THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

th of material, to select the cases which are most interesting in themselves, and at the same time most conducive to a display of those peculiar powers for

assassin-an exploit which won for Holmes an autograph letter of thanks from the French President and the Order of the Legion of Honour. Each of these would furnish a narrative, but on the whole I am of opinion that none of them unites

ind howled down Baker Street, while the rain beat fiercely against the windows. It was strange there, in the very depths of the town, with ten miles of man's handiwork on every side of us, to feel the iron grip of Nature, and to be conscious that to the huge elemental fo

t. "I've done enough for one sitting. It is trying work for the eyes. So far as I can make out, it is nothing more excit

's hoofs, and the long grind of a wheel as it rasped against

I ejaculated, as a m

nted to fight the weather. Wait a bit, though! There's the cab off again! There's hope yet. He'd have kept it i

ficulty in recognizing him. It was young Stanley Hopkins, a promising detect

" he asked

ice from above. "I hope you have n

his shining waterproof. I helped him out of it, whil

ctor has a prescription containing hot water and a lemon, which is good medicine on a ni

afternoon, I promise you. Did you see any

ater than the fiftee

feet. It's down in Kent, seven miles from Chatham and three from the railway line. I was wired for at 3:15, reached Yoxl

, that you are not quit

t first it seemed so simple that one couldn't go wrong. There's no motive, Mr. Holmes. That's what bothers me-I can't put my hand o

igar and leaned

ar about i

there of being a very learned man. His household used to consist of an elderly housekeeper, Mrs. Marker, and of a maid, Susan Tarlton. These have both been with him since his arrival, and they seem to be women of excellent character. The professor is writing a learned book, and he found it necessary, about a year ago, to engage a secretary. The first two that he tried were not successes, but the third, Mr. Willoughby Smith, a very young man straight from the university, seems to have been just what his employer wanted. His work consisted

ew closer to the fire, while the young inspector slowl

nobody in the neighbourhood, and lived very much as his employer did. The two women had nothing to take them from the house. Mortimer, the gardener, who wheels the Bath chair, is an army pensioner-an old Crimean man of excellent character. He does not live in the house, but in a three-roomed cott

the study immediately below her. She did not see him, but she says that she could not be mistaken in his quick, firm tread. She did not hear the study door close, but a minute or so later there was a dreadful cry in the room below. It was a wild, hoarse scream, so strange and unnatural that it might have come either from a man or a woman. At the same instant there was a heavy thud, which shook the old house, and then all was silence. The maid stood petrified for a moment, and then, recovering her courage, she ran downstairs. The study door was shut and she o

ned his eyes for an instant. 'The professor,' he murmured-'it was she.' The maid is prepared to swear that those were the

deed it was impossible for him to dress without the help of Mortimer, whose orders were to come at twelve o'clock. The professor declares that he heard the distant cry, but that he knows nothing more. He can give no explanation of the young man's last words, 'The professor-it was she,' but imagines that they were the outcome of delirium. He believes that Willoughby Smith had not an enemy in the world

a somewhat bitter smile. "Well, let us hear ab

give you a general idea of the position of the professor's study and the v

ough chart, which

I rose and, standing behind Holmes,

edly by the garden path and the back door, from which there is direct access to the study. Any other way would have been exceedingly complicated. The escape must have also been made along that line, for of the two other exits from the room one

grass border which lines the path, and that he had done so in order to avoid leaving a track. I could not find anything in the nature of a distinct impression, but the grass was trodden do

Holmes. "Where does

the

long

ed yards

ses through the gate, you could

the path was til

the road

all trodde

tracks upon the grass, were

to say. There was

foot or

d not dis

n ejaculation

e harder to read now than that palimpsest. Well, well, it can't be helped. What di

a scantily furnished room. The main article is a large writing-table with a fixed bureau. This bureau consists of a double column of drawers, with a central small cupboard between them. The drawers were open, the cupboard locked. The drawers, it seems, were alway

eft of it, as marked upon that chart. The stab was on the right side of the neck and from

upon the knife

t seems impossible. Then, of course, there are the man's own dying words. And, finally, there w

ith two broken ends of black silk cord dangling from the end of it. "Willoughby Smith had excellent sight," h

o read through them, went to the window and stared up the street with them, looked at them most minutely in the full light of the lamp, and

r you," said he. "It may pro

ive read the note alo

uckered forehead, a peering expression, and probably rounded shoulders. There are indications that she has had recourse to an optician at least twice dur

sed, they are, as you perceive, handsomely mounted in solid gold, and it is inconceivable that anyone who wore such glasses could be slatternly in other respects. You will find that the clips are too wide for your nose, showing that the lady's nose was very broad at the base. This sort of nose is usually a short and coarse one, but there is a sufficient number of exceptions to prevent me from being dogmatic or from insisting upon this point in my description.

