The Adventure of the Speckled Band With my apologies to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose story I have shamelessly plagiarized.
However I have two favorites, this and the Red Headed League!
As DI Lestrade says of my friend Sherlock Holmes, of all his cases many are tragic, some comic, a large number merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he does rather for the mental challenge than for the acquirement of wealth. He refuses to associate himself with any investigation, which does not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Of all his varied cases, none present more singular features than the case of the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran.
It was early in April that I woke one morning to find Sherlock standing, fully dressed, by the side of my bed. My alarm clock showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little resentment.
"Very sorry to wake you up, John," he lied, "but Mrs. Hudson has been woken at the crack of dawn, she has retorted upon me, and I on you."
"What is it, then—a fire?" I asked stupidly, rubbing the sleep from my eye, and shuffling under the duvet.
"No a case. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a considerable state of excitement, whom insists upon seeing me. She is waiting now in the living room. Now, when a young woman wanders around NW1 at this hour of the morning, and knock sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it prove to be an interesting I will need my blogger. I thought, at any rate, that I should wake you and give you the chance to be up with the case from the beginning."
"Alright, I'm getting up" I wouldn't miss it for the world.
I have no greater pleasure than in following Sherlock on his cases; I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the living room. A lady dressed in black was sitting by the window, and stood as we entered.
"Good-morning, madam," said Sherlock in his deepest most charming voice. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. This is my colleague, Dr. John Watson, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. I am glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to bring you a cup of coffee, you are shivering?"
"It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low voice, changing her seat as directed by my friend
"What, then?"
"It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." As she spoke, I could see that she was indeed in a pitiable state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot with grey, and her expression was weary and haggard.
"You must not fear," said Sherlock soothingly, bending forward and patting her forearm. "You have come in by train this morning, I see."
"You know me, then?"
"No, but I observe a return ticket, in the top of your handbag. You must have started early, and yet you had a good drive in a taxi, before you reached the station."
The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my companion.
"There is no mystery' said he, smiling. "Your jacket and skirt is badly creased in no less than seven places. The suit is freshly laundered, so these marks have been made by sitting for a long period. You have travelled to Waterloo on a commuter train this morning, where you would have never got a seat, thus you must have travelled a reasonable time in a car, in which you are not comfortable, before boarding the train.
"Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at twenty past, and came in by the early train to Waterloo. I can stand this madness no longer, I have no one to turn to, only one person who cares for me, and he can be of little aid. I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes.
I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you helped in the hour of her need. It was from her that I had your address. Would you help me as well? And throw a little light through the dense darkness which surrounds me I cannot pay you well for your services, but in six months I shall be married to a wealthy man and then I hope we can reward you better. Sherlock picked up his I-phone and started looking through his contacts.
"Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was concerned with an opal tiara. It was before you knew me John. I can only say that I shall be happy to devote the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty to pay whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which suits you best. And now tell us everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the matter."
Our visitor started her tale, stopping frequently to draw ragged breath "the very horror of my situation lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to another, that even my fiancee looks upon all that I tell him about it as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid the dangers which encompass me."
"I am all attention"
"My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who is the only living member of the family Roylotts of Stoke Moran, in Surrey."
"The name is familiar to me," said Sherlock.
"The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, and Hampshire in the west. During the inter-war period however, four successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler during the 1960's. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under a heavy mortgage.
The last owner lived out his days here but his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to the new conditions, obtained a computer sciences degree and went out to Calcutta, where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he established a large IT company. In a fit of anger, however, caused by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he beat a servant to death and narrowly escaped a capital sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man.
"When Mr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, the young widow of a new age traveller. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable sum of money, over 10 million pounds and this she bequeathed to Mr. Roylott entirely while we lived with him, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to each of us in the event of our marriage.
Shortly after our return to England my mother died—she was killed eight years ago in a railway accident near Crewe. Mr. Roylott then abandoned his attempts to establish himself in London and took us to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness.
"But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. Instead of making friends and intergrating into the village, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious quarrels with local ramblers. Violence of temper approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been intensified by his long residence in an Indian Goal. A series of disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in magistrates court, until at last he became the terror of the village, and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger.
