THE COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES

                         THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES


                       THE ADVENTURE OF THE ABBEY GRANGE

IT WAS on a bitterly cold night and frosty morning, towards the end of the
winter of '97, that I was awakened by a tugging at my shoulder.  It was
Holmes.  The candle in his hand shone upon his eager, stooping face, and told
me at a glance that something was amiss.
     "Come, Watson, come!" he cried.  "The game is afoot.  Not a word!  Into
your clothes and come!"
     Ten minutes later we were both in a cab, and rattling through the silent
streets on our way to Charing Cross Station.  The first faint winter's dawn
was beginning to appear, and we could dimly see the occasional figure of an
early workman as he passed us, blurred and indistinct in the opalescent London
reek.  Holmes nestled in silence into his heavy coat, and I was glad to do the
same, for the air was most bitter, and neither of us had broken our fast.
     It was not until we had consumed some hot tea at the station and taken
our places in the Kentish train that we were sufficiently thawed, he to speak
and I to listen.  Holmes drew a note from his pocket, and read aloud:

                                           'Abbey Grange, Marsham, Kent,
                                                               '3:30 A.M.
          'MY DEAR MR. HOLMES:
               I should be very glad of your immediate assistance in what
          promises to be a most remarkable case.  It is something quite in
          your line.  Except for releasing the lady I will see that everything
          is kept exactly as I have found it, but I beg you not to lose an
          instant, as it is difficult to leave Sir Eustace there.
                                                    'Yours faithfully,
                                                           'STANLEY HOPKINS.

     "Hopkins has called me in seven times, and on each occasion his summons
has been entirely justified," said Holmes.  "I fancy that every one of his
cases has found its way into your collection, and I must admit, Watson, that
you have some power of selection, which atones for much which I deplore in
your narratives.  Your fatal habit of looking at everything from the point of
view of a story instead of as a scientific exercise has ruined what might have
been an instructive and even classical series of demonstrations.  You slur
over work of the utmost finesse and delicacy, in order to dwell upon
sensational details which may excite, but cannot possibly instruct, the
reader."
     "Why do you not write them yourself?" I said, with some bitterness.
     "I will, my dear Watson, I will.  At present I am, as you know, fairly
busy, but I propose to devote my declining years to the composition of a
textbook, which shall focus the whole art of detection into one volume.  Our
present research appears to be a case of murder."
     "You think this Sir Eustace is dead, then?"
     "I should say so.  Hopkins's writing shows considerable agitation, and he
is not an emotional man.  Yes, I gather there has been violence, and that the
body is left for our inspection.  A mere suicide would not have caused him to
send for me.  As to the release of the lady, it would appear that she has been
locked in her room during the tragedy.  We are moving in high life, Watson,
crackling paper, 'E. B.' monogram, coat-of-arms, picturesque address.  I think
that friend Hopkins will live up to his reputation, and that we shall have an
interesting morning.  The crime was committed before twelve last night."
     "How can you possibly tell?"
     "By an inspection of the trains, and by reckoning the time.  The local
police had to be called in, they had to communicate with Scotland Yard,
Hopkins had to go out, and he in turn had to send for me.  All that makes a
fair night's work.  Well, here we are at Chiselhurst Station, and we shall
soon set our doubts at rest."
     A drive of a couple of miles through narrow country lanes brought us to a
park gate, which was opened for us by an old lodge-keeper, whose haggard face
bore the reflection of some great disaster.  The avenue ran through a noble
park, between lines of ancient elms, and ended in a low, widespread house,
pillared in front after the fashion of Palladio.  The central part was
evidently of a great age and shrouded in ivy, but the large windows showed
that modern changes had been carried out, and one wing of the house appeared
to be entirely new.  The youthful figure and alert, eager face of Inspector
Stanley Hopkins confronted us in the open doorway.
     "I'm very glad you have come, Mr. Holmes.  And you, too, Dr. Watson.
But, indeed, if I had my time over again, I should not have troubled you, for
since the lady has come to herself, she has given so clear an account of the
affair that there is not much left for us to do.  You remember that Lewisham
gang of burglars?"
     "What, the three Randalls?"
     "Exactly; the father and two sons.  It's their work.  I have not a doubt
of it.  They did a job at Sydenham a fortnight ago and were seen and
described.  Rather cool to do another so soon and so near, but it is they,
beyond all doubt.  It's a hanging matter this time."
     "Sir Eustace is dead, then?"
     "Yes, his head was knocked in with his own poker."
     "Sir Eustace Brackenstall, the driver tells me."
     "Exactly--one of the richest men in Kent--Lady Brackenstall is in the
morning-room.  Poor lady, she has had a most dreadful experience.  She seemed
half dead when I saw her first.  I think you had best see her and hear her
account of the facts.  Then we will examine the dining-room together."
     Lady Brackenstall was no ordinary person.  Seldom have I seen so graceful
a figure, so womanly a presence, and so beautiful a face.  She was a blonde,
golden-haired, blue-eyed, and would no doubt have had the perfect complexion
which goes with such colouring, had not her recent experience left her drawn
and haggard.  Her sufferings were physical as well as mental, for over one eye
rose a hideous, plum-coloured swelling, which her maid, a tall, austere woman,
was bathing assiduously with vinegar and water.  The lady lay back exhausted
upon a couch, but her quick, observant gaze, as we entered the room, and the
alert expression of her beautiful features, showed that neither her wits nor
her courage had been shaken by her terrible experience.  She was enveloped in
a loose dressing-gown of blue and silver, but a black sequin-covered
dinner-dress lay upon the couch beside her.
