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[Assistant] This is groven a mixture at eight pence an ounce," Holmes answered, knocking a little out on his palm.


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[Assistant] He has been in the habit of lighting his pipe at lamps and gas-jets. You can see that it is quite charred all down one side. Of course a match could not have done that. Why should a man hold a match to the side of his pipe?


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[Assistant] But you cannot light it at a lamp without getting the bowl charred, and it is all on the right side of the pipe.


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[Assistant] From that I gather that he is a left-handed man.


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[Assistant] You hold your own pipe to the lamp and see how naturally you, being right-handed, hold the left side to the flame.


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[Assistant] It takes a muscular, energetic fellow, and one with a good set of teeth, to do that.


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[Assistant] But if I am not mistaken I hear him upon the stair, so we shall have something more interesting than his pipe to study.


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[Assistant] An instant later our door opened, and a tall young man entered the room.


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[Assistant] He was well but quietly dressed in a dark grey suit and carried a brown wide-awake in his hand.


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[Assistant] I should have put him at about thirty, though he was really some years older.


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[Assistant] The fact is that I am a little upset, and you must put it all down to that.


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[Assistant] He passed his hand over his forehead like a man who is half-dazed, and then fell rather than sat down upon a chair.


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[Assistant] I can see that you have not slept for a night or two," said Holmes in his easy, genial way.


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[Assistant] That tries a man's nerves more than work, and more even than pleasure. May I ask how I can help you? I wanted your advice, sir.


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[Assistant] I don't know what to do and my whole life seems to have gone to pieces. You wish to employ me as a consulting detective?


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[Assistant] Not that only. I want your opinion as a judicious man, as a man of the world. I want to know what I ought to do next. I hope to God you'll be able to tell me.


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[Assistant] He spoke in little sharp jerky outbursts, and it seemed to me that to speak at all was very painful to him, and that his will all through was overriding his inclinations.


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[Assistant] One does not like to speak of one's domestic affairs to strangers. It seems dreadful to discuss the conduct of one's wife with two men whom I have never seen before.


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[Assistant] It's horrible to have to do it, but I've got to the end of my tether, and I must have advice.


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[Assistant] My dear Mr. Grant Monroe, began Holmes.


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[Assistant] If you wish to preserve your incognito," said Holmes, smiling, I would suggest that you cease to write your name upon the lining of your hat, or else that you turn the crown towards the person whom you are addressing.


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[Assistant] I was about to say that my friend and I have listened to a good many strange secrets in this room, and that we have had the good fortune to bring peace to many troubled souls. I trust that we may do as much for you.


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[Assistant] Might I beg you, as time may prove to be of importance, to furnish me with the facts of your case, without further delay?


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[Assistant] Our visitor again passed his hand over his forehead, as if he found it bitterly hard.


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[Assistant] From every gesture and expression I could see that he was a reserved, self-contained man with a dash of pride in his nature, more likely to hide his wounds than to expose them.


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[Assistant] I'm a married man and I've been so for three years.


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[Assistant] During that time my wife and I have loved each other as fondly and lived as happily as any two that ever were joined.


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[Assistant] We have not had a difference, not one, in thought or word or deed. And now, since last Monday, there has suddenly sprung up a barrier between us.


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[Assistant] And I find that there is something in her life and in her thought of which I know as little as if she were the woman who brushes by me in the street. We are estranged, and I want to know why.


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[Assistant] Now, there is one thing that I want to impress upon you before I go any further. Mr. Holmes, Effie loves me.


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[Assistant] I don't want to argue about that. A man can tell easy enough when a woman loves him.


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[Assistant] But there's this secret between us, and we can never be the same until it is cleared.


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[Assistant] She went out to America when she was young, and lived in the town of Atlanta, where she married this Hebron, who was a lawyer with a good practice. They had one child, but the yellow fever broke out badly in the place, and both husband and child died of it. I have seen his death certificate.


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[Assistant] This sickened her of America, and she came back to live with a maiden aunt at Pinner in Middlesex.


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[Assistant] I may mention that her husband had left her comfortably off, and that she had a capital of about £4,500, which had been so well invested by him that it returned an average of 7%.


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[Assistant] She had only been six months at Pinner when I met her. We fell in love with each other and we married a few weeks afterwards.


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[Assistant] I am a hop merchant myself, and as I have an income of seven or eight hundred, we found ourselves comfortably off, and took a nice eighty pound a year villa at Norbury.


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[Assistant] Our little place was very country-fied considering that it is so close to town.


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[Assistant] We had an inn, and two houses a little above us, and a single cottage at the other side of the field which faces us. And except those, there were no houses until you got half way to the station.


