The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes

ad brought him. Then, with the dry chuckle which was h

ractical and of the wildly fanciful, I think this is sur

as fo

OLD

. 1

Vam

I

concerning vampires. As our firm specializes entirely upon the assessment of machinery the matter hardly comes within our purview, and we have theref

re,

fully

MORRISON

E. J

t of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared. But what do we know about vampires? Does it come within our purview either? Anything

lmes balanced it on his knee, and his eyes moved slowly and lovingly over t

er. Venomous lizard or gila. Remarkable case, that! Vittoria, the circus belle. Vanderbilt and the Yeggman. Vipers. Vigor, the Hammersmith wonder. Hullo! Hullo! Good old index. You can’t beat it. Listen to t

lking corpses who can only be held in their grave by

living person might have the habit. I have read, for example, of th

ency stands flat-footed upon the ground, and there it must remain. The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply. I fear that we

ile of amusement upon his face which gradually faded away into an expression of intense interest and concentration. When he had finished he s

berley. Where is

ssex, South

r, eh? And C

er the men who built them centuries ago. You get Odley’s and Harvey’s and

n very quietly and accurately in his brain, he seldom made any acknowledgment to the giver. “I rather fancy we shall know a good deal more about

th

better

cross. It was headed w

HOLMES [

whom he had met in connection with the importation of nitrates. The lady was very beautiful, but the fact of her foreign birth and of her alien religion always caused a separation of interests and of feelings between husband and wife, so that after a time his love may have

to show some curious traits quite alien to her ordinarily sweet and gentle disposition. The gentleman had been married twice and he had one son by the first wife. This boy was now fifteen, a very charming and affectionate

as of pain, called the nurse back. As she ran into the room she saw her employer, the lady, leaning over the baby and apparently biting his neck. There was a small wound in the neck from which a stream of blood had escaped. The nurs

as she watched the mother, so the mother watched her, and that every time she was compelled to leave the baby alone the mother was waiting to get at it. Day and night the nurse covered the child, and day and night

seemed as wild a tale as it may now seem to you. He knew his wife to be a loving wife, and, save for the assaults upon her stepson, a loving mother. Why, then, should she wound her own dear little baby? He told the nurse that she

d upon the child’s exposed neck and upon the sheet. With a cry of horror, he turned his wife’s face to the lig

e. We had thought it was some wild tale of foreign parts. And yet here in the very heart of the English Sussex — well, all this can be discussed with you in the morning. Wi

fait

T FER

Blackheath when I was three-quarter for Richmond. It

Ferguson, the finest three-quarter Richmond ever had. He was always a g

me thoughtfully a

nexplored possibilities about you. Take a wire down, lik

r ca

e for the weak-minded. Of course it is his case. Sen

d which had carried him round many an opposing back. There is surely nothing in life more painful than to meet the wreck of a fine athlete whom one has kno

you over the ropes into the crowd at the Old Deer Park. I expect I have changed a bit also. But it’s this last day o

to deal direc

What can I do? How am I to go to the police with such a story? And yet the kiddies have got to be protected. Is it madness, Mr. Holmes? I

. I can assure you that I am very far from being at my wit’s end, and that I am confident we shall fin

is horrible, this incredible, secret. She would not even speak. She gave no answer to my reproaches, save to gaze at me with a sort of wild, despairing look in her eyes. Then she rushed to her r

d is in no imm

day. I can absolutely trust her. I am more uneasy about poor little Ja

ever w

gaunt features softened as he spoke of his boy. “You would think that the dear lad’s condition would soften an

y and was reading it over. “What other inma

hand, Michael, who sleeps in the house. My wife, myself,

t know your wife well at

known her

his maid Dolore

e ye

would really be better kno

ou may

made

ently a case for personal investigation. If the lady remains in her room, our pre

ve a gestur

There is an excellent train at tw

e, comes with us. But there are one or two points upon which I wish to be very sure before I start. This unh

t is

ferent forms, do they not?

and once very savag

explanation why

hated him. Again and

mothers. A posthumous jealousy, we wi

jealous with all the strengt

y developed in mind, since his body has been circumscribed i

ared there w

od friends at

never any lov

y he is aff

o devoted a son. My life is his life

a note. For some time

des before this second marriage. You were

much

ate a nature, was devoted, no dou

devo

one other point about these assaults. Were the strange attacks

and she had vented her rage upon both. In the second case it was only

nly complica

e follow you,

an nature is weak. I fear that your old friend here has given an exaggerated view of my scientific methods. However, I will only say at

large, straggling building, very old in the centre, very new at the wings with towering Tudor chimneys and a lichen-spotted, high-pitched roof of Horsham slabs. The doorsteps were worn into curves, and the ancient tiles which lined the porch wer

