"As a medical man, you are aware, Watson, that there is no part of
the body which varies so much as the human ear. Each ear is as a rule
quite distinctive and differs from all other ones. In last year's
Anthropological Journal you will find two short monographs from my
pen upon the subject. I had, therefore, examined the ears in the box
with the eyes of an expert and had carefully noted their anatomical
peculiarities. Imagine my surprise, then, when on looking at Miss
Cushing I perceived that her ear corresponded exactly with the female
ear which I had just inspected. The matter was entirely beyond
coincidence. There was the same shortening of the pinna, the same
broad curve of the upper lobe, the same convolution of the inner
cartilage. In all essentials it was the same ear.
"In the first place, her sister's name was Sarah, and her address had
until recently been the same, so that it was quite obvious how the
mistake had occurred and for whom the packet was meant. Then we heard
of this steward, married to the third sister, and learned that he had
at one time been so intimate with Miss Sarah that she had actually
gone up to Liverpool to be near the Browners, but a quarrel had
afterwards divided them. This quarrel had put a stop to all
communications for some months, so that if Browner had occasion to
address a packet to Miss Sarah, he would undoubtedly have done so to
her old address.
"And now the matter had begun to straighten itself out wonderfully.
We had learned of the existence of this steward, an impulsive man, of
strong passions--you remember that he threw up what must have been a
very superior berth in order to be nearer to his wife--subject, too,
to occasional fits of hard drinking. We had reason to believe that
his wife had been murdered, and that a man--presumably a seafaring
man--had been murdered at the same time. Jealousy, of course, at once
suggests itself as the motive for the crime. And why should these
proofs of the deed be sent to Miss Sarah Cushing? Probably because
during her residence in Liverpool she had some hand in bringing about
the events which led to the tragedy. You will observe that this line
of boats call at Belfast, Dublin, and Waterford; so that, presuming
that Browner had committed the deed and had embarked at once upon his
steamer, the May Day, Belfast would be the first place at which he
could post his terrible packet.
"A second solution was at this stage obviously possible, and although
I thought it exceedingly unlikely, I was determined to elucidate it
before going further. An unsuccessful lover might have killed Mr. and
Mrs. Browner, and the male ear might have belonged to the husband.
There were many grave objections to this theory, but it was
conceivable. I therefore sent off a telegram to my friend Algar, of
the Liverpool force, and asked him to find out if Mrs. Browner were
at home, and if Browner had departed in the May Day. Then we went on
to Wallington to visit Miss Sarah.
"I was curious, in the first place, to see how far the family ear had
been reproduced in her. Then, of course, she might give us very
important information, but I was not sanguine that she would. She
must have heard of the business the day before, since all Croydon was
ringing with it, and she alone could have understood for whom the
packet was meant. If she had been willing to help justice she would
probably have communicated with the police already. However, it was
clearly our duty to see her, so we went. We found that the news of
the arrival of the packet--for her illness dated from that time--had
such an effect upon her as to bring on brain fever. It was clearer
than ever that she understood its full significance, but equally
clear that we should have to wait some time for any assistance from
her.
"However, we were really independent of her help. Our answers were
waiting for us at the police-station, where I had directed Algar to
send them. Nothing could be more conclusive. Mrs. Browner's house had
been closed for more than three days, and the neighbours were of
opinion that she had gone south to see her relatives. It had been
ascertained at the shipping offices that Browner had left aboard of
the May Day, and I calculate that she is due in the Thames tomorrow
night. When he arrives he will be met by the obtuse but resolute
Lestrade, and I have no doubt that we shall have all our details
filled in."
Sherlock Holmes was not disappointed in his expectations. Two days
later he received a bulky envelope, which contained a short note from
the detective, and a typewritten document, which covered several
pages of foolscap.
"Lestrade has got him all right," said Holmes, glancing up at me.
"Perhaps it would interest you to hear what he says.
"My dear Mr. Holmes:
"In accordance with the scheme which we had formed in order to test
our theories" ["the 'we' is rather fine, Watson, is it not?"] "I went
down to the Albert Dock yesterday at 6 p.m., and boarded the S.S. May
Day, belonging to the Liverpool, Dublin, and London Steam Packet
Company. On inquiry, I found that there was a steward on board of the
name of James Browner and that he had acted during the voyage in such
an extraordinary manner that the captain had been compelled to
relieve him of his duties. On descending to his berth, I found him
seated upon a chest with his head sunk upon his hands, rocking
himself to and fro. He is a big, powerful chap, clean-shaven, and
very swarthy--something like Aldrige, who helped us in the bogus
laundry affair. He jumped up when he heard my business, and I had my
whistle to my lips to call a couple of river police, who were round
the corner, but he seemed to have no heart in him, and he held out
his hands quietly enough for the darbies. We brought him along to the
cells, and his box as well, for we thought there might be something
incriminating; but, bar a big sharp knife such as most sailors have,
we got nothing for our trouble. However, we find that we shall want
no more evidence, for on being brought before the inspector at the
station he asked leave to make a statement, which was, of course,
taken down, just as he made it, by our shorthand man. We had three
copies typewritten, one of which I enclose. The affair proves, as I
always thought it would, to be an extremely simple one, but I am
obliged to you for assisting me in my investigation. With kind
regards,
"Yours very truly,
"G. Lestrade.
