"'Why, what did you think?' I asked.
"'Why do you think that I lock this door?'
"'I am sure that I do not know.'
"'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you see?'
He was still smiling in the most amiable manner.
"'I am sure if I had known--'
"'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over that
threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into a grin
of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a demon--'I'll
throw you to the mastiff.'
"I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that I
must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing until I
found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I thought of
you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without some advice. I
was frightened of the house, of the man, of the woman, of the
servants, even of the child. They were all horrible to me. If I could
only bring you down all would be well. Of course I might have fled
from the house, but my curiosity was almost as strong as my fears. My
mind was soon made up. I would send you a wire. I put on my hat and
cloak, went down to the office, which is about half a mile from the
house, and then returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt
came into my mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be
loose, but I remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of
insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one in
the household who had any influence with the savage creature, or who
would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and lay awake
half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. I had no
difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this morning, but
I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr and Mrs. Rucastle are
going on a visit, and will be away all the evening, so that I must
look after the child. Now I have told you all my adventures, Mr.
Holmes, and I should be very glad if you could tell me what it all
means, and, above all, what I should do."
Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. My
friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in his
pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon his
face.
"Is Toller still drunk?" he asked.
"Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do nothing
with him."
"That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?"
"Yes."
"Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?"
"Yes, the wine-cellar."
"You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very
brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could
perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not think
you a quite exceptional woman."
"I will try. What is it?"
"We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend and I.
The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, we hope, be
incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might give the alarm.
If you could send her into the cellar on some errand, and then turn
the key upon her, you would facilitate matters immensely."
"I will do it."
"Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of course
there is only one feasible explanation. You have been brought there
to personate someone, and the real person is imprisoned in this
chamber. That is obvious. As to who this prisoner is, I have no doubt
that it is the daughter, Miss Alice Rucastle, if I remember right,
who was said to have gone to America. You were chosen, doubtless, as
resembling her in height, figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers
had been cut off, very possibly in some illness through which she has
passed, and so, of course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a
curious chance you came upon her tresses. The man in the road was
undoubtedly some friend of hers--possibly her fianc?-and no doubt,
as you wore the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced
from your laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your
gesture, that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no
longer desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to
prevent him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is
fairly clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition
of the child."
"What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated.
"My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining light
as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the parents. Don't
you see that the converse is equally valid. I have frequently gained
my first real insight into the character of parents by studying their
children. This child's disposition is abnormally cruel, merely for
cruelty's sake, and whether he derives this from his smiling father,
as I should suspect, or from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor
girl who is in their power."
"I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A
thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you have
hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to this poor
creature."
"We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning man.
We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall be with
you, and it will not be long before we solve the mystery."
We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we reached
the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside public-house.
The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining like burnished
metal in the light of the setting sun, were sufficient to mark the
house even had Miss Hunter not been standing smiling on the
door-step.
"Have you managed it?" asked Holmes.
A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is Mrs.
Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring on the
kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates of Mr.
Rucastle's."
"You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now lead
the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black business."
We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a
passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss
Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the transverse
bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but without success.
No sound came from within, and at the silence Holmes' face clouded
over.
"I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss Hunter,
that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put your shoulder
to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our way in."
It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united
strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There was
no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a basketful
of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner gone.
"There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty has
guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim off."
"But how?"
"Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He swung
himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the end of a
long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did it."
"But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not there
when the Rucastles went away."
"He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and
dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were he
whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it would
be as well for you to have your pistol ready."
The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at the
door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy stick in his
hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the wall at the sight
of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and confronted him.
"You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?"
The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open skylight.
"It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies and
thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll serve
you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he could go.
"He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter.
"I have my revolver," said I.
"Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed down
the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we heard the
baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a horrible
worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An elderly man
with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out at a side door.
"My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been fed
for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!"
Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with Toller
hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its black
muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and screamed
upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and it fell over
with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great creases of his
neck. With much labour we separated them and carried him, living but
horribly mangled, into the house. We laid him upon the drawing-room
sofa, and having dispatched the sobered Toller to bear the news to
his wife, I did what I could to relieve his pain. We were all
assembled round him when the door opened, and a tall, gaunt woman
entered the room.
"Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter.
"Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he went
up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know what you
were planning, for I would have told you that your pains were
wasted."
"Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs.
Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else."
"Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know."
"Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several
points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark."
"I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done so
before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's
police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the one
that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend too.
"She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time that
her father married again. She was slighted like and had no say in
anything, but it never really became bad for her until after she met
Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could learn, Miss Alice
had rights of her own by will, but she was so quiet and patient, she
was, that she never said a word about them but just left everything
in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was safe with her; but when there
was a chance of a husband coming forward, who would ask for all that
the law would give him, then her father thought it time to put a stop
on it. He wanted her to sign a paper, so that whether she married or
not, he could use her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on
worrying her until she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at
death's door. Then she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and
with her beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in
her young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be."
"Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough to
tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce all that
remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this system of
imprisonment?"
"Yes, sir."
"And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of the
disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler."
"That was it, sir."
"But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should be,
blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain
arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your
interests were the same as his."
"Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said Mrs.
Toller serenely.
"And in this way he managed that your good man should have no want of
drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment when your
master had gone out."
"You have it, sir, just as it happened."
"I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for you
have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And here comes
the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, Watson, that we
had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, as it seems to me
that our locus standi now is rather a questionable one."
