The Adventure of the Golden Prince-Nez - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

<v Speaker 1>The Adventure of the Golden Pansnee. When I look at
<v Speaker 1>the three massive manuscript volumes which contain our work for
<v Speaker 1>the year eighteen ninety four, I confess that it is
<v Speaker 1>very difficult for me, out of such a wealth of material,
<v Speaker 1>to select the cases which are most interesting in themselves
<v Speaker 1>and at the same time most conducive to a display
<v Speaker 1>of those peculiar powers for which my friend was famous.
<v Speaker 1>As I turn over the pages, I see my notes
<v Speaker 1>upon the repulsive story of the Red Leech and the
<v Speaker 1>terrible death of Crosby the Banker. Here also I find
<v Speaker 1>an account of the Adulton tragedy and the singular contents
<v Speaker 1>of the ancient British barrow. The famous Smith Mortimer succession
<v Speaker 1>case comes also within this period, and so does the
<v Speaker 1>tracking and arrest of Hurat the Boulevard Assassin, an exploit
<v Speaker 1>which won for homes, an autograph letter of thanks from
<v Speaker 1>the French President, and the Order of the Legion of Honor.
<v Speaker 1>Each of these would furnish narrative, but on the whole
<v Speaker 1>I am of opinion that none of them unites so
<v Speaker 1>many singular points of interest as the episode of Yoxley
<v Speaker 1>Old Place, which includes not only the lamentable death of
<v Speaker 1>young Willoughby Smith, but also those subsequent developments which threw
<v Speaker 1>so curious a light upon the causes of the crime.
<v Speaker 1>It was a wild, tempestuous night towards the close of November.
<v Speaker 1>Holmes and I sat together in silence all the evening.
<v Speaker 1>He engaged with a powerful lens, deciphering the remains of
<v Speaker 1>the original inscription upon a palimpsest. I deep in a
<v Speaker 1>recent treatise upon surgery. Outside, the wind howled down Baker Street,
<v Speaker 1>while the rain beat fiercely against the windows. It was
<v Speaker 1>strange there in the very depths of the town, with
<v Speaker 1>ten miles of man's handiwork on every side of us,
<v Speaker 1>to feel the iron grip of nature, and to be
<v Speaker 1>conscious that to the huge elemental forces, all London was
<v Speaker 1>no more than the molehill that dot the fields. I
<v Speaker 1>walked to the window and looked out on the deserted street.
<v Speaker 1>The occasional lamps gleamed on the expanse of muddy road
<v Speaker 1>and shining pavement. A single cab was splashing its way
<v Speaker 1>from the Oxford Street end. Well, Watson, it's as well
<v Speaker 1>we have not to turn out to night, said Holmes,
<v Speaker 1>laying aside his lens and rolling up the palimpsest. I
<v Speaker 1>have done enough for one sitting. It is trying work
<v Speaker 1>for the eyes. So far as I can make out,
<v Speaker 1>it is nothing more exciting than an abbey's account dating
<v Speaker 1>from the second half of the fifteenth century. Hullo, Hello, Hello,
<v Speaker 1>what's this? Amid the droning of the wind, there had
<v Speaker 1>come the stamping of a horse's hoofs, and the long
<v Speaker 1>grind of a wheel as it rasped against the curb.
<v Speaker 1>The cab which I had seen, had pulled up at
<v Speaker 1>our door. What can he want? I ejaculated as a
<v Speaker 1>man stepped out of it. Want he wants us, and we,
<v Speaker 1>my poor Watson, want overcoats and cravats and galoshes and
<v Speaker 1>every aid that man ever invented to fight the weather.
<v Speaker 1>Wait a bit, though, there's the cab off again. There's hope.
<v Speaker 1>Yet he'd have kept it if he had wanted us
<v Speaker 1>to come. Run down, my dear fellow, and open the door.
<v Speaker 1>For all virtuous folk have been long in bed. When
<v Speaker 1>the light of the hall lamp fell upon our midnight visitor,
<v Speaker 1>I had no difficulty in recognizing him. It was young
<v Speaker 1>Stanley Hopkins, a promising detective, in whose career Homes had
<v Speaker 1>several times shown a very practical interest. Is he in?
<v Speaker 1>He asked eagerly. Come up, my dear sir, said Holmes's
<v Speaker 1>voice from above. I hope you have no designs upon
<v Speaker 1>such a night as this. The detective mounted the stairs,
<v Speaker 1>and our lamp gleamed upon his shining waterproof. I helped
<v Speaker 1>him out of it, while Holmes knocked to blaze out
<v Speaker 1>of the logs in the grate. Now, my dear Hopkins,
<v Speaker 1>draw up and warm your toes, said he. Here's a cigar,
<v Speaker 1>and the doctor has a prescription containing hot water and
<v Speaker 1>a lemon, which is good medicine on a night like this.
<v Speaker 1>It must be something important which has brought you out
<v Speaker 1>in such a gale. It is indeed, mister Holmes, I
<v Speaker 1>have had a bustling afternoon. I promised you. Did you
<v Speaker 1>see anything of the Yoxley case in the latest editions?
<v Speaker 1>I've seen nothing later than the fifteenth century to day. Well,
<v Speaker 1>it's only a paragraph, and all wrong at that, so
<v Speaker 1>you've not missed anything. I haven't let the grass grow
<v Speaker 1>under my feet. It's down in Kent, seven miles from
<v Speaker 1>Chatham and three from the railway line. I was wired
<v Speaker 1>for at three fifteen, reached Joxley Old Place at five
<v Speaker 1>conducted my investigation was back at Charing Cross by the
<v Speaker 1>last train, and straight to you by cab, which means
<v Speaker 1>I sa pose that you are not quite clear about
<v Speaker 1>your case. It means that I can make neither head
<v Speaker 1>nor tail of it. So far as I can see,
<v Speaker 1>it is just as tangled a business as ever I handled.
<v Speaker 1>And yet at first it seems so simple that one
<v Speaker 1>couldn't go wrong. There's no motive, mister Holmes. That's what
<v Speaker 1>bothers me. I can't put my hand on a motive.
<v Speaker 1>Here's a man dead, there's no denying that. But so
<v Speaker 1>far as I can see, no reason on earth why
<v Speaker 1>any one should wish him arm Holmes lit his cigar
<v Speaker 1>and leaned back in his chair. Let us hear about it,
<v Speaker 1>said he. I've got my facts pretty clear, said Stanley Hopkins.
<v Speaker 1>All I want now is to know what they all mean.
<v Speaker 1>The story, so far as I can make out, is
<v Speaker 1>like this. Some years ago this country house, Yoxley Old Place,
<v Speaker 1>was taken by an elderly man who gave the name
<v Speaker 1>of Professor Korham. He was an invalid keeping his bed
<v Speaker 1>after time, and the other half hobbling around the house
<v Speaker 1>with a stick or being pushed about the grounds by
<v Speaker 1>the gardener in a bath chair. He was well liked
<v Speaker 1>by the few neighbors who called upon him, and he
<v Speaker 1>has the reputation down there of being a very learned man.
