England and had a presentiment that sooner or later he would find me
some work to do. Well, what has Baron Gruner been up to? I presume it
is not this old tragedy which has come up again?"
"No, it is more serious than that. To revenge crime is important, but
to prevent it is more so. It is a terrible thing, Mr. Holmes, to see
a dreadful event, an atrocious situation, preparing itself before
your eyes, to clearly understand whither it will lead and yet to be
utterly unable to avert it. Can a human being be placed in a more
trying position?"
"Perhaps not."
"Then you will sympathize with the client in whose interests I am
acting."
"I did not understand that you were merely an intermediary. Who is
the principal?"
"Mr. Holmes, I must beg you not to press that question. It is
important that I should be able to assure him that his honoured name
has been in no way dragged into the matter. His motives are, to the
last degree, honourable and chivalrous, but he prefers to remain
unknown. I need not say that your fees will be assured and that you
will be given a perfectly free hand. Surely the actual name of your
client is immaterial?"
"I am sorry," said Holmes. "I am accustomed to have mystery at one
end of my cases, but to have it at both ends is too confusing. I
fear, Sir James, that I must decline to act."
Our visitor was greatly disturbed. His large, sensitive face was
darkened with emotion and disappointment.
"You hardly realize the effect of your own action, Mr. Holmes," said
he. "You place me in a most serious dilemma, for I am perfectly
certain that you would be proud to take over the case if I could give
you the facts, and yet a promise forbids me from revealing them all.
May I, at least, lay all that I can before you?"
"By all means, so long as it is understood that I commit myself to
nothing."
"That is understood. In the first place, you have no doubt heard of
General de Merville?"
"De Merville of Khyber fame? Yes, I have heard of him."
"He has a daughter, Violet de Merville, young, rich, beautiful,
accomplished, a wonder-woman in every way. It is this daughter, this
lovely, innocent girl, whom we are endeavouring to save from the
clutches of a fiend."
"Baron Gruner has some hold over her, then?"
"The strongest of all holds where a woman is concerned--the hold of
love. The fellow is, as you may have heard, extraordinarily handsome,
with a most fascinating manner, a gentle voice, and that air of
romance and mystery which means so much to a woman. He is said to
have the whole sex at his mercy and to have made ample use of the
fact."
"But how came such a man to meet a lady of the standing of Miss
Violet de Merville?"
"It was on a Mediterranean yachting voyage. The company, though
select, paid their own passages. No doubt the promoters hardly
realized the Baron's true character until it was too late. The
villain attached himself to the lady, and with such effect that he
has completely and absolutely won her heart. To say that she loves
him hardly expresses it. She dotes upon him; she is obsessed by him.
Outside of him there is nothing on earth. She will not hear one word
against him. Everything has been done to cure her of her madness, but
in vain. To sum up, she proposes to marry him next month. As she is
of age and has a will of iron, it is hard to know how to prevent
her."
"Does she know about the Austrian episode?"
"The cunning devil has told her every unsavoury public scandal of his
past life, but always in such a way as to make himself out to be an
innocent martyr. She absolutely accepts his version and will listen
to no other."
"Dear me! But surely you have inadvertently let out the name of your
client? It is no doubt General de Merville."
Our visitor fidgeted in his chair.
"I could deceive you by saying so, Mr. Holmes, but it would not be
true. De Merville is a broken man. The strong soldier has been
utterly demoralized by this incident. He has lost the nerve which
never failed him on the battlefield and has become a weak, doddering
old man, utterly incapable of contending with a brilliant, forceful
rascal like this Austrian. My client, however, is an old friend, one
who has known the General intimately for many years and taken a
paternal interest in this young girl since she wore short frocks. He
cannot see this tragedy consummated without some attempt to stop it.
There is nothing in which Scotland Yard can act. It was his own
suggestion that you should be called in, but it was, as I have said,
on the express stipulation that he should not be personally involved
in the matter. I have no doubt, Mr. Holmes, with your great powers
you could easily trace my client back through me, but I must ask you,
as a point of honour, to refrain from doing so, and not to break in
upon his incognito."
Holmes gave a whimsical smile.
"I think I may safely promise that," said he. "I may add that your
problem interests me, and that I shall be prepared to look into it.
How shall I keep in touch with you?"
"The Carlton Club will find me. But in case of emergency, there is a
private telephone call, 'XX.31.'"
Holmes noted it down and sat, still smiling, with the open
memorandum-book upon his knee.
"The Baron's present address, please?"
"Vernon Lodge, near Kingston. It is a large house. He has been
fortunate in some rather shady speculations and is a rich man, which
naturally makes him a more dangerous antagonist."
"Is he at home at present?"
"Yes."
"Apart from what you have told me, can you give me any further
information about the man?"
"He has expensive tastes. He is a horse fancier. For a short time he
played polo at Hurlingham, but then this Prague affair got noised
about and he had to leave. He collects books and pictures. He is a
man with a considerable artistic side to his nature. He is, I
believe, a recognized authority upon Chinese pottery and has written
a book upon the subject."
"A complex mind," said Holmes. "All great criminals have that. My old
friend Charlie Peace was a violin virtuoso. Wainwright was no mean
artist. I could quote many more. Well, Sir James, you will inform
your client that I am turning my mind upon Baron Gruner. I can say no
more. I have some sources of information of my own, and I dare say we
may find some means of opening the matter up."