"Hum! The investigation really was a very simple one," remarked
Holmes, "but I don't think it struck him in that light when he first
called us in. However, let us see what Jim Browner has to say for
himself. This is his statement as made before Inspector Montgomery at
the Shadwell Police Station, and it has the advantage of being
verbatim."
"'Have I anything to say? Yes, I have a deal to say. I have to make a
clean breast of it all. You can hang me, or you can leave me alone. I
don't care a plug which you do. I tell you I've not shut an eye in
sleep since I did it, and I don't believe I ever will again until I
get past all waking. Sometimes it's his face, but most generally it's
hers. I'm never without one or the other before me. He looks frowning
and black-like, but she has a kind o' surprise upon her face. Ay, the
white lamb, she might well be surprised when she read death on a face
that had seldom looked anything but love upon her before.
"'But it was Sarah's fault, and may the curse of a broken man put a
blight on her and set the blood rotting in her veins! It's not that I
want to clear myself. I know that I went back to drink, like the
beast that I was. But she would have forgiven me; she would have
stuck as close to me a rope to a block if that woman had never
darkened our door. For Sarah Cushing loved me--that's the root of the
business--she loved me until all her love turned to poisonous hate
when she knew that I thought more of my wife's footmark in the mud
than I did of her whole body and soul.
"'There were three sisters altogether. The old one was just a good
woman, the second was a devil, and the third was an angel. Sarah was
thirty-three, and Mary was twenty-nine when I married. We were just
as happy as the day was long when we set up house together, and in
all Liverpool there was no better woman than my Mary. And then we
asked Sarah up for a week, and the week grew into a month, and one
thing led to another, until she was just one of ourselves.
"'I was blue ribbon at that time, and we were putting a little money
by, and all was as bright as a new dollar. My God, whoever would have
thought that it could have come to this? Whoever would have dreamed
it?
"'I used to be home for the week-ends very often, and sometimes if
the ship were held back for cargo I would have a whole week at a
time, and in this way I saw a deal of my sister-in-law, Sarah. She
was a fine tall woman, black and quick and fierce, with a proud way
of carrying her head, and a glint from her eye like a spark from a
flint. But when little Mary was there I had never a thought of her,
and that I swear as I hope for God's mercy.
"'It had seemed to me sometimes that she liked to be alone with me,
or to coax me out for a walk with her, but I had never thought
anything of that. But one evening my eyes were opened. I had come up
from the ship and found my wife out, but Sarah at home. "Where's
Mary?" I asked. "Oh, she has gone to pay some accounts." I was
impatient and paced up and down the room. "Can't you be happy for
five minutes without Mary, Jim?" says she. "It's a bad compliment to
me that you can't be contented with my society for so short a time."
"That's all right, my lass," said I, putting out my hand towards her
in a kindly way, but she had it in both hers in an instant, and they
burned as if they were in a fever. I looked into her eyes and I read
it all there. There was no need for her to speak, nor for me either.
I frowned and drew my hand away. Then she stood by my side in silence
for a bit, and then put up her hand and patted me on the shoulder.
"Steady old Jim!" said she, and with a kind o' mocking laugh, she ran
out of the room.
"'Well, from that time Sarah hated me with her whole heart and soul,
and she is a woman who can hate, too. I was a fool to let her go on
biding with us--a besotted fool--but I never said a word to Mary, for
I knew it would grieve her. Things went on much as before, but after
a time I began to find that there was a bit of a change in Mary
herself. She had always been so trusting and so innocent, but now she
became queer and suspicious, wanting to know where I had been and
what I had been doing, and whom my letters were from, and what I had
in my pockets, and a thousand such follies. Day by day she grew
queerer and more irritable, and we had ceaseless rows about nothing.
I was fairly puzzled by it all. Sarah avoided me now, but she and
Mary were just inseparable. I can see now how she was plotting and
scheming and poisoning my wife's mind against me, but I was such a
blind beetle that I could not understand it at the time. Then I broke
my blue ribbon and began to drink again, but I think I should not
have done it if Mary had been the same as ever. She had some reason
to be disgusted with me now, and the gap between us began to be wider
and wider. And then this Alec Fairbairn chipped in, and things became
a thousand times blacker.
"'It was to see Sarah that he came to my house first, but soon it was
to see us, for he was a man with winning ways, and he made friends
wherever he went. He was a dashing, swaggering chap, smart and
curled, who had seen half the world and could talk of what he had
seen. He was good company, I won't deny it, and he had wonderful
polite ways with him for a sailor man, so that I think there must
have been a time when he knew more of the poop than the forecastle.
For a month he was in and out of my house, and never once did it
cross my mind that harm might come of his soft, tricky ways. And then
at last something made me suspect, and from that day my peace was
gone forever.
"'It was only a little thing, too. I had come into the parlour
unexpected, and as I walked in at the door I saw a light of welcome
on my wife's face. But as she saw who it was it faded again, and she
turned away with a look of disappointment. That was enough for me.
There was no one but Alec Fairbairn whose step she could have
mistaken for mine. If I could have seen him then I should have killed
him, for I have always been like a madman when my temper gets loose.
Mary saw the devil's light in my eyes, and she ran forward with her
hands on my sleeve. "Don't, Jim, don't!" says she. "Where's Sarah?" I
asked. "In the kitchen," says she. "Sarah," says I as I went in,