<v Speaker 1>His household used to consist of an elderly housekeeper, missus Marker,
<v Speaker 1>and of a maid, Susan Tarlton. These have both been
<v Speaker 1>with him since his arrival, and they seem to be
<v Speaker 1>women of excellent character. The professor is writing a learned book,
<v Speaker 1>and he found it necessary about a year ago to
<v Speaker 1>engage a secretary. The first two that he tried were
<v Speaker 1>not successes, but the third, mister Willoughby Smith, a very
<v Speaker 1>young man straight from the university, seems to have been
<v Speaker 1>just what his employer wanted. His work consisted in writing
<v Speaker 1>all the morning to the Professor's dictation, and he usually
<v Speaker 1>spent the evening in hunting up references and passages which
<v Speaker 1>bore upon the next day's work. This Willoughby Smith has
<v Speaker 1>nothing against him, either as a boy at Uppingham or
<v Speaker 1>as a young man at Cambridge. I have seen his testimonials,
<v Speaker 1>and from the first he was a decent, quiet, hard
<v Speaker 1>working fellow, with no weak spot in him at all.
<v Speaker 1>And yet this is the lad whose met his death
<v Speaker 1>this morning in the Professor's study, under circumstances which can
<v Speaker 1>point only to murder. The wind howled and screamed at
<v Speaker 1>the windows. Holmes and I drew closer to the fire,
<v Speaker 1>while the young inspector slowly and point by point developed
<v Speaker 1>his singular narrative. If you were to search all England
<v Speaker 1>said he, I suppose you could find a household more
<v Speaker 1>self contained or freer from outside influences. Old weeks would
<v Speaker 1>pass and not one of them go past the garden gate.
<v Speaker 1>The professor was buried in his work and existed for
<v Speaker 1>nothing else. Young Smith knew nobody in the neighborhood, and
<v Speaker 1>lived very much as his employer did. The two women
<v Speaker 1>had nothing to take them from the house. Mortimer, the
<v Speaker 1>gardener who wheels the bath chair, is an army pensioner,
<v Speaker 1>an old crimean man of excellent character. He does not
<v Speaker 1>live in the house, but in a three room cottage
<v Speaker 1>at the other end of the garden. Those are the
<v Speaker 1>only people that you'd find within the grounds of Yoxley
<v Speaker 1>Old Place. At the same time, the gate of The
<v Speaker 1>gardener is hundred yards from the main London to Chatham Road.
<v Speaker 1>It opens with a latch and has nothing to prevent
<v Speaker 1>anyone from walking in. Now I'll give it the evidence
<v Speaker 1>of Susan Talton, who's the only person who can say
<v Speaker 1>anything positive about the matter. It was in the forenoon
<v Speaker 1>between eleven and twelve. She was engaged at the moment
<v Speaker 1>in hanging some curtains in the upstairs front bedroom. Professor
<v Speaker 1>Korham was still in bed for when the weather's badd
<v Speaker 1>he seldom rises before midday. The housekeeper was busy with
<v Speaker 1>some work in the back of the house. Willoughby Smith
<v Speaker 1>had been in his bedroom, where he uses as a
<v Speaker 1>sitting room, but the maid heard him at that moment
<v Speaker 1>pass along the passage and descended the study immediately below her.
<v Speaker 1>She did not see him, but she says that she
<v Speaker 1>could not be mistaken in his quick, firm tread. She
<v Speaker 1>did not hear the study door close, but a minute
<v Speaker 1>or so later there was a dreadful cry in the
<v Speaker 1>room below. It was a wild, hoarse scream, so strange
<v Speaker 1>and unnatural that it might have come from either from
<v Speaker 1>a man or a woman. At the same instant, there
<v Speaker 1>was every thud which shook the old house, and then
<v Speaker 1>all was silence. The maid stood petrified for a moment,
<v Speaker 1>and then, recovering her courage, she ran downstairs. The study
<v Speaker 1>door was shut, and she opened it. Inside young mister
<v Speaker 1>Willoughby Smith was stretched upon the floor. At first she
<v Speaker 1>couldn't see no injury, but as she tried to raise him,
<v Speaker 1>she saw that blood was pouring from the underside of
<v Speaker 1>his neck. It was pierced by a very small, but
<v Speaker 1>very deep wound which had divided the carotid artery. The
<v Speaker 1>instrument with which the injury had been inflicted lay upon
<v Speaker 1>the carpet beside him. He was one of those small
<v Speaker 1>sealing wax knives to be found on old fashioned writing tables,
<v Speaker 1>with an ivory handle and a stiff blade. Was part
<v Speaker 1>of the fittings of the professor's own desk. At first,
<v Speaker 1>the maid thought that young Smith was already dead, but
<v Speaker 1>on pouring some water from the carafe over his forehead,
<v Speaker 1>he opened his eyes for an instant. The professor, he murmured,
<v Speaker 1>it was she. The maid is prepared to swear that
<v Speaker 1>those were the exact words. He tried desperately to say
<v Speaker 1>something else, and he held his right hand up in
<v Speaker 1>the air, then he fell back dead. In the meantime,
<v Speaker 1>the housekeeper had also arrived upon the scene, but she
<v Speaker 1>was just too late to catch the young man's dying words.
<v Speaker 1>Leaving Susan with the body, she hurried to the professor's room.
<v Speaker 1>He was sitting up in bed, horribly agitated, for he'd
<v Speaker 1>heard enough to convince him that something terrible had occurred.
<v Speaker 1>Missus Marker is prepared to swear that the Professor was
<v Speaker 1>still in his night clothes, and indeed it was impossible
<v Speaker 1>for him to dress without the help of Mortimer, whose
<v Speaker 1>orders were to come at twelve o'clock. The professor declares
<v Speaker 1>that he heard the distant cry, but that he knows
<v Speaker 1>nothing more. He can give no explanation of the young
<v Speaker 1>man's last words. The professor it was she, but imagines
<v Speaker 1>that they were the outcome of delirium. He believes that
<v Speaker 1>Willoughby Smith has not an enemy in the world, and
<v Speaker 1>could give no reason for the crime. His first action
<v Speaker 1>was to send Mortimer, the gardener for the local police.
<v Speaker 1>A little later, the Chief Constable sent for me. Nothing
<v Speaker 1>was moved before I got there, and strict orders were
<v Speaker 1>given that no one would should walk upon the paths
<v Speaker 1>leading to the house. It was a splendid chance of
<v Speaker 1>putting your theories into practice. Missus to Sherlock Holmes, there
<v Speaker 1>was really nothing wanting except mister Sherlock Holmes, said my companion,
<v Speaker 1>with a somewhat bitter smile. Well, let us hear about it.
<v Speaker 1>What sort of a job did you make of it?
<v Speaker 1>I must ask you, first, mister Elmes, to glance at
<v Speaker 1>this rough plan, which will give you a general idea
<v Speaker 1>of the position of the professor's study and the various
<v Speaker 1>points of the case. It will help you in following
<v Speaker 1>my investigation. He unfolded the rough chart which I here reproduce,
<v Speaker 1>and he laid it across Holmes's knee. I rose, and,
<v Speaker 1>standing behind Holmes, studied it over his shoulder. It is
<v Speaker 1>very rough, of course, and it only deals with the
<v Speaker 1>points which seemed to me to be essential. All the
<v Speaker 1>rest you'll see later for yourself. Now, first of all,
<v Speaker 1>presuming that the assassin entered the house, how did he
<v Speaker 1>or she come in? Undoubtedly by the garden path and
<v Speaker 1>the back door, from which there's a direct access to
<v Speaker 1>the study. The other way would have been exceedingly complicated.
<v Speaker 1>The escape must have also been made along that line.