onfess, however, that I am unable to understand ho

the glasses

d worn to some slight extent, but the other is new. Evidently one has fallen off and been replaced. I should judge that the older of them has

"To think that I had all that evidence in my hand and never knew i

le, have you anything more to

de as to any stranger seen on the country roads or at the railway station. We have heard of none. What

to help you. But I suppose you wan

om Charing Cross to Chatham at six in the morning, and

ok into it. Well, it's nearly one, and we had best get a few hours' sleep. I daresay you can manage all right

ver, which I shall ever associate with our pursuit of the Andaman Islander in the earlier days of our career. After a long and weary journey, we alighted at a small station some miles from Chatham. While

ilson, a

ir-not

of any str

y are certain that no stranger ei

uiries made at in

s no one that we c

take a train without being observed. This is the garden path of which I

were the mark

een the path and the flower-bed. I can't se

r lady must have picked her steps carefully, must she not, since on the one side she w

must have bee

look pass over

e must have come

there is

strip o

ly, Mr.

or had nothing to do but to walk in. The idea of murder was not in her mind, or she would have provided herself with some sort of weapon, instead of having to pick this knife off t

rs. Marker, the housekeeper, had been in there tidying n

ng in the drawers. If there had been anything worth her taking, it would surely have been locked up. No, it was for something in that

right-hand side of the keyhole, and extended for about four

but you'll always find scra

scratch would be the same colour as the surface. Look at it through my lens. The

derly woman cam

his bureau yest

s,

otice this

r, I di

ld have swept away these shreds of

keeps it on h

a simpl

it is a Ch

room. In her hurry to withdraw the key, she makes this scratch upon the door. He seizes her, and she, snatching up the nearest object, which happens to be this knife, strikes at him in order to make him let go his hold. Th

, I'd have seen anyone in the passage. Besides,

ay she came. I understand that this other passage leads

, s

lloa, Hopkins! this is very important, very important indeed.

ir, what

insist upon it. No doubt I am wrong. And yet it seems

to the garden. At the end was a short flight of steps ending in a doo

owner of the house. I have seldom seen a more remarkable-looking person. It was a gaunt, aquiline face which was turned towards us, with piercing dark eyes, which lurked in deep hollows under overhung and tufted brows. His hair and beard were white, save that

recommend them, for I have them especially prepared by Ionides, of Alexandria. He sends me a thousand at a time, and I grieve to say that I have to

was shooting little darting g

o could have foreseen such a terrible catastrophe? So estimable a young man! I assure you that, after a

yet made u

ow is paralyzing. I seem to have lost the faculty of thought. But you are a man of action-you are a man of affairs. It is part of the

s talking. I observed that he was smoking with extraordinary rapidity. It was

d in the Coptic monasteries of Syria and Egypt, a work which will cut deep at the very foundation of revealed religion. With my enfeebled health I do not know wh

es s

will not trouble you with any lengthy cross-examination, Professor Coram, since I gather that you were in bed at the time of the crime, and co

ssor shoo

of that class. I fancy that the poor fellow murmured some incoherent

explanation yourse

e. Young men have their hidden troubles-some affair of the heart, perhaps,

e eyegl

anyone appreciate them so. A fan, a glove, glasses-who knows what article may be carried as a token or treasured when a man puts an end to his life? This gentleman speaks of footsteps in the grass, but, after all, it is easy to

he continued to walk up and down for some time, los

said, at last, "what is in that

my poor wife, diplomas of universities which have done

looked at it for an instant,

is something to be said for the theory of suicide which you have put forward. We must apologize for having intruded upon you, Professor Coram, and I pro

we walked up and down the garden

clue?" I ask

d," said he. "It is possible that I am u

," I exclaimed,

have the optician clue to fall back upon, but I take a short cut when I can get it. Ah, he

that he very readily established terms of confidence with them. In half the time which he had named, he

seen that room of a morning-well, sir, you'd have thought it was a London fog. Poor young Mr. Smith, he was a sm