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[Assistant] My business took me into town at certain seasons, but in summer I had less to do.


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[Assistant] And then, in our country home, my wife and I were just as happy as could be wished.


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[Assistant] I tell you that there never was a shadow between us until this accursed affair began. There's one thing I ought to tell you before I go further.


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[Assistant] When we married, my wife made over all her property to me.


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[Assistant] Rather against my will, for I saw how awkward it would be if my business affairs went wrong.


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[Assistant] When you took my money you said that if ever I wanted any I was to ask you for it. Certainly, said I, it's all your own. Well, said she, I want a hundred pounds.


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[Assistant] I was a bit staggered at this, for I had imagined it was simply a new dress or something of the kind that she was after. What on earth for? I asked. Oh, said she, in her playful way, you said that you were only my banker, and bankers never ask questions, you know.


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[Assistant] If you really mean it, of course you shall have the money," said I. Oh yes, I really mean it. And you won't tell me what you want it for? Someday, perhaps, but not just at present, Jack. So I had to be content with that,


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[Assistant] Though it was the first time that there had ever been any secret between us, I gave her a check, and never thought any more of the matter. It may have nothing to do with what came afterwards, but I thought it only right to mention it.


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[Assistant] Well, I told you just now that there is a cottage not far from our house.


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[Assistant] There is just a field between us, but to reach it you have to go along the road and then turn down a lane.


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[Assistant] Just beyond it is a nice little grove of Scotch firs, and I used to be very fond of strolling down there, for trees are always a neighbourly kind of thing. The cottage had been standing empty this eight months, and it was a pity


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[Assistant] For it was a pretty two-storied place with an old-fashioned porch and honeysuckle about it.


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[Assistant] I have stood many a time and thought what a neat little homestead it would make.


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[Assistant] Well, last Monday evening I was taking a stroll down that way when I met an empty van coming up the lane and saw a pile of carpets and things lying about on the grass plot beside the porch. It was clear that the cottage had at last been let.


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[Assistant] I walked past it, and wondered what sort of folk they were who had come to live so near us.


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[Assistant] And as I looked, I suddenly became aware that a face was watching me out of one of the upper windows.


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[Assistant] I was some little way off, so that I could not make out the features, but there was something unnatural and inhuman about the face.


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[Assistant] That was the impression that I had, and I moved quickly forwards to get a nearer view of the person who was watching me.


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[Assistant] But as I did so, the face suddenly disappeared.


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[Assistant] So suddenly that it seemed to have been plucked away into the darkness of the room.


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[Assistant] I stood for five minutes, thinking the business over, and trying to analyse my impressions. I could not tell if the face were that of a man or a woman. It had been too far from me for that. But its colour was what had impressed me most. It was of a livid chalky white.


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[Assistant] And with something set and rigid about it, which was shockingly unnatural.


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[Assistant] So disturbed was I that I determined to see a little more of the new inmates of the cottage. I approached and knocked at the door.


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[Assistant] Which was instantly opened by a tall gaunt woman with a harsh forbidding face.


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[Assistant] What may you be wanting? she asked in a northern accent.


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[Assistant] Aye, we'll just ask you when we want ye," said she, and shut the door in my face.


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[Assistant] Annoyed at the churlish rebuff, I turned my back and walked home.


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[Assistant] All evening though I tried to think of other things.


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[Assistant] My mind would still turn to the apparition at the window and the rudeness of the woman.


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[Assistant] I determined to say nothing about the former to my wife, for she is a nervous, highly strung woman, and I had no wish that she should share the unpleasant impression which had been produced upon myself.


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[Assistant] I remarked to her, however, before I fell asleep, that the cottage was now occupied, to which she returned no reply.


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[Assistant] Whether it may have been the slight excitement produced by my little adventure or not, I know not. But I slept much more lightly than usual.


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[Assistant] Half in my dreams I was dimly conscious that something was going on in the room.


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[Assistant] And gradually became aware that my wife had dressed herself and was slipping on her mantle and her bonnet.


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[Assistant] My lips were parted to murmur out some sleepy words of surprise or remonstrance at this untimely preparation, when suddenly my half-opened eyes fell upon her face, illuminated by the candlelight, and astonishment held me dumb.


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[Assistant] She wore an expression such as I had never seen before, such as I should have thought her incapable of assuming. She was deadly pale and breathing fast.


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[Assistant] And an instant later I heard a sharp creaking, which could only come from the hinges of the front door.


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[Assistant] I sat up in bed and wrapped my knuckles against the rail to make certain that I was truly awake. Then I took my watch from under the pillow. It was three in the morning.


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[Assistant] What on this earth could my wife be doing out on the country road at three in the morning?