<v Speaker 1>For of the two other exits from the room, one
<v Speaker 1>was blocked by Susan as she ran downstairs, and the
<v Speaker 1>other leads straight to the professor's bedroom. I therefore directed
<v Speaker 1>my attention at once to the garden path, which was
<v Speaker 1>saturated with recent rain and would certainly show any footmarks.
<v Speaker 1>My examination showed me that I was dealing with a
<v Speaker 1>cautious and expert criminal. No footmarks were to be found
<v Speaker 1>on the path. There could be no question, however, that
<v Speaker 1>someone had passed along the grass border which lines the path,
<v Speaker 1>and that he had done so in order to avoid
<v Speaker 1>leaving a track. I couldn't find anything in the nature
<v Speaker 1>of a distinct impression, but the grass was trodden down,
<v Speaker 1>and someone had undoubtedly passed. It could only have been
<v Speaker 1>the murderer, since neither the gardener nor anyone else had
<v Speaker 1>been there that morning and the rain had only begun
<v Speaker 1>during the night. One moment said Holmes, where does this
<v Speaker 1>path lead to to the road? How long is it?
<v Speaker 1>A hundred yards or so? At the point where the
<v Speaker 1>path passes through the gate, you could surely pick up
<v Speaker 1>the tracks. Unfortunately, the path was tile at that point
<v Speaker 1>well on the road itself. Now it was all trodden
<v Speaker 1>in a maya. Well, then these tracks upon the grass,
<v Speaker 1>were they coming or going? It was impossible to say.
<v Speaker 1>There was never any outline. A large foot or a
<v Speaker 1>small you could not distinguish. Holmes gave an ejaculation of impatience.
<v Speaker 1>It has been pouring rain and blowing a hurricane ever since,
<v Speaker 1>said he. It will be harder to read now than
<v Speaker 1>the palimpsyst. Well, well, it can't be helped. And what
<v Speaker 1>did you do, Hopkins, after you had made certain that
<v Speaker 1>you had made certain of nothing? I think I made
<v Speaker 1>certain of a good deal, Miss ster Omes. I knew
<v Speaker 1>that someone had entered the house cautiously from without. I
<v Speaker 1>next examined the corridor. It is lined with coconut matting,
<v Speaker 1>and had taken no impression of any kind. This brought
<v Speaker 1>me into the study itself. It is a scantily furnished room.
<v Speaker 1>The main article is a large writing table with a
<v Speaker 1>fixed bureau. This bureau consists of a double column of drawers,
<v Speaker 1>with a central small cupboard between them. The drawers were open,
<v Speaker 1>the cupboard locked. The draws, it seems, were always open,
<v Speaker 1>and nothing of value was kept in them. There were
<v Speaker 1>some papers of importance in the cupboard, but there were
<v Speaker 1>no signs that this had been tampered with, and the
<v Speaker 1>professor assures me that nothing was missing. It is certain
<v Speaker 1>that no robbery has been committed. I come now to
<v Speaker 1>the body of the young man. It was found near
<v Speaker 1>the bureau and just to the left of it, as
<v Speaker 1>marked upon that chart. The stab was on the right
<v Speaker 1>side of the neck and from behind forward, so that
<v Speaker 1>it's almost impossible that it could have been self inflicted,
<v Speaker 1>unless he fell upon the knife, said Holmes. Exactly. The
<v Speaker 1>idea crossed my mind, But we found the knife some
<v Speaker 1>feet away from the body, so that seems impossible. Then,
<v Speaker 1>of course there are the man's own dying words. And
<v Speaker 1>finally there was this very important piece of evidence, which
<v Speaker 1>was found clasped in the dead man's right hand. From
<v Speaker 1>his pocket, Stanley Hopkins drew a small paper packet. He
<v Speaker 1>unfolded it and disclosed a golden pans nee with two
<v Speaker 1>broken ends of black silk cord dangling from the end
<v Speaker 1>of it. Willoughby Smith at excellent sight, he added, there
<v Speaker 1>can be no question that this was snatched from the
<v Speaker 1>face of the person of the assassin. Sherlock Holmes took
<v Speaker 1>the glasses into his hand and examined them with the
<v Speaker 1>utmost attention and interest. He held them on his nose,
<v Speaker 1>endeavored to read through them, went to the window and
<v Speaker 1>stared up the street with them, looked at them most
<v Speaker 1>minutely in the full light of the lamp, and finally,
<v Speaker 1>with a chuckle, seated himself at the table and wrote
<v Speaker 1>a few lines upon a sheet of paper, which he
<v Speaker 1>tossed across to Stanley Hopkins. That's the best I can
<v Speaker 1>do for you, said he. It may prove to be
<v Speaker 1>of some use. The astonished detective read the note aloud.
<v Speaker 1>It ran as follows. Wanted a woman of good address,
<v Speaker 1>attired like a lady. She has a remarkably thick nose,
<v Speaker 1>with eyes which are set close upon either side of it.
<v Speaker 1>She has a pucket forehead, appearing expression, and probably rounded shoulders.
<v Speaker 1>There are indications that she has had recourse to an
<v Speaker 1>optician at least twice during the last few months. As
<v Speaker 1>her glasses are of remarkable strength, and as opticians are
<v Speaker 1>not very numerous, there should be no difficulty in tracing her.
<v Speaker 1>Holmes smiled at the astonishment of Hopkins, which must have
<v Speaker 1>been reflected upon my features. Surely my deductions are simplicity itself,
<v Speaker 1>said he, it would be difficult to name any articles
<v Speaker 1>which afford a finer field for inference than a pair
<v Speaker 1>of glasses, especially so remarkable a pair as these, that
<v Speaker 1>they belong to a woman, I infer from their delicacy,
<v Speaker 1>and also, of course from the last words of the
<v Speaker 1>dying man as to her being a person of refinement
<v Speaker 1>and well dressed. They are, as you perceive, handsomely mounted
<v Speaker 1>in solid gold, and it is inconceivable that any one
<v Speaker 1>who wore such glasses could be slatternly. In other respects,
<v Speaker 1>you will find that the clips are too wide for
<v Speaker 1>your nose, showing that the lady's nose was very broad
<v Speaker 1>at the base. This sort of nose is usually a
<v Speaker 1>short and coarse one. But there is a sufficient number
<v Speaker 1>of exceptions to prevent me from being dogmatic or from
<v Speaker 1>insisting upon this point in my description. My own face
<v Speaker 1>is a narrow one, and yet I find that I
<v Speaker 1>cannot get my eyes into the center, nor near the center,
<v Speaker 1>of these glasses. Therefore, the lady's eyes are set very
<v Speaker 1>near to the sides of the nose. You will perceive, Watson,
<v Speaker 1>that the glasses are concave and are unusual strength. A
<v Speaker 1>lady whose vision has been so extremely contracted all her
<v Speaker 1>life is sure to have the physical characteristics of such vision,
<v Speaker 1>which are seen in the forehead, the eyelids, and the shoulders. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>I said, I can follow each of your arguments. I confess, however,
<v Speaker 1>that I am unable to understand how you arrive at
<v Speaker 1>the double visit to the optician. Holmes took the glasses
<v Speaker 1>in his hand. You will perceive he said that the
<v Speaker 1>clips are lined with tiny bands of cork to soften
<v Speaker 1>the pressure upon the nose. One of these is discolored
<v Speaker 1>and worn to some slight extent, but the other is new.
<v Speaker 1>Evidently one has fallen and off and been replaced. I
<v Speaker 1>should judge that the older of them has not been
<v Speaker 1>there for more than a few months. They exactly correspond.
