There is a definite treaty there She could never recover from such a humiliation”
”She would at least have peace for the moment”
”But her honor?”