     "I have told you all that happened, Mr. Hopkins," she said, wearily.
"Could you not repeat it for me?  Well, if you think it necessary, I will tell
these gentlemen what occurred.  Have they been in the dining-room yet?"
     "I thought they had better hear your ladyship's story first."
     "I shall be glad when you can arrange matters.  It is horrible to me to
think of him still lying there."  She shuddered and buried her face in her
hands.  As she did so, the loose gown fell back from her forearms.  Holmes
uttered an exclamation.
     "You have other injuries, madam!  What is this?"  Two vivid red spots
stood out on one of the white, round limbs.  She hastily covered it.
     "It is nothing.  It has no connection with this hideous business
to-night.  If you and your friend will sit down, I will tell you all I can.
     "I am the wife of Sir Eustace Brackenstall.  I have been married about a
year.  I suppose that it is no use my attempting to conceal that our marriage
has not been a happy one.  I fear that all our neighbours would tell you that,
even if I were to attempt to deny it.  Perhaps the fault may be partly mine.
I was brought up in the freer, less conventional atmosphere of South
Australia, and this English life, with its proprieties and its primness, is
not congenial to me.  But the main reason lies in the one fact, which is
notorious to everyone, and that is that Sir Eustace was a confirmed drunkard.
To be with such a man for an hour is unpleasant.  Can you imagine what it
means for a sensitive and high-spirited woman to be tied to him for day and
night?  It is a sacrilege, a crime, a villainy to hold that such a marriage is
binding.  I say that these monstrous laws of yours will bring a curse upon the
land--God will not let such wickedness endure."  For an instant she sat up,
her cheeks flushed, and her eyes blazing from under the terrible mark upon her
brow.  Then the strong, soothing hand of the austere maid drew her head down
on to the cushion, and the wild anger died away into passionate sobbing.  At
last she continued:
     "I will tell you about last night.  You are aware, perhaps, that in this
house all the servants sleep in the modern wing.  This central block is made
up of the dwelling-rooms, with the kitchen behind and our bedroom above.  My
maid, Theresa, sleeps above my room.  There is no one else, and no sound could
alarm those who are in the farther wing.  This must have been well known to
the robbers, or they would not have acted as they did.
     "Sir Eustace retired about half-past ten.  The servants had already gone
to their quarters.  Only my maid was up, and she had remained in her room at
the top of the house until I needed her services.  I sat until after eleven in
this room, absorbed in a book.  Then I walked round to see that all was right
before I went upstairs.  It was my custom to do this myself, for, as I have
explained, Sir Eustace was not always to be trusted.  I went into the kitchen,
the butler's pantry, the gun-room, the billiard-room, the drawing-room, and
finally the dining-room.  As I approached the window, which is covered with
thick curtains, I suddenly felt the wind blow upon my face and realized that
it was open.  I flung the curtain aside and found myself face to face with a
broad-shouldered elderly man, who had just stepped into the room.  The window
is a long French one, which really forms a door leading to the lawn.  I held
my bedroom candle lit in my hand, and, by its light, behind the first man I
saw two others, who were in the act of entering.  I stepped back, but the
fellow was on me in an instant.  He caught me first by the wrist and then by
the throat.  I opened my mouth to scream, but he struck me a savage blow with
his fist over the eye, and felled me to the ground.  I must have been
unconscious for a few minutes, for when I came to myself, I found that they
had torn down the bell-rope, and had secured me tightly to the oaken chair
which stands at the head of the dining-table.  I was so firmly bound that I
could not move, and a handkerchief round my mouth prevented me from uttering a
sound.  It was at this instant that my unfortunate husband entered the room.
He had evidently heard some suspicious sounds, and he came prepared for such a
scene as he found.  He was dressed in nightshirt and trousers, with his
favourite blackthorn cudgel in his hand.  He rushed at the burglars, but
another--it was an elderly man--stooped, picked the poker out of the grate and
struck him a horrible blow as he passed.  He fell with a groan and never moved
again.  I fainted once more, but again it could only have been for a very few
minutes during which I was insensible.  When I opened my eyes I found that
they had collected the silver from the sideboard, and they had drawn a bottle
of wine which stood there.  Each of them had a glass in his hand.  I have
already told you, have I not, that one was elderly, with a beard, and the
others young, hairless lads.  They might have been a father with his two sons.
They talked together in whispers.  Then they came over and made sure that I
was securely bound.  Finally they withdrew, closing the window after them.  It
was quite a quarter of an hour before I got my mouth free.  When I did so, my
screams brought the maid to my assistance.  The other servants were soon
alarmed, and we sent for the local police, who instantly communicated with
London.  That is really all that I can tell you, gentlemen, and I trust that
it will not be necessary for me to go over so painful a story again."
     "Any questions, Mr. Holmes?" asked Hopkins.
     "I will not impose any further tax upon Lady Brackenstall's patience and
time," said Holmes.  "Before I go into the dining-room, I should like to hear
your experience."  He looked at the maid.