<v Speaker 1>So I gather that the lady went back to the
<v Speaker 1>same establishment for the second by George. It's marvelous, cried Hopkins,
<v Speaker 1>in an ecstasy of admiration, to think that I had
<v Speaker 1>all that evidence in my end and never knew it.
<v Speaker 1>I had intended hour to go the round of the
<v Speaker 1>London opticians. Of course you would, meanwhile, have you anything
<v Speaker 1>more to tell us about the case? Nothing, mister Olmes.
<v Speaker 1>I think that you know as much as I do now,
<v Speaker 1>probably more. We have had inquiries made as to any
<v Speaker 1>stranger scene on the country roads or at the railway station.
<v Speaker 1>We have heard of none. What beats me is the
<v Speaker 1>ather want of all object in the crime, not a
<v Speaker 1>ghost of a motive. Can any one suggest ah there?
<v Speaker 1>I am not in a position to help you, but
<v Speaker 1>I suppose you want us to come out out to morrow.
<v Speaker 1>If it's not asking too much, mister Elmes. There's a
<v Speaker 1>train from charing Cross to cham at six in the morning,
<v Speaker 1>and we should be at Yoxley Owl Place between eight
<v Speaker 1>and nine. Then we shall take it. Your case has
<v Speaker 1>certainly some features of great interest, and I shall be
<v Speaker 1>delighted to look into it. Well, it's nearly one and
<v Speaker 1>we had best get a few hours sleep. I dare
<v Speaker 1>say you can manage all right on the sofa in
<v Speaker 1>front of the fire. I'll light my spirit lamp and
<v Speaker 1>give you a cup of coffee before we start. The
<v Speaker 1>gale had blown itself out next day, but it was
<v Speaker 1>a bitter morning when we started upon our journey. We
<v Speaker 1>saw the cold winter sun rise over the dreary marshes
<v Speaker 1>of the Thames and the long sullen reaches of the river,
<v Speaker 1>which I shall ever associate with our pursuit of the
<v Speaker 1>Anderman Islander. In the earlier days of our career, after
<v Speaker 1>a long and weary journey, we alighted at a small
<v Speaker 1>station some miles from Chatham. While the horse was being
<v Speaker 1>put into a trap at the local inn, we snatched
<v Speaker 1>a hurried breakfast, and so we were all ready for
<v Speaker 1>the business. When we at last arrived at Yoxley Old Place.
<v Speaker 1>A constable met us at the garden gate, Well Wilson,
<v Speaker 1>any news, no, sir, nothing, No reports of any stranger scene,
<v Speaker 1>no sir. Down at the station, they're certain that no
<v Speaker 1>stranger either came or went yesterday. Have you had any
<v Speaker 1>inquiries made at inns and lodgings, Yes, sir, there is
<v Speaker 1>no one we cannot account for. Well, it's only a
<v Speaker 1>reasonable walk to Chatham. Any one might stay there or
<v Speaker 1>take a train without being observed. This is the garden
<v Speaker 1>path of which I spoke, mister Ohms. I'll pledge my
<v Speaker 1>word that there was no mark on it yesterday. On
<v Speaker 1>Which side were the marks on the grass? This side, sir,
<v Speaker 1>This narrow margin of grass between the path and the
<v Speaker 1>flower bed. I can't see the traces now, but they
<v Speaker 1>were clear to me. Then, Yes, yes, some one has
<v Speaker 1>passed along, said Holmes, stooping over the grass border. Our
<v Speaker 1>lady must have picked her steps carefully, must she not,
<v Speaker 1>since on the one side she would leave a track
<v Speaker 1>on the path, and on the other an even clearer
<v Speaker 1>one on the soft bed. Yes, sir, she must have
<v Speaker 1>been a cool hand. I saw an intent look pass
<v Speaker 1>over Holmes's face. You say that she must have come
<v Speaker 1>back this way, Yes, sir, there is no other on
<v Speaker 1>this strip of grass. Certainly, Miss raumes Hum. It was
<v Speaker 1>a very remarkable performance. Very remarkable. Well, I think we've
<v Speaker 1>exhausted the path. Let us go farther. This garden door
<v Speaker 1>is usually kept open. I suppose then this visitor had
<v Speaker 1>nothing to do but to walk in, the idea of
<v Speaker 1>murder was not in her mind, or she would have
<v Speaker 1>provided herself with some sort of weapon instead of having
<v Speaker 1>to pick this knife off the writing table. She advanced
<v Speaker 1>along this corridor, leaving no traces upon the coconut matting.
<v Speaker 1>Then she found herself in this study. How long was
<v Speaker 1>she there? We have no means of judging, not more
<v Speaker 1>than a few minutes. Sir, I forgot to tell you
<v Speaker 1>that Missus Marker, the housekeeper, had been in there tidying
<v Speaker 1>not very long before, about a quarter of an hour.
<v Speaker 1>She says, well, that gives us a limit. Our lady
<v Speaker 1>enters this room and what does she do? She goes
<v Speaker 1>over to the writing table. What for? Not for anything
<v Speaker 1>in the drawers. If there had been anything worth her taking,
<v Speaker 1>it would surely have been locked up. No, it was
<v Speaker 1>for something in that wooden bureau. Hello, what is that
<v Speaker 1>scratch upon the face of it? Just hold him, match Watson,
<v Speaker 1>Why did you not tell me of this? Hopkins? The
<v Speaker 1>mark which she was examining, began upon the brass work
<v Speaker 1>on the right hand side of the keyhole and extended
<v Speaker 1>for about four inches where it had scratched the varnish
<v Speaker 1>from the surface. I noticed it, mister Elmes. But you'll
<v Speaker 1>always find scratches around a keyhole. This is recent, quite recent.
<v Speaker 1>See how the brass shines where it is cut. An
<v Speaker 1>old scratch will be the same color as the surface.
<v Speaker 1>Look at it through my lens. There's the varnish too,
<v Speaker 1>like earth. On each side of a furrow is missus Marker.
<v Speaker 1>There a sad faced elderly woman came into the room.
<v Speaker 1>Did you dust this bureau yesterday morning? Yes, sir, did
<v Speaker 1>you notice this scratch? No, sir, I did not. I
<v Speaker 1>am sure you didn't, for a duster would have swept
<v Speaker 1>away those shreds of varnish. Who has the key of
<v Speaker 1>this bureau? If Professor keeps it on his watch chain.
<v Speaker 1>Is it a simple key? Oh, sir, it's a chubb key.
<v Speaker 1>Very good, missus Marker. You can go now. We are
<v Speaker 1>making a little progress. Our lady enters the room, advances
<v Speaker 1>to the bureau, and either opens it or tries to
<v Speaker 1>do so. While she is thus engaged, Young Willoughby Smith
<v Speaker 1>enters the room. In her hurry to withdraw the key,
<v Speaker 1>she makes this scratch upon the door. He seizes her,
<v Speaker 1>and she, snatching up the nearest object, which happens to
<v Speaker 1>be this knife, strikes at him in order to make
<v Speaker 1>him let go his hold. The blow is a fatal one.
<v Speaker 1>He falls, and she escapes, either with or without. The
<v Speaker 1>object for which she has come is Susan the maid.