es, "but it kil

't know abou

professor eats

riable. I'll sa

rning, and won't face his lunch af

and he's ordered a good dish of cutlets for his lunch. I'm surprised myself, for since I came into that room yesterday and saw young Mr. Smith lying

that he had found the children, and that they had undoubtedly seen a woman exactly corresponding with Holmes's description, and wearing either spectacles or eyeglasses, failed to rouse any sign of keen interest. He was more attentive when Susan, who waited upon us at lunch, volunteered the information that she believed Mr. Smith had been out for a walk yesterday morning, and that

housekeeper had credited him. He was, indeed, a weird figure as he turned his white mane and his glowing eyes to

out his hand at the same moment, and between them they tipped the box over the edge. For a minute or two we were all on our knees retrieving stray cigarettes from im

he, "I hav

Something like a sneer quivered ove

In the

, h

e! W

inst

compel me to tell you that this is too se

xact part you play in this strange business, I am not yet able to say. In a few minutes I shall probably hear it from your ow

key of her own. I have had an opportunity of examining yours, and I do not find that slight discolouration which the scratch made upon the varni

instructive," said he. "Have you no more to add? Surely, having

e had done, she rushed wildly away from the scene of the tragedy. Unfortunately for her, she had lost her glasses in the scuffle, and as she was extremely short-sighted she was really helpless without them. She ran down a corridor, which she imagined to be that by which she had come-both were lined with cocoanut matt

and fear were stamped upon his expressive features. Now, with an

little flaw in your splendid theory. I was mysel

of that, Pro

e upon that bed and not be aware tha

t. You spoke with her. You recognized

yed laughter. He had risen to his

talking insanely. I helped her t

d he pointed to a high bookcase

chair. At the same instant the bookcase at which Holmes pointed swung round upon a hinge, and a woman rushed

ical characteristics which Holmes had divined, with, in addition, a long and obstinate chin. What with her natural blindness, and what with the change from dark to light, she stood as one dazed, blinking about her to see wher

ved him aside gently, and yet with an over-mastering dignity which compelled obedience. Th

all. It was I who killed the young man. But you are right-you who say it was an accident. I did not even know that it was a knife which I

that it is the truth. I fear th

r the dark dust-streaks upon her face. She seated

u to know the whole truth. I am this man's wife. He is not

stirred. "God bless you, Anna!"

has done harm to many and good to none-not even to yourself. However, it is not for me to cause the frail thread to be snapped before G

and I a foolish girl of twenty when we married. It was in

Anna!" murmured

fe and to earn a great reward, my husband betrayed his own wife and his companions. Yes, we were all arrested upon his confession. Some of us found our way to the gallows, and some to Siberia. I was among these last, but

himself to a cigarette. "I am in your hands,

uch a course. These letters would have saved him. So would my diary, in which, from day to day, I had entered both my feelings towards him and the view which each of us had taken. My husband found and kept both diary and letters. He hid them, and he tried hard to swear away the young man's life. In this he faile

n, Anna," said the old man, p

e fell back again wit

g me and quoting some passages from its pages. Yet I was sure that, with his revengeful nature, he would never give it to me of his own free-will. I must get it for myself. With this object I engaged an agent from a private detective firm, who entered my husband's house as a secretary-it was your second secretary, Sergius, the one who left you so hurriedly. He found

me. I had seen him already that morning. He had met me on the road, and I had asked

mployer of the woman he had met. Then, in his last breath, he tried to se

r my own sake, but it was that I desired to accomplish my purpose. He knew that I would do what I said-that his own fate was involved in mine. For that reason, and for no other, he shielded me. He thrust me into that dark hiding-place-a relic of old days, known only to himself. He took his meals in his own room, and so was able to give me part of his food. It was agreed that when the poli

nded across the room and had wrenche

k the poison before I left my hiding-place. My head swims

o corridors, it became clear that she might very easily have made such a mistake, and, in that case, it was evident that she must have entered the professor's room. I was keenly on the alert, therefore, for whatever would bear out this supposition, and I examined the room narrowly for anything in the shape of a hiding-place. The carpet seemed continuous and firmly nailed, so I dismissed the idea of a trap-door. There might well be a recess behind the books. As you are aware, such devices are common in old libraries. I observed that books were piled on the floor at all other points, but that one bookcase was left clear. This, then, might be the door. I could see no marks to guide me, but the carpet was of a dun colour, which lends itself very well to examination. I therefore smoked a great number of those excellent cigarettes, and I dro