Here, in a huge old-fashioned fireplace with an iron screen behi

owever, on the lower part by a line of well-chosen modern water-colours; while above, where yellow plaster took the place of oak, there was hung a fine collection of South American utensils and weapons, which

he cried.

towards its master, walking with difficulty. Its hind legs moved ir

it, Mr.

at’s the mat

s. Spinal meningitis, he thought. But it is pass

. The dog’s mournful eyes passed from one of us to

come on

single

long

e been four

kable. Very

see in it,

of what I had

zle to you, but it is life and death to me! My wife a would-be murderer — my chil

trembling all over. Holmes put h

y be,” said he. “I would spare you all I can. I cannot say more for the in

e, gentlemen, I will go up to my wife’s r

osities upon the wall. When our host returned it was clear from his downcast face

d Ferguson. “See that your mistr

s at her master. “She no ask for food. She verra ill. She n

at me with a que

o glad if I co

mistress see

no ask leave. S

come with y

sive door. It struck me as I looked at it that if Ferguson tried to force his way to his wife he would find it no easy matter. The girl drew a ke

in apprehension. Seeing a stranger, she appeared to be relieved and sank back with a sigh upon the pillow. I stepped up to her with a few reassuring words, and she lay still

day, two day. I ’fraid

r flushed and hands

is my h

and would wis

she seemed to wander off into delirium. “A fien

lp you in

nished. All is destroyed. Do w

ion. I could not see honest Bob Fergus

d loves you dearly. He is deep

ed on me those

o sacrifice myself rather than break his dear heart? That is how I

rief, but he can

nderstand. But h

t see him?”

ow. You can do nothing for me. Tell him only one thing. I want my child. I have a right to my chil

on and Holmes still sat by the fire. Ferguson l

n her? How can I ever forget how she rose from beside it with its blood upon her lips?” He

outh entered the room. He was a remarkable lad, pale-faced and fair-haired, with excitable light blue eyes which blazed into a sudden flam

t you were due yet. I should have been her

self from the embrace with som

er hand. “I came early because my friends, Mr. Holmes and Dr. Wats

Holmes, the

es

very penetrating and, as it

Ferguson?” asked Holmes. “Might we

g from a weak spine. Presently he returned, and behind him came a tall, gaunt woman bearing in her arms a very beautiful child, dark-eyed, golden-ha

” he muttered as he glanced down at the sma

n something at the other side of the room. Following his gaze I could only guess that he was looking out through the window at the melancholy, dripping garden. It is true that a shutter had half closed outside and obstructed the view, but none the less it was certainly at the wi

strange start in life. Nurse, I should

t words, which were: “Your anxiety will soon, I hope, be set at rest.” The wo

Mason like?”

y, as you can see, but a heart of

denly upon the boy. His expressive mobile

s,” said Ferguson, putting his arm round

head upon his father’s breast.

he continued when the boy was gone, “I really feel that I have brought you on a fool’s errand, for what can you po

ion, but when this original intellectual deduction is confirmed point by point by quite a number of independent incidents, then the subjective becomes objective and w

big hand to his f

s matter, do not keep me in suspense. How do I stand? What shall I do? I care n

ve it. But you will permit me to handle the matter in

but she is qu

resence that we can clear the m

t see me,” c

upon a sheet of paper.“You at least have the entree, Wats

pened the door. A minute later I heard a cry from within, a cry i

em. She will lee

fe, who had raised herself in the bed, but she held out her hand to repulse him. He sank into an armchair, w

ion. Now, Mr. Ferguson, I am a busy man with many calls, and my methods have to be short and direct. The swiftest surgery is th

t up with a

olmes, and I am yo

ng so I must wound you de

ear my wife. Everything on earth

a vampire was to me absurd. Such things do not happen in criminal practice in England. And yet your obser

d

e other purpose than to draw the blood from it? Was there not a quee

iso

poison, but that was what occurred to me. When I saw that little empty quiver beside the small birdbow, it was just what I expected to see. If th

st in order to see that it had not lost its power? I did not foresee the

nd saved the child’s life, and yet she shrank from telling you all the tru

ac

ected in the glass of the window where the shutter formed a background. I s

Ja

ggerated love for you, and possibly for his dead mother, which has prompted his action. His very soul is

! It is i

ken the tru

r face buried in the pillows.

t I should wait and that it should come from some other lips than mine. When this

. “Only one thing is still clouded, madame. We can quite understand your attacks upon Master Jacky. T

Mrs. Mason

. So I i

he bed, choking, his hands

ke one elbow of the too faithful Dolores, I will take the other. There, now,” he added as he

the letter which Holmes wrote in final answer to

R ST

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Vam

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lient, Mr. Robert Ferguson, of Ferguson and Muirhead, tea brokers, of Mincing Lane, and that the m

fully

OCK H