<v Speaker 1>There could any one have got away through that door
<v Speaker 1>after the time that you heard the cry Susan, No, sir,
<v Speaker 1>it is impossible. Before I get down the stairs and
<v Speaker 1>have seen any one in the passage. Besides, the door
<v Speaker 1>never opened, or I would have heard it. That settles
<v Speaker 1>this exit. Then, no doubt the lady went out the
<v Speaker 1>way she came. I understand that this other passage leads
<v Speaker 1>only to the professor's room. There is no exit that way. No, sir,
<v Speaker 1>we shall go down it and make the acquaintance of
<v Speaker 1>the professor. Hello, Hopkins, this is very important, very important. Indeed,
<v Speaker 1>the professor's corridor is also lined with cocoanut matting. Well, sir,
<v Speaker 1>what of that? Don't you see any bearing upon the case? Well, well,
<v Speaker 1>I don't insist upon it. No doubt I am wrong,
<v Speaker 1>And yet it seems to me to be suggestive. Come
<v Speaker 1>with me and introduce me. We passed down the passage,
<v Speaker 1>which was of the same length as that which were
<v Speaker 1>led to the garden. At the end was a short
<v Speaker 1>flight of steps ending in a door. Our guide knocked
<v Speaker 1>and then shushered us into the professor's bedroom. It was
<v Speaker 1>a very large chamber, lined with innumerable volumes which had
<v Speaker 1>overflowed from the shelves and lay in piles in the corners,
<v Speaker 1>or were stacked all round at the base of the cases.
<v Speaker 1>The bed was in the center of the room, and
<v Speaker 1>in it, propped up with pillows, was the owner of
<v Speaker 1>the house. I have seldom seen a more remarkable looking person.
<v Speaker 1>It was a gaunt, aquiline face, which was turned towards us,
<v Speaker 1>with piercing dark eyes, which lurked in deep hollows under
<v Speaker 1>overhung and tufted brows. His hair and beard were white,
<v Speaker 1>save that the latter was curiously stained with yellow. Around
<v Speaker 1>his mouth, a cigarette glowed amid the tangle of white hair,
<v Speaker 1>and the air of the room was feted with stale
<v Speaker 1>tobacco smoke. As he held out his hand to Holmes,
<v Speaker 1>I perceived that it was also stained with yellow nicotine.
<v Speaker 1>A smoker, mister Holmes said, he speaking in well chosen
<v Speaker 1>English with a curious, little mincing accent. Pray, take a cigarette,
<v Speaker 1>and de sir, I can recommend them, for I have
<v Speaker 1>especially prepared by iron IDs of Alexandria. He sends me
<v Speaker 1>a thousand at a time, and I grieve to say
<v Speaker 1>that I have to arrange for a fresh supply every fortnight. Bad, sir,
<v Speaker 1>very bad. But an old man has few pleasures. Tobacco
<v Speaker 1>and my work. That is all that is left to me.
<v Speaker 1>Holmes had lit a cigarette and was shooting little darting
<v Speaker 1>glances all over the room. Tobacco and my work, but
<v Speaker 1>now only tobacco. The old man exclaimed, alas, what a
<v Speaker 1>fatal interruption. Who could have foreseen such a terrible catastrophe?
<v Speaker 1>So estimable a young man. I assure you that, after
<v Speaker 1>a few months training he was an admirable assistant. What
<v Speaker 1>do you think of the matter, mister Holmes, I have
<v Speaker 1>not yet made up my mind. I shall indeed be
<v Speaker 1>indebted to you if you can throw a light where
<v Speaker 1>all is so dark to us, to a poor bookworm
<v Speaker 1>and invalid like myself, such a blow is paralyzing. I
<v Speaker 1>seem to have lost the faculty of the But you
<v Speaker 1>are a man of action. You are a man of affairs.
<v Speaker 1>It is part of the everyday routine of your life.
<v Speaker 1>You can preserve your balance in every emergency. We are fortunate, indeed,
<v Speaker 1>in having you at our side. Holmes was pacing up
<v Speaker 1>and down one side of the room whilst the old
<v Speaker 1>professor was talking. I observed that he was smoking with
<v Speaker 1>extraordinary rapidity. It was evident that he shared our host's
<v Speaker 1>liking for the fresh Alexandrian cigarettes. Yes, sir, it is
<v Speaker 1>a crushing blow, said the old man. That is my
<v Speaker 1>magnum opus, the pile of papers on the side table.
<v Speaker 1>Yonder it is my analysis of the documents found in
<v Speaker 1>the Coptic monasteries of Syria and Egypt, a work which
<v Speaker 1>will cut deep at the very foundation of revealed religion.
<v Speaker 1>With my enfeebled health, I do not know whether I
<v Speaker 1>shall ever be able to complete it, now that my
<v Speaker 1>assistant has been taken from me. Dear me, mister Holmes,
<v Speaker 1>why you are even a quicker smoker than I am myself?
<v Speaker 1>Holmes smiled. I am a connoisseur, said he, taking another
<v Speaker 1>cigarette from the box, his fourth, and lighting it from
<v Speaker 1>the stub of that which he had finished. I will
<v Speaker 1>not trouble you with any lengthy cross examination, Professor Korham,
<v Speaker 1>since I gathered that you were in bed at the
<v Speaker 1>time of the crime and could know nothing about it.
<v Speaker 1>I would only ask this, what do you imagine that
<v Speaker 1>this poor fellow meant by his last words, the professor?
<v Speaker 1>It was she? The professor shook his head. Susan is
<v Speaker 1>a country girl, said he, And you know the incredible
<v Speaker 1>stupidity of that class. I fancy that the poor fellow
<v Speaker 1>murmured some incoherent, delirious words, and that she twisted them
<v Speaker 1>into this meaningless message. I see you have no explanation
<v Speaker 1>yourself of the tragedy. Possibly an accident, possibly I only
<v Speaker 1>we breathe it among ourselves as suicide. Young men have
<v Speaker 1>their hidden troubles, some affair of the heart, perhaps which
<v Speaker 1>we have never known. It is a more probable surposition
<v Speaker 1>and murder. But the eyeglasses, ah, I am only a student,
<v Speaker 1>a man of dreams. I cannot explain the practical things
<v Speaker 1>of life. But still we are aware, my friend, that
<v Speaker 1>love gauges may take strange shapes by all means. Take
<v Speaker 1>another cigarette. It is a pleasure to see anyone appreciate them.
<v Speaker 1>So a fan, a glove, glasses, who knows what article
<v Speaker 1>may be carried as a token or treasured when a
<v Speaker 1>man puts an end to his life. This gentleman speaks
<v Speaker 1>of footsteps in the grass. But after all, it is
<v Speaker 1>easy to be mistaken on such a point as to
<v Speaker 1>the knife. It might well be thrown far from the
<v Speaker 1>unfortunate man as he fell. It is possible that I
<v Speaker 1>speak as a child, But to me it seems that
<v Speaker 1>Willoughby Smith has met his fate by his own hand.
<v Speaker 1>Holmes seemed struck by the theory thus put forward, and
<v Speaker 1>he continued to walk up and down for some time,
<v Speaker 1>lost in thought and consuming cigarette after cigarette. Tell me,
<v Speaker 1>Professor Korum, he said, at last, what is in that
<v Speaker 1>cupboard in the bureau. Nothing that would help a thief family? Papers?
<v Speaker 1>Let us from my poor wife, diplomas of universities which
<v Speaker 1>have done me honor. Here is the key. You can
<v Speaker 1>look for yourself. Holmes picked up the key and looked
<v Speaker 1>at it for an instant, then he handed it back. No,
<v Speaker 1>I hardly think that it would help me, said he.