     "I saw the men before ever they came into the house," said she.  "As I
sat by my bedroom window I saw three men in the moonlight down by the lodge
gate yonder, but I thought nothing of it at the time.  It was more than an
hour after that I heard my mistress scream, and down I ran, to find her, poor
lamb, just as she says, and him on the floor, with his blood and brains over
the room.  It was enough to drive a woman out of her wits, tied there, and her
very dress spotted with him, but she never wanted courage, did Miss Mary
Fraser of Adelaide and Lady Brackenstall of Abbey Grange hasn't learned new
ways.  You've questioned her long enough, you gentlemen, and now she is coming
to her own room, just with her old Theresa, to get the rest that she badly
needs."
     With a motherly tenderness the gaunt woman put her arm round her mistress
and led her from the room.
     "She has been with her all her life," said Hopkins.  "Nursed her as a
baby, and came with her to England when they first left Australia, eighteen
months ago.  Theresa Wright is her name, and the kind of maid you don't pick
up nowadays.  This way, Mr. Holmes, if you please!"
     The keen interest had passed out of Holmes's expressive face, and I knew
that with the mystery all the charm of the case had departed.  There still
remained an arrest to be effected, but what were these commonplace rogues that
he should soil his hands with them?  An abstruse and learned specialist who
finds that he has been called in for a case of measles would experience
something of the annoyance which I read in my friend's eyes.  Yet the scene in
the dining-room of the Abbey Grange was sufficiently strange to arrest his
attention and to recall his waning interest.
     It was a very large and high chamber, with carved oak ceiling, oaken
panelling, and a fine array of deer's heads and ancient weapons around the
walls.  At the further end from the door was the high French window of which
we had heard.  Three smaller windows on the right-hand side filled the
apartment with cold winter sunshine.  On the left was a large, deep fireplace,
with a massive, overhanging oak mantelpiece.  Beside the fireplace was a heavy
oaken chair with arms and crossbars at the bottom.  In and out through the
open woodwork was woven a crimson cord, which was secured at each side to the
crosspiece below.  In releasing the lady, the cord had been slipped off her,
but the knots with which it had been secured still remained.  These details
only struck our attention afterwards, for our thoughts were entirely absorbed
by the terrible object which lay upon the tiger-skin hearthrug in front of the
fire.
     It was the body of a tall, well-made man, about forty years of age.  He
lay upon his back, his face upturned, with his white teeth grinning through
his short, black beard.  His two clenched hands were raised above his head,
and a heavy, blackthorn stick lay across them.  His dark, handsome, aquiline
features were convulsed into a spasm of vindictive hatred, which had set his
dead face in a terribly fiendish expression.  He had evidently been in his bed
when the alarm had broken out, for he wore a foppish, embroidered nightshirt,
and his bare feet projected from his trousers.  His head was horribly injured,
and the whole room bore witness to the savage ferocity of the blow which had
struck him down.  Beside him lay the heavy poker, bent into a curve by the
concussion.  Holmes examined both it and the indescribable wreck which it had
wrought.
     "He must be a powerful man, this elder Randall," he remarked.
     "Yes," said Hopkins.  "I have some record of the fellow, and he is a
rough customer."
     "You should have no difficulty in getting him."
     "Not the slightest.  We have been on the look-out for him, and there was
some idea that he had got away to America.  Now that we know that the gang are
here, I don't see how they can escape.  We have the news at every seaport
already, and a reward will be offered before evening.  What beats me is how
they could have done so mad a thing, knowing that the lady could describe them
and that we could not fail to recognize the description."
     "Exactly.  One would have expected that they would silence Lady
Brackenstall as well."
     "They may not have realized," I suggested, "that she had recovered from
her faint."
     "That is likely enough.  If she seemed to be senseless, they would not
take her life.  What about this poor fellow, Hopkins?  I seem to have heard
some queer stories about him."
     "He was a good-hearted man when he was sober, but a perfect fiend when he
was drunk, or rather when he was half drunk, for he seldom really went the
whole way.  The devil seemed to be in him at such times, and he was capable of
anything.  From what I hear, in spite of all his wealth and his title, he very
nearly came our way once or twice.  There was a scandal about his drenching a
dog with petroleum and setting it on fire--her ladyship's dog, to make the
matter worse--and that was only hushed up with difficulty.  Then he threw a
decanter at that maid, Theresa Wright--there was trouble about that.  On the
whole, and between ourselves, it will be a brighter house without him.  What
are you looking at now?"
     Holmes was down on his knees, examining with great attention the knots
upon the red cord with which the lady had been secured.  Then he carefully
scrutinized the broken and frayed end where it had snapped off when the
burglar had dragged it down.
     "When this was pulled down, the bell in the kitchen must have rung
loudly," he remarked.
     "No one could hear it.  The kitchen stands right at the back of the
house."
     "How did the burglar know no one would hear it?  How dared he pull at a
bell-rope in that reckless fashion?"
     "Exactly, Mr. Holmes, exactly.  You put the very question which I have
asked myself again and again.  There can be no doubt that this fellow must
have known the house and its habits.  He must have perfectly understood that
the servants would all be in bed at that comparatively early hour, and that no
one could possibly hear a bell ring in the kitchen.  Therefore, he must have
been in close league with one of the servants.  Surely that is evident.  But
there are eight servants, and all of good character."
