第 27 页

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 enter-

taining," 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 investiga-

tion, 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 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural prices,

not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an income of

250 pounds, 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 laries. 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, thick-

ening mto a grove at the highest point. From amid the branches

there jutted out the gray 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 acquaint-

ance," 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 some-

one 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 gray, 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 kind-

ness 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 slde 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

sllent, 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 belt-rope which hung down beside the bed,

the tassel actually lying upon the pi]low.

"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 dld 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 ventilator is."

"How very absurd! I never noticed that before."

"Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There

are one or two very singular points about this room. For exam-

ple, what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator 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

Holmes.

"Yes, there were severa} 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."

Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his

stepdaughter, 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 wail, 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 is a cheetah and a

baboon."

"Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, 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. "Hello! Here is something interesting!"

The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash