The Return of Sherlock Holmes
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Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 Next page "So would you, if a flock of strangers came in on you when you were preparing for an examination next day, and every moment was of value. No, I see nothing in that. Pencils, too, and knives -- all was satisfactory. But that fellow does puzzle me." "Who?" "Why, Bannister, the servant. What's his game in the matter?" "He impressed me as being a perfectly honest man." "So he did me. That's the puzzling part. Why should a perfectly honest man -- Well, well, here's a large stationer's. We shall begin our researches here." There were only four stationers of any consequences in the town, and at each Holmes produced his pencil chips, and bid high for a duplicate. All were agreed that one could be ordered, but that it was not a usual size of pencil, and that it was seldom kept in stock. My friend did not appear to be depressed by his failure, but shrugged his shoulders in half-humorous resignation. "No good, my dear Watson. This, the best and only final clue, has run to nothing. But, indeed, I have little doubt that we can build up a sufficient case without it. By Jove! my dear fellow, it is nearly nine, and the landlady babbled of green peas at seven-thirty. What with your eternal tobacco, Watson, and your irregularity at meals, I expect that you will get notice to quit, and that I shall share your downfall -- not, however, before we have solved the problem of the nervous tutor, the careless servant, and the three enterprising students." Holmes made no further allusion to the matter that day, though he sat lost in thought for a long time after our belated dinner. At eight in the morning, he came into my room just as I finished my toilet. "Well, Watson," said he, "it is time we went down to St. Luke's. Can you do without breakfast?" "Certainly." "Soames will be in a dreadful fidget until we are able to tell him something positive." "Have you anything positive to tell him?" "I think so." "You have formed a conclusion?" "Yes, my dear Watson, I have solved the mystery." "But what fresh evidence could you have got?" "Aha! It is not for nothing that I have turned myself out of bed at the untimely hour of six. I have put in two hours' hard work and covered at least five miles, with something to show for it. Look at that!" He held out his hand. On the palm were three little pyramids of black, doughy clay. "Why, Holmes, you had only two yesterday." "And one more this morning. It is a fair argument that wherever No. 3 came from is also the source of Nos. 1 and 2. Eh, Watson? Well, come along and put friend Soames out of his pain." The unfortunate tutor was certainly in a state of pitiable agita- tion when we found him in his chambers. In a few hours the examination would commence, and he was still in the dilemma between making the facts public and allowing the culprit to compete for the valuable scholarship. He could hardly stand still, so great was his mental agitation, and he ran towards Holmes with two eager hands outstretched. "Thank heaven that you have come! I feared that you had given it up in despair. What am I to do? Shall the examination proceed?" "Yes, let it proceed, by all means." "But this rascal?" "He shall not compete." "You know him?" "I think so. If this matter is not to become public. we must give ourselves certain powers and resolve ourselves into a small private court-martial. You there, if you please, Soames! Watson you here! I'll take the armchair in the middle. I think that we are now sufficiently imposing to strike terror into a guilty breast. Kindly ring the bell!" Bannister entered, and shrank back in evident surprise and fear at our judicial appearance. "You will kindly close the door," said Holmes. "Now Bannister, will you please tell us the truth about yesterday's incident.' The man turned white to the roots of his hair. "I have told you everything, sir." "Nothing to add?" "Nothing at all, sir." "Well, then, I must make some suggestions to you. When you sat down on that chair yesterday, did you do so in order to conceal some object which would have shown who had been in the room?" Bannister's face was ghastly. "No, sir, certainly not." "It is only a suggestion," said Holmes, suavely. "I frankly admit that I am unable to prove it. But it seems probable enough since the moment that Mr. Soames's back was turned, you released the man who was hiding in that bedroom." Bannister licked his dry lips. "There was no man, sir." "Ah, that's a pity, Bannister. Up to now you may have spoken the truth, but now I know that you have lied." The man's face set in sullen defiance. "There was no man, sir." "Come, come, Bannister!" "No, sir, there was no one." "In that case, you can give us no further information. Would you please remain in the room? Stand over there near the bed- room door. Now, Soames, I am going to ask you to have the great kindness to go up to the room of young Gilchrist. and to ask him to step down into yours." An instant later the tutor returned, bringing with him the student. He was a fine figure of a man, tall, lithe, and agile, with a springy step and a pleasant, open face. His troubled blue eyes glanced at each of us, and finally rested with an expression of blank dismay upon Bannister in the farther corner. "Just close the door," said Holmes. "Now, Mr. Gilchrist, we are all quite alone here, and no one need ever know one word of what passes between us. We can be perfectly frank with each other. We want to know, Mr. Gilchrist, how you, an honourable man, ever came to commit such an action as that of yesterday?" The unfortunate young man staggered back, and cast a look full of horror and reproach at Bannister. "No, no, Mr. Gilchrist, sir, I never said a word -- never one word!" cried the servant. "No, but you have now," said Holmes. "Now, sir, you must see that after Bannister's words your position is hopeless, and that your only chance lies in a frank confession." For a moment Gilchrist, with upraised hand, tried to control his writhing features. The next he had thrown himself on his knees beside the table, and burying his face in his hands, he had burst into a storm of passionate sobbing. "Come, come," said Holmes, kindly, "it is human to err, and at least no one can accuse you of being a callous criminal. Perhaps it would be easier for you if I were to tell Mr. Soames what occurred, and you can check me where I am wrong. Shall I do so? Well, well, don't trouble to answer. Listen, and see that I do you no injustice. "From the moment, Mr. Soames, that you said to me that no one, not even Bannister, could have told that the papers were in your room, the case began to take a definite shape in my mind. The printer one could, of course, dismiss. He could examine the papers in his own office. The Indian I also thought nothing of. If the proofs were in a roll, he could not possibly know what they were. On the other hand, it seemed an unthinkable coincidence that a man should dare to enter the room, and that by chance on that very day the papers were on the table. I dismissed that. The man who entered knew that the papers were there. How did he know? "When I approached your room, I examined the window. You amused me by supposing that I was contemplating the possibility of someone having in broad daylight, under the eyes of all these opposite rooms, forced himself through it. Such an idea was absurd. I was measuring how tall a man would need to be in order to see, as he passed, what papers were on the central table. |
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