     "Other things being equal," said Holmes, "one would suspect the one at
whose head the master threw a decanter.  And yet that would involve treachery
towards the mistress to whom this woman seems devoted.  Well, well, the point
is a minor one, and when you have Randall you will probably find no difficulty
in securing his accomplice.  The lady's story certainly seems to be
corroborated, if it needed corroboration, by every detail which we see before
us."  He walked to the French window and threw it open.  "There are no signs
here, but the ground is iron hard, and one would not expect them.  I see that
these candles in the mantelpiece have been lighted."
     "Yes, it was by their light, and that of the lady's bedroom candle, that
the burglars saw their way about."
     "And what did they take?"
     "Well, they did not take much--only half a dozen articles of plate off
the sideboard.  Lady Brackenstall thinks that they were themselves so
disturbed by the death of Sir Eustace that they did not ransack the house, as
they would otherwise have done."
     "No doubt that is true, and yet they drank some wine, I understand."
     "To steady their nerves."
     "Exactly.  These three glasses upon the sideboard have been untouched, I
suppose?"
     "Yes, and the bottle stands as they left it."
     "Let us look at it.  Halloa, halloa!  What is this?"
     The three glasses were grouped together, all of them tinged with wine,
and one of them containing some dregs of beeswing.  The bottle stood near
them, two-thirds full, and beside it lay a long, deeply stained cork.  Its
appearance and the dust upon the bottle showed that it was no common vintage
which the murderers had enjoyed.
     A change had come over Holmes's manner.  He had lost his listless
expression, and again I saw an alert light of interest in his keen, deep-set
eyes.  He raised the cork and examined it minutely.
     "How did they draw it?" he asked.
     Hopkins pointed to a half-opened drawer.  In it lay some table linen and
a large corkscrew.
     "Did Lady Brackenstall say that screw was used?"
     "No, you remember that she was senseless at the moment when the bottle
was opened."
     "Quite so.  As a matter of fact, that screw was not used.  This bottle
was opened by a pocket screw, probably contained in a knife, and not more than
an inch and a half long.  If you will examine the top of the cork, you will
observe that the screw was driven in three times before the cork was
extracted.  It has never been transfixed.  This long screw would have
transfixed it and drawn it up with a single pull.  When you catch this fellow,
you will find that he has one of these multiplex knives in his possession."
     "Excellent!" said Hopkins.
     "But these glasses do puzzle me, I confess.  Lady Brackenstall actually
saw the three men drinking, did she not?"
     "Yes; she was clear about that."
     "Then there is an end of it.  What more is to be said?  And yet, you must
admit, that the three glasses are very remarkable, Hopkins.  What?  You see
nothing remarkable?  Well, well, let it pass.  Perhaps, when a man has special
knowledge and special powers like my own, it rather encourages him to seek a
complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand.  Of course, it must be a
mere chance about the glasses.  Well, good-morning, Hopkins.  I don't see that
I can be of any use to you, and you appear to have your case very clear.  You
will let me know when Randall is arrested, and any further developments which
may occur.  I trust that I shall soon have to congratulate you upon a
successful conclusion.  Come, Watson, I fancy that we may employ ourselves
more profitably at home."
     During our return journey, I could see by Holmes's face that he was much
puzzled by something which he had observed.  Every now and then, by an effort,
he would throw off the impression, and talk as if the matter were clear, but
then his doubts would settle down upon him again, and his knitted brows and
abstracted eyes would show that his thoughts had gone back once more to the
great dining-room of the Abbey Grange, in which this midnight tragedy had been
enacted.  At last, by a sudden impulse, just as our train was crawling out of
a suburban station, he sprang on to the platform and pulled me out after him.
     "Excuse me, my dear fellow," said he, as we watched the rear carriages of
our train disappearing round a curve, "I am sorry to make you the victim of
what may seem a mere whim, but on my life, Watson, I simply can't leave that
case in this condition.  Every instinct that I possess cries out against it.
It's wrong --it's all wrong--I'll swear that it's wrong.  And yet the lady's
story was complete, the maid's corroboration was sufficient, the detail was
fairly exact.  What have I to put up against that?  Three wine-glasses, that
is all.  But if I had not taken things for granted, if I had examined
everything with care which I should have shown had we approached the case de
novo and had no cut-and-dried story to warp my mind, should I not then have
found something more definite to go upon?  Of course I should.  Sit down on
this bench, Watson, until a train for Chiselhurst arrives, and allow me to lay
the evidence before you, imploring you in the first instance to dismiss from
your mind the idea that anything which the maid or her mistress may have said
must necessarily be true.  The lady's charming personality must not be
permitted to warp our judgment.
     "Surely there are details in her story which, if we looked at in cold
blood, would excite our suspicion.  These burglars made a considerable haul at
Sydenham a fortnight ago.  Some account of them and of their appearance was in
the papers, and would naturally occur to anyone who wished to invent a story
in which imaginary robbers should play a part.  As a matter of fact, burglars
who have done a good stroke of business are, as a rule, only too glad to enjoy
the proceeds in peace and quiet without embarking on another perilous
undertaking.  Again, it is unusual for burglars to operate at so early an
hour, it is unusual for burglars to strike a lady to prevent her screaming,
since one would imagine that was the sure way to make her scream, it is
unusual for them to commit murder when their numbers are sufficient to
overpower one man, it is unusual for them to be content with a limited plunder
when there was much more within their reach, and finally, I should say, that
it was very unusual for such men to leave a bottle half empty.  How do all
these unusuals strike you, Watson?"
     "Their cumulative effect is certainly considerable, and yet each of them
is quite possible in itself.  The most unusual thing of all, as it seems to
me, is that the lady should be tied to the chair."
     "Well, I am not so clear about that, Watson, for it is evident that they
must either kill her or else secure her in such a way that she could not give
immediate notice of their escape.  But at any rate I have shown, have I not,
that there is a certain element of improbability about the lady's story?  And
now, on the top of this, comes the incident of the wineglasses."
     "What about the wineglasses?"
     "Can you see them in your mind's eye?"
     "I see them clearly."
     "We are told that three men drank from them.  Does that strike you as
likely?"
     "Why not?  There was wine in each glass."
     "Exactly, but there was beeswing only in one glass.  You must have
noticed that fact.  What does that suggest to your mind?"
     "The last glass filled would be most likely to contain beeswing."
     "Not at all.  The bottle was full of it, and it is inconceivable that the
first two glasses were clear and the third heavily charged with it.  There are
two possible explanations, and only two.  One is that after the second glass
was filled the bottle was violently agitated, and so the third glass received
the beeswing.  That does not appear probable.  No, no, I am sure that I am
right."
     "What, then, do you suppose?"
     "That only two glasses were used, and that the dregs of both were poured
into a third glass, so as to give the false impression that three people had
been here.  In that way all the beeswing would be in the last glass, would it
not?  Yes, I am convinced that this is so.  But if I have hit upon the true
explanation of this one small phenomenon, then in an instant the case rises
from the commonplace to the exceedingly remarkable, for it can only mean that
Lady Brackenstall and her maid have deliberately lied to us, that not one word
of their story is to be believed, that they have some very strong reason for
covering the real criminal, and that we must construct our case for ourselves
without any help from them.  That is the mission which now lies before us, and
here, Watson, is the Sydenham train."
     The household at the Abbey Grange were much surprised at our return, but
Sherlock Holmes, finding that Stanley Hopkins had gone off to report to
headquarters, took possession of the dining-room, locked the door upon the
inside, and devoted himself for two hours to one of those minute and laborious
investigations which form the solid basis on which his brilliant edifices of
deduction were reared.  Seated in a corner like an interested student who
observes the demonstration of his professor, I followed every step of that
remarkable research.  The window, the curtains, the carpet, the chair, the
rope --each in turn was minutely examined and duly pondered.  The body of the
unfortunate baronet had been removed, and all else remained as we had seen it
in the morning.  Finally, to my astonishment, Holmes climbed up on to the
massive mantelpiece.  Far above his head hung the few inches of red cord which
were still attached to the wire.  For a long time he gazed upward at it, and
then in an attempt to get nearer to it he rested his knee upon a wooden
bracket on the wall.  This brought his hand within a few inches of the broken
end of the rope, but it was not this so much as the bracket itself which
seemed to engage his attention.  Finally, he sprang down with an ejaculation
of satisfaction.
     "It's all right, Watson," said he.  "We have got our case--one of the
most remarkable in our collection.  But, dear me, how slow-witted I have been,
and how nearly I have committed the blunder of my lifetime!  Now, I think
that, with a few missing links, my chain is almost complete."
     "You have got your men?"
     "Man, Watson, man.  Only one, but a very formidable person.  Strong as a
lion--witness the blow that bent that poker!  Six foot three in height, active
as a squirrel, dexterous with his fingers, finally, remarkably quick-witted,
for this whole ingenious story is of his concoction.  Yes, Watson, we have
come upon the handiwork of a very remarkable individual.  And yet, in that
bell-rope, he has given us a clue which should not have left us a doubt."
     "Where was the clue?"
     "Well, if you were to pull down a bell-rope, Watson, where would you
expect it to break?  Surely at the spot where it is attached to the wire.  Why
should it break three inches from the top, as this one has done?"
     "Because it is frayed there?"
     "Exactly.  This end, which we can examine, is frayed.  He was cunning
enough to do that with his knife.  But the other end is not frayed.  You could
not observe that from here, but if you were on the mantelpiece you would see
that it is cut clean off without any mark of fraying whatever.  You can
reconstruct what occurred.  The man needed the rope.  He would not tear it
down for fear of giving the alarm by ringing the bell.  What did he do?  He
sprang up on the mantelpiece, could not quite reach it, put his knee on the
bracket--you will see the impression in the dust--and so got his knife to bear
upon the cord.  I could not reach the place by at least three inches--from
which I infer that he is at least three inches a bigger man than I.  Look at
that mark upon the seat of the oaken chair!  What is it?"
     "Blood."
     "Undoubtedly it is blood.  This alone puts the lady's story out of court.
If she were seated on the chair when the crime was done, how comes that mark?
No, no, she was placed in the chair after the death of her husband.  I'll
wager that the black dress shows a corresponding mark to this.  We have not
yet met our Waterloo, Watson, but this is our Marengo, for it begins in defeat
and ends in victory.  I should like now to have a few words with the nurse,
Theresa.  We must be wary for a while, if we are to get the information which
we want."
     She was an interesting person, this stern Australian nurse--taciturn,
suspicious, ungracious, it took some time before Holmes's pleasant manner and
frank acceptance of all that she said thawed her into a corresponding
amiability.  She did not attempt to conceal her hatred for her late employer.
     "Yes, sir, it is true that he threw the decanter at me.  I heard him call
my mistress a name, and I told him that he would not dare to speak so if her
brother had been there.  Then it was that he threw it at me.  He might have
thrown a dozen if he had but left my bonny bird alone.  He was forever
ill-treating her, and she too proud to complain.  She will not even tell me
all that he has done to her.  She never told me of those marks on her arm that
you saw this morning, but I know very well that they come from a stab with a
hatpin.  The sly devil--God forgive me that I should speak of him so, now that
he is dead!  But a devil he was, if ever one walked the earth.  He was all
honey when first we met him--only eighteen months ago, and we both feel as if
it were eighteen years.  She had only just arrived in London.  Yes, it was her
first voyage--she had never been from home before.  He won her with his title
and his money and his false London ways.  If she made a mistake she has paid
for it, if ever a woman did.  What month did we meet him?  Well, I tell you it
was just after we arrived.  We arrived in June, and it was July.  They were
married in January of last year.  Yes, she is down in the morning-room again,
and I have no doubt she will see you, but you must not ask too much of her,
for she has gone through all that flesh and blood will stand."
     Lady Brackenstall was reclining on the same couch, but looked brighter
than before.  The maid had entered with us, and began once more to foment the
bruise upon her mistress's brow.
     "I hope," said the lady, "that you have not come to cross-examine me
again?"
     "No," Holmes answered, in his gentlest voice, "I will not cause you any
unnecessary trouble, Lady Brackenstall, and my whole desire is to make things
easy for you, for I am convinced that you are a much-tried woman.  If you will
treat me as a friend and trust me, you may find that I will justify your
trust."
     "What do you want me to do?"
     "To tell me the truth."
     "Mr. Holmes!"
     "No, no, Lady Brackenstall--it is no use.  You may have heard of any
little reputation which I possess.  I will stake it all on the fact that your
story is an absolute fabrication."
     Mistress and maid were both staring at Holmes with pale faces and
frightened eyes.
     "You are an impudent fellow!" cried Theresa.  "Do you mean to say that my
mistress has told a lie?"
     Holmes rose from his chair.
     "Have you nothing to tell me?"
     "I have told you everything."
     "Think once more, Lady Brackenstall.  Would it not be better to be
frank?"
     For an instant there was hesitation in her beautiful face.  Then some new
strong thought caused it to set like a mask.
     "I have told you all I know."
     Holmes took his hat and shrugged his shoulders.  "I am sorry," he said,
and without another word we left the room and the house.  There was a pond in
the park, and to this my friend led the way.  It was frozen over, but a single
hole was left for the convenience of a solitary swan.  Holmes gazed at it, and
then passed on to the lodge gate.  There he scribbled a short note for Stanley
Hopkins, and left it with the lodge-keeper.
     "It may be a hit, or it may be a miss, but we are bound to do something
for friend Hopkins, just to justify this second visit," said he.  "I will not
quite take him into my confidence yet.  I think our next scene of operations
must be the shipping office of the Adelaide-Southampton line, which stands at
the end of Pall Mall, if I remember right.  There is a second line of steamers
which connect South Australia with England, but we will draw the larger cover
first."
     Holmes's card sent in to the manager ensured instant attention, and he
was not long in acquiring all the information he needed.  In June of '95, only
one of their line had reached a home port.  It was the Rock of Gibraltar,
their largest and best boat.  A reference to the passenger list showed that
Miss Fraser, of Adelaide, with her maid had made the voyage in her.  The boat
was now somewhere south of the Suez Canal on her way to Australia.  Her
officers were the same as in '95, with one exception.  The first officer, Mr.
Jack Crocker, had been made a captain and was to take charge of their new
ship, the Bass Rock, sailing in two days' time from Southampton.  He lived at
Sydenham, but he was likely to be in that morning for instructions, if we
cared to wait for him.
     No, Mr. Holmes had no desire to see him, but would be glad to know more
about his record and character.
     His record was magnificent.  There was not an officer in the fleet to
touch him.  As to his character, he was reliable on duty, but a wild,
desperate fellow off the deck of his ship--hot-headed, excitable, but loyal,
honest, and kind-hearted.  That was the pith of the information with which
Holmes left the office of the Adelaide-Southampton company.  Thence he drove
to Scotland Yard, but, instead of entering, he sat in his cab with his brows
drawn down, lost in profound thought.  Finally he drove round to the Charing
Cross telegraph office, sent off a message, and then, at last, we made for
Baker Street once more.
     "No, I couldn't do it, Watson," said he, as we reentered our room.  "Once
that warrant was made out, nothing on earth would save him.  Once or twice in
my career I feel that I have done more real harm by my discovery of the
criminal than ever he had done by his crime.  I have learned caution now, and
I had rather play tricks with the law of England than with my own conscience.
Let us know a little more before we act."
     Before evening, we had a visit from Inspector Stanley Hopkins.  Things
were not going very well with him.
     "I believe that you are a wizard, Mr. Holmes.  I really do sometimes
think that you have powers that are not human.  Now, how on earth could you
know that the stolen silver was at the bottom of that pond?"
     "I didn't know it."
     "But you told me to examine it."
     "You got it, then?"
     "Yes, I got it."
     "I am very glad if I have helped you."
     "But you haven't helped me.  You have made the affair far more difficult.