"Last week he hurled the local mechanic over a bridge into a stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I could gather together that I was able to avert another public exposure in court. He had no friends at all save the new age travellers, who he would leave to encamp upon the few acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, and would accept in return the hospitality of their caravans, wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a passion also for wild animals, which are sent over to him by a correspondent, and he has at this moment a wild boar, which wanders freely over his grounds and are feared by the villagers almost as much as their master.
"You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I had no great pleasure in our lives. No friend would stay with us, and for a long time all we did was work in the house. She was but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already begun to whiten, even as mine has."
"Your sister is dead, then?"
"She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own age. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Deal, and we were occasionally allowed to pay short visits to her house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there a Major in the Marines, to whom she became engaged. My stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event occurred which has deprived me of my only sister."
Sherlock had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his lids now and glanced across at his visitor.
"Pray be precise as to details," said he.
"It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful time is seared into my memory. The house is, as I have already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms the first is Mr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open out into the same corridor. Do you understand?"
"Perfectly so."
"The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That fatal night Mr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door and looked back.
" 'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle in the dead of the night?'
" 'Never,' said I.
" 'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in your sleep?'
" 'Certainly not. But why?'
" 'Because during the last few nights I have always, about 3am, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, and it has woken me. I cannot tell where it came from—perhaps from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would just ask you whether you had heard it.'
" 'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the wood'
" 'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you did not hear it also.'
" 'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.'
" 'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her key turn in the lock."
"Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock yourselves in at night?"
"Always."
"And why?"
"I think that I mentioned to you that my stepfather keeps wild animals in the garden. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were locked."
"Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement."
"I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By the light of the corridor I saw my sister appear at the opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. She writhed in terrible pain, and her limbs were dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the air in the direction of my stepfathers room, but a fresh convulsion seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was unconscious, and though he tried CPR and I phoned for an ambulance all efforts were in vain, for she slowly sank and died without having recovered her consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister."
"One moment," said Sherlock, "are you sure about this whistle and metallic sound? Could you swear to it?"
"That was what the police asked me during the inquiry. It is my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have been deceived."
"Was your sister dressed?"
"No, she was in her night-dress. With a torch in her hand."
"Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did the police come to?"
"They investigated the case with great care, for Mr. Roylott's conduct had long been known to them, but they was unable to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, which my sister and I secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her."
"How about poison?"
"The PM examined her for it, but without success."
"What do you think that your sister died of, then?"
"It is my belief that she died of fright and nervous shock, though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine."
"Were there travellers in the wood at the time?"
"Yes, there are nearly always some there."
"Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band—a speckled band?"
"Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of people, perhaps to these very gipsies. I do not know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which she used."
Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied.
"These are very deep waters," said he; "pray continue."
"Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage—Percy Armitage—the second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to be married in October. Two days ago some repairs were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and turned on my lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was daylight I slipped down, got a taxi from the village, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your advice."
"You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me all?"
"Yes, all."
"Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather."
"Why, what do you mean?"
For answer Holmes pushed back the sleeve of her jacket. Five little livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed upon the white wrist.
"You have been cruelly used," said Holmes.
The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own strength."
There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire.
"This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If we were to come to Stoke Moran today, would it be possible for us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your stepfather?"
"As it happens, he spoke of coming into town today. It is probable that he will be away all day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily get her out of the way."
"Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, John?"
"By no means."
"Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?"
"I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am in town. But I shall return by the midday train, so as to be there in time for your coming."
"And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and John can find breakfast?"
"No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you again this afternoon." She smiled briefly and glided from the room.
"And what do you think of it all, John?" asked Sherlock, leaning back in his chair.
"It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business."
"Dark enough and sinister enough."
"Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her mysterious end."
"What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the very peculiar words of the dying woman?"
"I cannot think."
"When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old man, the fact that we have every reason to believe that he has an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its place, I think that there is good ground to think that the mystery may be cleared along those lines."
"But what, then, did the gipsies do?"
"I cannot imagine."
"I see many objections to any such theory."
"And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going to Stoke Moran today. I want to see whether the objections are fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of the devil!"