<v Speaker 1>I should prefer to go quietly down to your garden
<v Speaker 1>and turn the whole matter over in my head. There
<v Speaker 1>is something to be said for the theory of suicide
<v Speaker 1>which you have put forward. We must apologize for having
<v Speaker 1>intruded upon you, Professor Koram, and I promise that we
<v Speaker 1>won't disturb you until after lunch at two o'clock. We
<v Speaker 1>will come again and report to you anything which may
<v Speaker 1>have happened in the interval. Holmes was curiously distray, and
<v Speaker 1>we walked up and down the garden path for some
<v Speaker 1>time in silence. Have your clue, I asked at last,
<v Speaker 1>It depends upon those cigarettes that I smoked, said he.
<v Speaker 1>It is possible that I am utterly mistaken. The cigarettes.
<v Speaker 1>Will show me, my dear Holmes, I exclaimed, how on earth? Well, well,
<v Speaker 1>you may see for yourself. If not, there's no harm done.
<v Speaker 1>Of course, we always have the optician clue to fall
<v Speaker 1>back upon, but I take a short cut when I
<v Speaker 1>can get it. Ah, here is the good missus marker.
<v Speaker 1>Let us enjoy five minutes of instructive conversation with her.
<v Speaker 1>I may have remarked before that Holmes had, when he liked,
<v Speaker 1>a peculiarly ingratiating way with women, and that he very
<v Speaker 1>readily established her of confidence with them. In half the
<v Speaker 1>time which he had named, he had captured the housekeeper's
<v Speaker 1>good will and was chatting with her as if he
<v Speaker 1>had known her for years. Yes, mister Elmes, it is
<v Speaker 1>as you say, sir. He does smoke something terrible all
<v Speaker 1>day and sometimes all night. Sir, I've seen that room
<v Speaker 1>of a morning, Well, sir, he'd have thought it was
<v Speaker 1>a London fog. Poor young mister Smith. And he was
<v Speaker 1>a smoker also, but not as bad as a professor
<v Speaker 1>his health. Well, I don't know that it's better nor worse.
<v Speaker 1>For the smoking, ah, said Holmes, But it kills the appetite. Well,
<v Speaker 1>I don't know about that, sir. I suppose the Professor
<v Speaker 1>eats hardly anything. Well, he is variable. I'll say that
<v Speaker 1>for him. I'll wager he took no breakfast this morning
<v Speaker 1>and won't face his lunch after all the cigarettes I
<v Speaker 1>saw him consume. Well, you're out there, sir, as it happens,
<v Speaker 1>for he ate a remarkable big breakfast this morning. I
<v Speaker 1>don't know when I've known him to make a better one,
<v Speaker 1>and he's ordered a good dish of cutlets for the lunch.
<v Speaker 1>I'm surprised myself, for since I came into that room
<v Speaker 1>yesterday and saw young mister Smith lying there on the floor,
<v Speaker 1>I couldn't bear to look at food. Well, it takes
<v Speaker 1>all sorts to make a world, and the Professor hasn't
<v Speaker 1>let it take his appetite away. We loitered the morning
<v Speaker 1>away in the garden. Stanley Hopkins had gone down to
<v Speaker 1>the village to look into some rumors of a strange
<v Speaker 1>woman who had been seen by some children on the
<v Speaker 1>Chatham Road the previous morning. As to my friend, all
<v Speaker 1>his usual energy seemed to have deserted him. I'd never
<v Speaker 1>known him handler case in such a half hearted fashion.
<v Speaker 1>Even the news brought back by Hopkins that he had
<v Speaker 1>found the children and that they had undoubtedly seen a
<v Speaker 1>woman exactly corresponding with Holmes's description and wearing either spectacles
<v Speaker 1>or eye glasses, failed to rouse any sign of keen interest.
<v Speaker 1>He was more attentive when Susan, who waited upon us
<v Speaker 1>at lunch, volunteered the information that she believed mister Smith
<v Speaker 1>had been out for a walk yesterday morning, and that
<v Speaker 1>he had only returned half an hour before the tragedy occurred.
<v Speaker 1>I could not myself see the bearing of this incident,
<v Speaker 1>but I clearly perceived that Holmes was weaving it into
<v Speaker 1>the general scheme which he had formed in his brain. Suddenly,
<v Speaker 1>he sprang from his chair and glanced at his watch.
<v Speaker 1>Two o'clock. Gentlemen said he we must go up and
<v Speaker 1>have it out with our friend the professor. The old
<v Speaker 1>man had just finished his lunch, and certainly his empty
<v Speaker 1>dish bore evidence to the good appetite with which his
<v Speaker 1>housekeeper had credited him. He was indeed a weird figure.
<v Speaker 1>As he turned his white mane and his glowing eyes
<v Speaker 1>towards us. The eternal cigarette smoldered in his mouth. He
<v Speaker 1>had been dressed and was seated in an arm chair
<v Speaker 1>by the fire. Well, mister Holmes, have you solved this mystery? Yet?
<v Speaker 1>He shoved a large tin of cigarett, which stood on
<v Speaker 1>a table beside him, towards my companion. Holmes stretched out
<v Speaker 1>his hand at the same moment, and between them they
<v Speaker 1>tipped the box over the edge. For a minute or two,
<v Speaker 1>we were all on our knees retrieving stray cigarettes from
<v Speaker 1>impossible places. When we rose again, I observed Holmes's eyes
<v Speaker 1>were shining and his cheeks tinged with color. Only at
<v Speaker 1>a crisis. Have I seen those battle signals flying? Yes,
<v Speaker 1>said he, I have solved it. Stanley Hopkins, and I
<v Speaker 1>stared in amazement. Something like a sneer quivered over the
<v Speaker 1>gaunt features of the old professor. Indeed in the garden.
<v Speaker 1>No here here, when this instant you are surely joking,
<v Speaker 1>mister Sherlock Holmes. You compel me to tell you that
<v Speaker 1>this is too serious a matter to be treated in
<v Speaker 1>such a fashion. I have four and tested every link
<v Speaker 1>of my chain, Professor Korham, and I am sure that
<v Speaker 1>it is sound. What your motives are, or what exact
<v Speaker 1>part you play in this strange business. I am not
<v Speaker 1>yet able to say. In a few minutes, I shall
<v Speaker 1>probably hear it from your own lips. Meanwhile, I will
<v Speaker 1>reconstruct what is past for your benefit, so that you
<v Speaker 1>may know the information which I still require. A lady
<v Speaker 1>yesterday entered your study. She came with the intention of
<v Speaker 1>possessing herself of certain documents which were in your bureau.
<v Speaker 1>She had a key of her own. I have had
<v Speaker 1>an opportunity of examining yours, and I do not find
<v Speaker 1>that slight discoloration which the scratch made upon the varnish
<v Speaker 1>would have produced. You were not an accessary therefore, and
<v Speaker 1>she came so far as I can read the evidence
<v Speaker 1>without your knowledge, to rob you. The Professor blew a
<v Speaker 1>cloud from his lips. This is most interesting and instructive,
<v Speaker 1>said he have you no more to add. Surely, having
<v Speaker 1>traced this lady so far, you can also say what
<v Speaker 1>has become of her. I will endeavor to do so.
<v Speaker 1>In the first place, she was seized by your secretary
<v Speaker 1>and stabbed him in order to escape this catastrophe. I
<v Speaker 1>am inclined to regard as an unhappy accident, For I
<v Speaker 1>am convinced that the lady had no intention of inflicting
<v Speaker 1>so grievous an injury. An assassin does not come unarmed.