What sort of burglars are they who steal silver and then throw it into the
nearest pond?"
     "It was certainly rather eccentric behaviour.  I was merely going on the
idea that if the silver had been taken by persons who did not want it--who
merely took it for a blind, as it were--then they would naturally be anxious
to get rid of it."
     "But why should such an idea cross your mind?"
     "Well, I thought it was possible.  When they came out through the French
window, there was the pond with one tempting little hole in the ice, right in
front of their noses.  Could there be a better hiding-place?"
     "Ah, a hiding-place--that is better!" cried Stanley Hopkins.  "Yes, yes,
I see it all now!  It was early, there were folk upon the roads, they were
afraid of being seen with the silver, so they sank it in the pond, intending
to return for it when the coast was clear.  Excellent, Mr. Holmes--that is
better than your idea of a blind."
     "Quite so, you have got an admirable theory.  I have no doubt that my own
ideas were quite wild, but you must admit that they have ended in discovering
the silver."
     "Yes, sir--yes.  It was all your doing.  But I have had a bad setback."
     "A setback?"
     "Yes, Mr. Holmes.  The Randall gang were arrested in New York this
morning."
     "Dear me, Hopkins!  That is certainly rather against your theory that
they committed a murder in Kent last night."
     "It is fatal, Mr. Holmes--absolutely fatal.  Still, there are other gangs
of three besides the Randalls, or it may be some new gang of which the police
have never heard."
     "Quite so, it is perfectly possible.  What, are you off?"
     "Yes, Mr. Holmes, there is no rest for me until I have got to the bottom
of the business.  I suppose you have no hint to give me?"
     "I have given you one."
     "Which?"
     "Well, I suggested a blind."
     "But why, Mr. Holmes, why?"
     "Ah, that's the question, of course.  But I commend the idea to your
mind.  You might possibly find that there was something in it.  You won't stop
for dinner?  Well, good-bye, and let us know how you get on."
     Dinner was over, and the table cleared before Holmes alluded to the
matter again.  He had lit his pipe and held his slippered feet to the cheerful
blaze of the fire.  Suddenly he looked at his watch.
     "I expect developments, Watson."
     "When?"
     "Now--within a few minutes.  I dare say you thought I acted rather badly
to Stanley Hopkins just now?"
     "I trust your judgment."
     "A very sensible reply, Watson.  You must look at it this way:  what I
know is unofficial, what he knows is official.  I have the right to private
judgment, but he has none.  He must disclose all, or he is a traitor to his
service.  In a doubtful case I would not put him in so painful a position, and
so I reserve my information until my own mind is clear upon the matter."
     "But when will that be?"
     "The time has come.  You will now be present at the last scene of a
remarkable little drama."
     There was a sound upon the stairs, and our door was opened to admit as
fine a specimen of manhood as ever passed through it.  He was a very tall
young man, golden-moustached, blue-eyed, with a skin which had been burned by
tropical suns, and a springy step, which showed that the huge frame was as
active as it was strong.  He closed the door behind him, and then he stood
with clenched hands and heaving breast, choking down some overmastering
emotion.
     "Sit down, Captain Crocker.  You got my telegram?"
     Our visitor sank into an armchair and looked from one to the other of us
with questioning eyes.
     "I got your telegram, and I came at the hour you said.  I heard that you
had been down to the office.  There was no getting away from you.  Let's hear
the worst.  What are you going to do with me?  Arrest me?  Speak out, man!
You can't sit there and play with me like a cat with a mouse."
     "Give him a cigar," said Holmes.  "Bite on that, Captain Crocker, and
don't let your nerves run away with you.  I should not sit here smoking with
you if I thought that you were a common criminal, you may be sure of that.  Be
frank with me and we may do some good.  Play tricks with me, and I'll crush
you."
     "What do you wish me to do?"
     "To give me a true account of all that happened at the Abbey Grange last
night--a true account, mind you, with nothing added and nothing taken off.  I
know so much already that if you go one inch off the straight, I'll blow this
police whistle from my window and the affair goes out of my hands forever."
     The sailor thought for a little.  Then he struck his leg with his great
sunburned hand.
     "I'll chance it," he cried.  "I believe you are a man of your word, and a
white man, and I'll tell you the whole story.  But one thing I will say first.
So far as I am concerned, I regret nothing and I fear nothing, and I would do
it all again and be proud of the job.  Damn the beast, if he had as many lives
as a cat, he would owe them all to me!  But it's the lady, Mary--Mary
Fraser--for never will I call her by that accursed name.  When I think of
getting her into trouble, I who would give my life just to bring one smile to
her dear face, it's that that turns my soul into water.  And yet--and
yet--what less could I do?  I'll tell you my story, gentlemen, and then I'll
ask you, as man to man, what less could I do?
     "I must go back a bit.  You seem to know everything, so I expect that you
know that I met her when she was a passenger and I was first officer of the
Rock of Gibraltar.  From the first day I met her, she was the only woman to
me.  Every day of that voyage I loved her more, and many a time since have I
kneeled down in the darkness of the night watch and kissed the deck of that
ship because I knew her dear feet had trod it.  She was never engaged to me.
She treated me as fairly as ever a woman treated a man.  I have no complaint
to make.  It was all love on my side, and all good comradeship and friendship
on hers.  When we parted she was a free woman, but I could never again be a
free man.