The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a suit and barber jacket, with green wellies. So tall was he that his hair actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old bird of prey.
"Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition.
"My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my companion quietly.
"I am Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran."
"Indeed, sir," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat."
"I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I have traced her. What has she been saying to you?"
"It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Sherlock.
"What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man furiously.
"But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my companion imperturbably.
"Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step forward and shaking his fist. "I know you, you scoundrel! I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler."
My friend smiled.
"Holmes, the busybody!"
His smile broadened.
"Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!"
Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for there is a decided draught."
"I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped swiftly forward, seized the poker from the fire side, and bent it into a curve with his huge brown hands.
"See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the room.
"He seems a very amiable person," said Sherlock, laughing. "I am not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, straightened it out again.
"Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with Lestrade's idiots! This incident gives zest to our investigation, however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, John, we shall go out and find breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk down to the city, where I hope to get some data which may help us in this matter."
It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock returned from his excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled over with notes and figures.
"I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little short of £11000000, is now, through the fall house prices, not more than £7500000. Each daughter can claim an income of £2500000, in case of marriage. It is evident, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have had a mere pittance when living in a home like his, while even one of them would cripple him to a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, John, this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be very much obliged if you would slip your Browning into your pocket. An L91 is an excellent argument with gentlemen who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush are, I think, all that we need."
At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for Leatherhead, where we hired a car at the station and drove for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in the passenger seat, his arms folded, his scarf pulled up over his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the shoulder, and pointed over the meadows.
"Look there!" said he.
A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a very old mansion.
"Stoke Moran?" said he.
"There is some building going on there," said my friend; "that is where we are going. We will park in the village," but to get to the house, we'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is walking. And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," he observed shading his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better park straight away."
We parked in the pub carpark, and started our walk.
"I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "that the barman in the pub should think we had come here as architects, or on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as our word."
Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned out splendidly. Mr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely that he will be back before evening."
"We have had the pleasure of making the his acquaintance," said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened.
"Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then."
"So it appears."
"He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What will he say when he returns?"
"He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself up from him tonight. If he is violent, we shall take you away to your aunt's at Deal. Now, we must make the best use of our time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to examine."
The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any workmen at the moment of our visit. Sherlock walked slowly up and down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the outsides of the windows.
"This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main building to Mr. Roylott's chamber?"
"Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one."
"Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end wall."
"There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from my room."
"Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There are windows in it, of course?"
"Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass through."
"As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness to go into your room and bar your shutters?"
Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon the matter."
A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which the three bedrooms opened. Sherlock refused to examine the third chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save for a square of an Ikea rug in the centre. The boards round and the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, taking in every detail of the apartment.
"Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the tassel actually lying upon the pillow.
"It goes to the old nursery."
"It looks newer than the other things?"
"Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago."
"Your sister asked for it, I suppose?"
"No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we wanted for ourselves."
"Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug.
"Why, it's a dummy," said he.
"Won't it ring?"
"No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where the little opening for the air conditioning is."
"How very absurd! I never noticed that before."
"Very strange!" muttered Sherlock, pulling at the rope. "There are one or two very singular points about this room. For example, what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilation shaft into another room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated with the outside air!"
"That is also quite modern," said the lady.
"Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked my friend.
"Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that time."
"They seem to have been of a most interesting character—dummy bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into the inner apartment."
Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each and all of them with the keenest interest.
"What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe.
"My stepfather's business papers."
"Oh! you have seen inside, then?"
"Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of papers."
"There isn't a cat in it, for example?"
"No. What a strange idea!"
"Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which stood on the top of it.
"No; we don't keep a cat. But there are all kinds of animals in the wood."
"Ah, yes, of course! Well, a wild boar is just a big pig, and yet a saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat of it with the greatest attention.
"Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!"
The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord.
"What do you make of that, John?"
"It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be tied."
"That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn."
I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he roused himself from his reverie.
"It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should absolutely follow my advice in every respect."
"I shall most certainly do so."
"The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may depend upon your compliance."
"I assure you that I am in your hands."
"In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in your room."
Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment.
"Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the village inn over there?"
"Yes, that is the Crown."
"Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?"
"Certainly."
"You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, undo the hasp, put your bedside lamp there as a signal to us, and then withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night."
"Oh, yes, easily."
"The rest you will leave in our hands."
"But what will you do?"
"We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate the cause of this noise which has disturbed you."
"I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve.
"Perhaps I have."
"Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's death."
"I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak."
"You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and if she died from some sudden fright."
"No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if Mr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers that threaten you."
Sherlock and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom at the Crown Inn. It was on the upper floor, and from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form filling his tiny car. He had some slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard the hoarse roar of the his voice and saw the fury with which he shook his clinched fists at the gate. The car drove on, and a few minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms.
"Do you know, John," said Sherlock as we sat together in the gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you to-night. There is a distinct element of danger."
"Can I be of assistance?"
"Your presence might be invaluable."
"Then I shall certainly come."
"It is very kind of you."
"You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms than was visible to me."
"No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine that you saw all that I did."
"I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine."
"You saw the ventilator, too?"
"Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a rat could hardly pass through."
"I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to Stoke Moran."
"Really?"
"Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her sister could smell Mr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that suggested at once that there must be a communication between the two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been remarked upon at the inquest. I deduced a ventilator."
"But what harm can there be in that?"
"Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the bed dies. Does not that strike you?"
"I cannot as yet see any connection."
"Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?"
"No."
"It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened like that before?"
"I cannot say that I have."
"The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same relative position to the ventilator and to the rope—or so we may call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull."
"Sherlock Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible crime."
"Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a clever man does go wrong he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. This man strikes deep, but I think, John, that we shall be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us turn our minds for a few hours to something more cheerful."
About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us.
"That is our signal," said Sherlock, springing to his feet; "it comes from the middle window."
As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand.
There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted animal, which threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness.
"My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?"
Sherlock was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low laugh and put his lips to my ear.
"It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the boar."
I had forgotten the strange pets which the stepfather affected. There were others, too; perhaps we might find them on our shoulders at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, after following Sherlock's example and slipping off my shoes, I found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to distinguish the words:
"The least sound would be fatal to our plans."
I nodded to show that I had heard.
"We must sit without light. He would see it through the ventilator."
I nodded again.
"Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your gun ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of the bed, and you in that chair."
I took out my Browning and laid it on the corner of the table.
Sherlock had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon the bed beside him. By it he laid a torch. Then he turned off the lamp, and we were left in darkness.
How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness.
From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at our very window a long drawn catlike whine. Far away we could hear the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for whatever might befall.
Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately. Someone in the next room had lit a torch. I heard a gentle sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the smell of tabbacco. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. Then suddenly another sound became audible—a very gentle, soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes sprang from the bed, lit the torch, and lashed furiously with his cane at the bell-pull.
"You see it, John?" he yelled. "You see it?"
But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I stood gazing at Sherlock, and he at me, until the last echoes of it had died away into the silence from which it rose.
"What can it mean?" I gasped.
"It means that it is all over," he answered. "And perhaps, after all, it is for the best. Take your gun, and we will enter Mr. Roylott's room."
With a grave face he lit the torch again and led the way down the corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his heels, with the Browning in my hand.
It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a red torch throwing a brilliant beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Grimesby Roylott clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion.
"The band! the speckled band!" whispered Sherlock.
I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent.
"It is a swamp adder!" cried Sherlock; "the deadliest snake in India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to some place of shelter and let the police know what has happened."
As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into the iron safe, which he closed upon it.
Such are the true facts of the death of Mr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Deal, of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the conclusion that he met his fate while indiscreetly playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back next day.
"I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which shows, my dear John, how dangerous it always is to reason from insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not come either from the window or the door. My attention was speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed.
The discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the man was furnished with a supply of parcels from India, I felt that I was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless man who had had an Indian Prison background.
The rapidity with which such a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed pathologist, indeed, who could distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but sooner or later she must fall a victim.
"I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the light and attacked it."
"With the result of driving it through the ventilator."
"And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Mr. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon my conscience."
Friends I hope you forgive me, but I do love this story!
Jas xx