<v Speaker 1>Horrified by what she had done, she rushed wildly away
<v Speaker 1>from the scene of the tragedy. Unfortunately for her, she
<v Speaker 1>had lost her glasses in the scuffle, and as she
<v Speaker 1>was extremely short sighted, she was really helpless without them.
<v Speaker 1>She ran down a corridor which she imagined to be
<v Speaker 1>that by which she had come. Both were lined with
<v Speaker 1>coconut matting, and it was only when it was too
<v Speaker 1>late that she understood that she had taken the wrong passage,
<v Speaker 1>and that her retreat was cut off behind her. What
<v Speaker 1>was she to do? She could not go back, she
<v Speaker 1>could not remain where she was. She must go on.
<v Speaker 1>She went on. She mounted a stair, pushed open a door,
<v Speaker 1>and found herself in your room. The old man sat
<v Speaker 1>with his mouth open, staring wildly at homes. Amazement and
<v Speaker 1>fear were stamped upon his expressive features. Now, with an effort,
<v Speaker 1>he shrugged his shoulders and burst into insincere laughter. All
<v Speaker 1>very fine, mister Holmes, said he. But there is one
<v Speaker 1>little floor in your splendid theory. I was myself in
<v Speaker 1>my room, and I never left it during the day.
<v Speaker 1>I am aware of that, Professor Coorham. And you mean
<v Speaker 1>to say that I could be upon that bed and
<v Speaker 1>not to be aware that a woman had entered my room.
<v Speaker 1>I never said so. You were aware of it. You
<v Speaker 1>spoke with her, You recognized her, You aided her to escape. Again,
<v Speaker 1>the ffessor burst into high keyed laughter. He had risen
<v Speaker 1>to his feet, and his eyes glowed like embers. You
<v Speaker 1>are mad, he cried, You are talking insanely. I helped
<v Speaker 1>her to escape. Where is she now? She is there,
<v Speaker 1>said Holmes, and he pointed to a high bookcase in
<v Speaker 1>the corner of the room. I saw the old man
<v Speaker 1>throw up his arms. A terrible convulsion passed over his
<v Speaker 1>grim face, and he fell back in his chair. At
<v Speaker 1>the same instant, the bookcase at which Holmes pointed swung
<v Speaker 1>round upon a hinge, and a woman rushed out into
<v Speaker 1>the room. You are right, she cried, in a strange
<v Speaker 1>foreign voice. You are right. I am here. She was
<v Speaker 1>brown with the dust and draped with the cobwebs which
<v Speaker 1>had come from the walls of her hiding place. Her face, too,
<v Speaker 1>was streaked with grime and at the best, she could
<v Speaker 1>never have been handsome, for she had the exact physical
<v Speaker 1>characteristics which Holmes had divined, with in addition a long
<v Speaker 1>and obstinate chin. What with her natural blindness, and what
<v Speaker 1>with the change from dark to light, she stood as
<v Speaker 1>one dazed, blinking about her to see where and who
<v Speaker 1>we were. And yet in spite of all these disadvantages,
<v Speaker 1>there was a certain nobility in the woman's bearing, a
<v Speaker 1>gallantry in the defiant chin and in the upraised head
<v Speaker 1>which compelled something of respect and admiration. Stanley Hopkins had
<v Speaker 1>laid his hand upon her arm and claimed her as
<v Speaker 1>his prisoner, but she waved him aside, gently, and yet
<v Speaker 1>with an overmastering dignity which compelled obedience. The old man
<v Speaker 1>lay back in his chair with a twitching face and
<v Speaker 1>stared at her with brooding eyes. Yes, sir, I am
<v Speaker 1>your prisoner, she said. From where I stood, I could
<v Speaker 1>hear everything, and I know that you have learned the truth.
<v Speaker 1>I confess it all. It was I who killed the
<v Speaker 1>young man. But you are right you say it was
<v Speaker 1>an accident. I did not even know that it was
<v Speaker 1>a knife which I held in my hand, for in
<v Speaker 1>my despair I snatched anything from the table and struck
<v Speaker 1>at him to make him let me go. It is
<v Speaker 1>the truth that I tell, madam, said Holmes. I am
<v Speaker 1>sure that it is the truth. I fear that you
<v Speaker 1>are far from well. She had turned the dreadful color
<v Speaker 1>the more ghastly. Under the dark dust streaks upon her face.
<v Speaker 1>She seated herself on the side of the bed. Then
<v Speaker 1>she resumed. I have only a little time here, she said,
<v Speaker 1>But I would have you know the whole truth. I
<v Speaker 1>am this man's wife. He is not an Englishman, he
<v Speaker 1>is a Russian. His name I will not tell. For
<v Speaker 1>the first time, the old man stirred. God bless you, Anna,
<v Speaker 1>he cried, God bless you. She cast a look at
<v Speaker 1>the deepest disdain in his direction. Why should you cling
<v Speaker 1>so hard to that wretched life of yours, Sergius, said she.
<v Speaker 1>It has done harm too many, and good to none,
<v Speaker 1>not even to yourself. However, it is not for me
<v Speaker 1>to cause the frail thread to be snapped before God's time.
<v Speaker 1>I have enough already upon my soul since I crossed
<v Speaker 1>the threshold of this cursed house. But I must speak
<v Speaker 1>or I shall be too late. I have said, gentlemen
<v Speaker 1>that I am this man's wife. He was fifty and
<v Speaker 1>I a foolish girl of twenty. When we are married.
<v Speaker 1>It was in a city of Russia, a university. I
<v Speaker 1>will not name the place. God bless you, Anna, murmured
<v Speaker 1>the old man again. We were reformers, revolutionists, nihilists, you understand,
<v Speaker 1>he and I and many more. Then there came a
<v Speaker 1>time of trouble. A police officer was killed, many were arrested.
<v Speaker 1>Evidence was wanted, and in order to save his own
<v Speaker 1>life and to earn a great reward, my husband betrayed
<v Speaker 1>his own wife and his companions. Yes, we were all
<v Speaker 1>arrested upon his confession. Some of us found our way
<v Speaker 1>to the gallows, and some to Siberia. I was among
<v Speaker 1>these last. But my term was not for life. My
<v Speaker 1>husband came to England with his ill gotten gains and
<v Speaker 1>has lived in quiet ever since, knowing well that if
<v Speaker 1>the Brotherhood knew where he was, not a week would
<v Speaker 1>pass before justice would be done. The old man reached
<v Speaker 1>out a trembling hand and helped himself to a cigarette.
<v Speaker 1>I am in your hands, Anna, said he. You were
<v Speaker 1>always good to me. I have not yet told you
<v Speaker 1>the height of his villainy, said she among our comrades
<v Speaker 1>of the order, there was one who was the friend
<v Speaker 1>of my heart. He was noble, unselfish, loving all that
<v Speaker 1>my husband was not. He hated violence. We were all guilty,
<v Speaker 1>if that is guilt, but he was not. He wrote forever,
<v Speaker 1>dissuading us from such a course. These letters would have
<v Speaker 1>saved him. So would my diary, in which from to
<v Speaker 1>day I had entered both my feelings towards him and
<v Speaker 1>the view which each of us had taken. My husband
<v Speaker 1>found and kept both diary and letters. He hid them,
<v Speaker 1>and he tried hard to swear away the young man's life.