     "Next time I came back from sea, I heard of her marriage.  Well, why
shouldn't she marry whom she liked?  Title and money--who could carry them
better than she?  She was born for all that is beautiful and dainty.  I didn't
grieve over her marriage.  I was not such a selfish hound as that.  I just
rejoiced that good luck had come her way, and that she had not thrown herself
away on a penniless sailor.  That's how I loved Mary Fraser.
     "Well, I never thought to see her again, but last voyage I was promoted,
and the new boat was not yet launched, so I had to wait for a couple of months
with my people at Sydenham.  One day out in a country lane I met Theresa
Wright, her old maid.  She told me all about her, about him, about everything.
I tell you, gentlemen, it nearly drove me mad.  This drunken hound, that he
should dare to raise his hand to her, whose boots he was not worthy to lick!
I met Theresa again.  Then I met Mary herself--and met her again.  Then she
would meet me no more.  But the other day I had a notice that I was to start
on my voyage within a week, and I determined that I would see her once before
I left.  Theresa was always my friend, for she loved Mary and hated this
villain almost as much as I did.  From her I learned the ways of the house.
Mary used to sit up reading in her own little room downstairs.  I crept round
there last night and scratched at the window.  At first she would not open to
me, but in her heart I know that now she loves me, and she could not leave me
in the frosty night.  She whispered to me to come round to the big front
window, and I found it open before me, so as to let me into the dining-room.
Again I heard from her own lips things that made my blood boil, and again I
cursed this brute who mishandled the woman I loved.  Well, gentlemen, I was
standing with her just inside the window, in all innocence, as God is my
judge, when he rushed like a madman into the room, called her the vilest name
that a man could use to a woman, and welted her across the face with the stick
he had in his hand.  I had sprung for the poker, and it was a fair fight
between us.  See here, on my arm, where his first blow fell.  Then it was my
turn, and I went through him as if he had been a rotten pumpkin.  Do you think
I was sorry?  Not I!  It was his life or mine, but far more than that, it was
his life or hers, for how could I leave her in the power of this madman?  That
was how I killed him.  Was I wrong?  Well, then, what would either of you
gentlemen have done, if you had been in my position?"
     "She had screamed when he struck her, and that brought old Theresa down
from the room above.  There was a bottle of wine on the sideboard, and I
opened it and poured a little between Mary's lips, for she was half dead with
shock.  Then I took a drop myself.  Theresa was as cool as ice, and it was her
plot as much as mine.  We must make it appear that burglars had done the
thing.  Theresa kept on repeating our story to her mistress, while I swarmed
up and cut the rope of the bell.  Then I lashed her in her chair, and frayed
out the end of the rope to make it look natural, else they would wonder how in
the world a burglar could have got up there to cut it.  Then I gathered up a
few plates and pots of silver, to carry out the idea of the robbery, and there
I left them, with orders to give the alarm when I had a quarter of an hour's
start.  I dropped the silver into the pond, and made off for Sydenham, feeling
that for once in my life I had done a real good night's work.  And that's the
truth and the whole truth, Mr. Holmes, if it costs me my neck."
     Holmes smoked for some time in silence.  Then he crossed the room, and
shook our visitor by the hand.
     "That's what I think," said he.  "I know that every word is true, for you
have hardly said a word which I did not know.  No one but an acrobat or a
sailor could have got up to that bell-rope from the bracket, and no one but a
sailor could have made the knots with which the cord was fastened to the
chair.  Only once had this lady been brought into contact with sailors, and
that was on her voyage, and it was someone of her own class of life, since she
was trying hard to shield him, and so showing that she loved him.  You see how
easy it was for me to lay my hands upon you when once I had started upon the
right trail."
     "I thought the police never could have seen through our dodge."
     "And the police haven't, nor will they, to the best of my belief.  Now,
look here, Captain Crocker, this is a very serious matter, though I am willing
to admit that you acted under the most extreme provocation to which any man
could be subjected.  I am not sure that in defence of your own life your
action will not be pronounced legitimate.  However, that is for a British jury
to decide.  Meanwhile I have so much sympathy for you that, if you choose to
disappear in the next twenty-four hours, I will promise you that no one will
hinder you."
     "And then it will all come out?"
     "Certainly it will come out."
     The sailor flushed with anger.
     "What sort of proposal is that to make a man?  I know enough of law to
understand that Mary would be held as accomplice.  Do you think I would leave
her alone to face the music while I slunk away?  No, sir, let them do their
worst upon me, but for heaven's sake, Mr. Holmes, find some way of keeping my
poor Mary out of the courts."
     Holmes for a second time held out his hand to the sailor.
     "I was only testing you, and you ring true every time.  Well, it is a
great responsibility that I take upon myself, but I have given Hopkins an
excellent hint, and if he can't avail himself of it I can do no more.  See
here, Captain Crocker, we'll do this in due form of law.  You are the
prisoner.  Watson, you are a British jury, and I never met a man who was more
eminently fitted to represent one.  I am the judge.  Now, gentleman of the
jury, you have heard the evidence.  Do you find the prisoner guilty or not
guilty?"
     "Not guilty, my lord," said I.
     "Vox populi, vox Dei.  You are acquitted, Captain Crocker.  So long as
the law does not find some other victim you are safe from me.  Come back to
this lady in a year, and may her future and yours justify us in the judgment
which we have pronounced this night!"