"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 doctor, the
fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor 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 this day. 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 black top-hat, a long
frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, with a hunting-crop swinging
in his hand. So tall was he that his hat 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 Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran."
"Indeed, Doctor," 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 Holmes.
"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 hunting-crop. "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, 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 Holmes, 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 the official
detective force! 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, Watson,
we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk down to
Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may help us in
this matter."
It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes 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 ?100, is
now, through the fall in agricultural prices, not more than ?50.
Each daughter can claim an income of ?50, in case of marriage. It is
evident, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would
have had a mere pittance, 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, Watson, 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 revolver into your pocket. An Eley's No. 2 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 trap at the station inn 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 front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat
pulled down 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.
"Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked the
driver.
"There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is where
we are going."
"There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of
roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the
house, you'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," observed Holmes, shading his
eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest."
We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way to
Leatherhead.
"I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "that
this fellow 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.
Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely that he will be back
before evening."
"We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's 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 to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to your aunt's
at Harrow. 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. Holmes 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
Dr. 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. Holmes 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 Wilton carpet 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 housekeeper's room."
"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