<v Speaker 1>In this he failed. But Alexis was sent a convict
<v Speaker 1>to Siberia, where now, at this moment he works in
<v Speaker 1>a salt mine. Think of that, you villain, You villain.
<v Speaker 1>Now now, at this very moment, Alexis a man whose
<v Speaker 1>name you are not worthy to speak, works and lives
<v Speaker 1>like a slave. And yet I have your life in
<v Speaker 1>my hands, and I let you go. You were always
<v Speaker 1>a noble woman, Anna, said the old man, puffing at
<v Speaker 1>his cigaret. She had risen, but she fell back again
<v Speaker 1>with a little cry of pain. I must finish, she said,
<v Speaker 1>when my term was over. I set myself to get
<v Speaker 1>the diary and letters, which, if sent to the Russian government,
<v Speaker 1>would procure my friend's release. I knew that my husband
<v Speaker 1>had come to England. After months of searching, I discovered
<v Speaker 1>where he was. I knew that he still had the diary,
<v Speaker 1>for when I was in Siberia. I had a letter
<v Speaker 1>from him, once reproaching me and quoting some passages from
<v Speaker 1>his pages. Yet I was sure that with his revengeful nature,
<v Speaker 1>he would never give it to me of his own
<v Speaker 1>free will. I must get it for myself. With this object,
<v Speaker 1>I engaged an agent from a private detective firm who
<v Speaker 1>entered my husband's house as a secretary. It was your
<v Speaker 1>second secretary, Seergus, the one who left you so hurriedly.
<v Speaker 1>He found that papers were kept in the cupboard, and
<v Speaker 1>he got an impression of the key. He would not
<v Speaker 1>go farther. He furnished me with a plan of the house,
<v Speaker 1>and he told me that in the forenoon the study
<v Speaker 1>was always empty, as the secretary was employed up here.
<v Speaker 1>So at last I took my courage in both hands
<v Speaker 1>and I came down to get the papers for myself.
<v Speaker 1>I succeeded, but at what a cost. I had just
<v Speaker 1>taken the paper and was locking the cupboard when the
<v Speaker 1>young man seized me. I had seen him already that morning.
<v Speaker 1>He had met me on the road, and I had
<v Speaker 1>asked him to tell me where Professor Koram lived, not
<v Speaker 1>knowing that he was in his employ Exactly exactly, said Holmes.
<v Speaker 1>The secretary came back and told his employer of the
<v Speaker 1>woman he had met. Then, in his last breath, he
<v Speaker 1>tried to send a message that it was she, the
<v Speaker 1>she whom he had just discussed with him. You must
<v Speaker 1>let me speak, said the woman, in an imperative voice,
<v Speaker 1>and her face contracted as if in pain. When he
<v Speaker 1>had fallen, I rushed from room, chose the wrong door,
<v Speaker 1>and found myself in my husband's room. He spoke of
<v Speaker 1>giving me up. I showed him that if he did so,
<v Speaker 1>his life was in my hands. If he gave me
<v Speaker 1>to the law, I could give him to the brotherhood.
<v Speaker 1>It was not that I wished to live for my
<v Speaker 1>own sake, but it was that I desired to accomplish
<v Speaker 1>my purpose. He knew that I would do what I said,
<v Speaker 1>that his own fate was involved in mine. For that
<v Speaker 1>reason and for no other, he shielded me. He thrust
<v Speaker 1>me into that dark hiding place, a relic of old
<v Speaker 1>days known only to himself. He took his meals in
<v Speaker 1>his own room, and so was able to give me
<v Speaker 1>part of his food. It was agreed that when the
<v Speaker 1>police left the house, I should slip away by night
<v Speaker 1>and come back no more. But in some way you
<v Speaker 1>have read our plans. She tore from the bosom of
<v Speaker 1>her dress a small packet. These are my last words,
<v Speaker 1>said she. Here is the packet which will save Alexis.
<v Speaker 1>I confide it to your honor and to your love
<v Speaker 1>of justice. Take it. You will deliver it at the
<v Speaker 1>Russian embassy. Now I have done my duty, and stop her,
<v Speaker 1>cried Holmes. He had bounded across the room and had
<v Speaker 1>wrenched a small file from her hand. Too late, she said,
<v Speaker 1>sinking back on the bed. Too late, I took the
<v Speaker 1>poison before I left my hiding place. My head swims.
<v Speaker 1>I am going. I charged you, sir, to remember the packet.
<v Speaker 1>A simple case, and yet in some ways an instructive one,
<v Speaker 1>Holmes remarked. As we traveled back to town. It hinged
<v Speaker 1>from the outset upon the pansnee. But for the unfortunate
<v Speaker 1>chance of the dying man having seized these, I am
<v Speaker 1>not sure that we could have ever reached our solution.
<v Speaker 1>It was clear to me from the strength of the
<v Speaker 1>glasses that the wearer must have been very blind and
<v Speaker 1>helpless when deprived of them. When you asked me to
<v Speaker 1>believe that she walked along a narrow strip of grass
<v Speaker 1>without once making a false step, I remarked, as you
<v Speaker 1>may remember, that it was a noteworthy performance. In my mind,
<v Speaker 1>I set it down as an impossible performance, save in
<v Speaker 1>the unlikely case that she had a second pair of glasses.
<v Speaker 1>I was forced therefore to consider seriously the hypothesis that
<v Speaker 1>she had remained within the house. On perceiving the similarity
<v Speaker 1>of the two corridors, it became clear that she might
<v Speaker 1>very easily have made such a mistake, and in that
<v Speaker 1>case it was evident that she must have entered the
<v Speaker 1>professor's room. I was keenly on the alert therefore, for
<v Speaker 1>whatever would bear out this supposition, and I examined the
<v Speaker 1>room narrowly for anything in the shape of a hiding place.
<v Speaker 1>The carpet seemed continuous and firmly nailed, so I dismissed
<v Speaker 1>the idea of a track door. There might well be
<v Speaker 1>a recess behind the books. As you are aware, such
<v Speaker 1>devices are common in old libraries. I observed that books
<v Speaker 1>were piled on the floor at all other points, but
<v Speaker 1>that one bookcase was left clear. This then might be
<v Speaker 1>the door. I could see no marks to guide me,
<v Speaker 1>but the carpet was of a dun color, which lends
<v Speaker 1>itself very well to examination. I therefore smoked a great
<v Speaker 1>number of those excellent cigarettes, and I dropped the ash
<v Speaker 1>all over the space in front of the suspected bookcase.
<v Speaker 1>It was a simple trick, but exceedingly effective. I then
<v Speaker 1>went downstairs and I ascertained, in your presence, Watson, without
<v Speaker 1>your perceiving the drift of my remarks, that Professor Coreham's
<v Speaker 1>consumption of food had increased, as one would expect when
<v Speaker 1>he is supplying a second person. We then ascended to
<v Speaker 1>the room again, when by upsetting the cigarette box, I
<v Speaker 1>obtained a very excellent view of the floor, and was
<v Speaker 1>able to see quite clearly from the traces upon the
<v Speaker 1>cigarette ash, that the prisoner had, in our absence, come
<v Speaker 1>out from her retreat. Well, Hopkins, here we are at
<v Speaker 1>Charing Cross, and I congratulate you on having brought your
<v Speaker 1>case to a successful conclusion. You are going to headquarters,
<v Speaker 1>no doubt, I think, Watson, you and I will drive
<v Speaker 1>together to the Russian Embassy. End of the Adventure of
<v Speaker 1>the Golden Pansney.