When our visitor had left us Holmes sat so long in deep thought that
it seemed to me that he had forgotten my presence. At last, however,
he came briskly back to earth.
"Well, Watson, any views?" he asked.
"I should think you had better see the young lady herself."
"My dear Watson, if her poor old broken father cannot move her, how
shall I, a stranger, prevail? And yet there is something in the
suggestion if all else fails. But I think we must begin from a
different angle. I rather fancy that Shinwell Johnson might be a
help."
I have not had occasion to mention Shinwell Johnson in these memoirs
because I have seldom drawn my cases from the latter phases of my
friend's career. During the first years of the century he became a
valuable assistant. Johnson, I grieve to say, made his name first as
a very dangerous villain and served two terms at Parkhurst. Finally
he repented and allied himself to Holmes, acting as his agent in the
huge criminal underworld of London and obtaining information which
often proved to be of vital importance. Had Johnson been a "nark" of
the police he would soon have been exposed, but as he dealt with
cases which never came directly into the courts, his activities were
never realized by his companions. With the glamour of his two
convictions upon him, he had the entree of every night-club, doss
house, and gambling-den in the town, and his quick observation and
active brain made him an ideal agent for gaining information. It was
to him that Sherlock Holmes now proposed to turn.
It was not possible for me to follow the immediate steps taken by my
friend, for I had some pressing professional business of my own, but
I met him by appointment that evening at Simpson's, where, sitting at
a small table in the front window and looking down at the rushing
stream of life in the Strand, he told me something of what had
passed.
"Johnson is on the prowl," said he. "He may pick up some garbage in
the darker recesses of the underworld, for it is down there, amid the
black roots of crime, that we must hunt for this man's secrets."
"But if the lady will not accept what is already known, why should
any fresh discovery of yours turn her from her purpose?"
"Who knows, Watson? Woman's heart and mind are insoluble puzzles to
the male. Murder might be condoned or explained, and yet some smaller
offence might rankle. Baron Gruner remarked to me--"
"He remarked to you!"
"Oh, to be sure, I had not told you of my plans. Well, Watson, I love
to come to close grips with my man. I like to meet him eye to eye and
read for myself the stuff that he is made of. When I had given
Johnson his instructions I took a cab out to Kingston and found the
Baron in a most affable mood."
"Did he recognize you?"
"There was no difficulty about that, for I simply sent in my card. He
is an excellent antagonist, cool as ice, silky voiced and soothing as
one of your fashionable consultants, and poisonous as a cobra. He has
breeding in him--a real aristocrat of crime, with a superficial
suggestion of afternoon tea and all the cruelty of the grave behind
it. Yes, I am glad to have had my attention called to Baron Adelbert
Gruner."
"You say he was affable?"
"A purring cat who thinks he sees prospective mice. Some people's
affability is more deadly than the violence of coarser souls. His
greeting was characteristic. 'I rather thought I should see you
sooner or later, Mr. Holmes,' said he. 'You have been engaged, no
doubt by General de Merville, to endeavour to stop my marriage with
his daughter, Violet. That is so, is it not?'
"I acquiesced.
"'My dear man,' said he, 'you will only ruin your own well-deserved
reputation. It is not a case in which you can possibly succeed. You
will have barren work, to say nothing of incurring some danger. Let
me very strongly advise you to draw off at once.'
"'It is curious,' I answered, 'but that was the very advice which I
had intended to give you. I have a respect for your brains, Baron,
and the little which I have seen of your personality has not lessened
it. Let me put it to you as man to man. No one wants to rake up your
past and make you unduly uncomfortable. It is over, and you are now
in smooth waters, but if you persist in this marriage you will raise
up a swarm of powerful enemies who will never leave you alone until
they have made England too hot to hold you. Is the game worth it?
Surely you would be wiser if you left the lady alone. It would not be
pleasant for you if these facts of your past were brought to her
notice.'
"The Baron has little waxed tips of hair under his nose, like the
short antennae of an insect. These quivered with amusement as he
listened, and he finally broke into a gentle chuckle.
"'Excuse my amusement, Mr. Holmes,' said he, 'but it is really funny
to see you trying to play a hand with no cards in it. I don't think
anyone could do it better, but it is rather pathetic, all the same.
Not a colour card there, Mr. Holmes, nothing but the smallest of the
small.'
"'So you think.'
"'So I know. Let me make the thing clear to you, for my own hand is
so strong that I can afford to show it. I have been fortunate enough
to win the entire affection of this lady. This was given to me in
spite of the fact that I told her very clearly of all the unhappy
incidents in my past life. I also told her that certain wicked and
designing persons--I hope you recognize yourself--would come to her
and tell her these things, and I warned her how to treat them. You
have heard of post-hypnotic suggestion, Mr. Holmes? Well, you will
see how it works, for a man of personality can use hypnotism without
any vulgar passes or tomfoolery. So she is ready for you and, I have
no doubt, would give you an appointment, for she is quite amenable to
her father's will--save only in the one little matter.'
"Well, Watson, there seemed to be no more to say, so I took my leave
with as much cold dignity as I could summon, but, as I had my hand on
the door-handle, he stopped me.
"'By the way, Mr. Holmes,' said he, 'did you know Le Brun, the French
agent?'
"'Yes,' said I.