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[Assistant] I had sat for about twenty minutes turning the thing over in my mind and trying to find some possible explanation.


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[Assistant] The more I thought, the more extraordinary and inexplicable did it appear.


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[Assistant] I was still puzzling over it when I heard the door gently close again, and her footsteps


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[Assistant] Where in the world have you been, Effie?" I asked as she entered.


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[Assistant] She gave a violent start and a kind of gasping cry when I spoke.


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[Assistant] And that cry and start troubled me more than all the rest, for there was something indescribably guilty about them.


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[Assistant] My wife had always been a woman of a frank and open nature.


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[Assistant] I don't wonder that you're surprised," said she, and I could see that her fingers were trembling as she undid the fastenings of her mantle.


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[Assistant] Why, I never remember having done such a thing in my life before. The fact is that I felt as though I were choking and had a perfect longing for a breath of fresh air. I really think that I should have fainted if I had not gone out.


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[Assistant] I stood at the door for a few minutes, and now I am quite myself again.


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[Assistant] All the time she was telling me this story she never once looked in my direction and her voice was quite unlike her usual tones.


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[Assistant] It was evident to me that she was saying what was false.


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[Assistant] I said nothing in reply, but turned my face to the wall, sick at heart with my mind filled with a thousand venomous doubts and suspicions. What was it that my wife was concealing from me? Where had she been during that strange expedition? I felt that I should have no peace until I knew


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[Assistant] And yet I shrank from asking her again, after once she had told me what was false.


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[Assistant] All the rest of the night I tossed and tumbled, framing theory after theory, each more unlikely than the last.


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[Assistant] I should have gone to the city that day, but I was too disturbed in my mind to be able to pay attention to business matters. My wife seemed to be as upset as myself.


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[Assistant] And I could see from the little questioning glances which she kept shooting at me that she understood that I disbelieved her statement, and that she was at her wits' end what to do.


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[Assistant] We hardly exchanged a word during breakfast, and immediately afterwards I went out for a walk, that I might think the matter out in the fresh morning air.


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[Assistant] I went as far as the Crystal Palace, spent an hour in the grounds, and was back in Norbury by one o'clock. It happened that my way took me past a cottage


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[Assistant] And I stopped for an instant to look at the windows, and to see if I could catch a glimpse of the strange face which had looked out at me on the day before.


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[Assistant] As I stood there, imagine my surprise, Mr. Holmes, when the door suddenly opened and my wife walked out.


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[Assistant] I was struck dumb with astonishment at the sight of her, but my emotions were nothing to those which showed themselves upon her face when our eyes met.


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[Assistant] I have just been in to see if I can be of any assistance to our new neighbours. Why do you look at me like that, Jack? You are not angry with me. So, said I, this is where you went during the night. What do you mean? She cried. You came here. I am sure of it.


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[Assistant] Who are these people that you should visit at such an hour? I have not been here before.


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[Assistant] How can you tell me what you know is false? I cried. Your very voice changes as you speak. When have I ever had a secret from you?


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[Assistant] I shall enter that cottage, and I shall probe the matter to the bottom.


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[Assistant] No, no, Jack, for God's sake. She gasped in uncontrollable emotion.


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[Assistant] Then as I approached the door, she seized my sleeve and pulled me back with convulsive strength.


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[Assistant] I implore you not to do this, Jack," she cried.


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[Assistant] I swear that I will tell you everything some day, but nothing but misery can come of it if you enter that cottage." Then, as I tried to shake her off, she clung to me in a frenzy of entreaty.


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[Assistant] Trust me, only this once, you'll never have cause to regret it.


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[Assistant] You know that I would not have a secret from you if it were not for your own sake. Our whole lives are at stake in this. If you come home with me, all will be well. If you force your way into that cottage, all is over between us.


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[Assistant] There was such an earnestness, such despair in her manner, that her words arrested me, and I stood irresolute before the door.


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[Assistant] I will trust you on one condition, and on one condition only, said I at last. It is that this mystery comes to an end from now. You are at liberty to preserve your secret.


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[Assistant] But you must promise me that there shall be no more nightly visits, no more doings which are kept from my knowledge.


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[Assistant] I am willing to forget those which are past if you will promise that there shall be no more in the future.


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[Assistant] I was sure that you would trust me, she cried, with a great sigh of relief. It shall be just as you wish. Come away, oh, come away up to the house.


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[Assistant] Still pulling at my sleeve, she led me away from the cottage.


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[Assistant] As we went, I glanced back, and there was that yellow, livid face watching us out of the upper window.


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[Assistant] What link could there be between that creature and my wife?


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[Assistant] And yet I knew that my mind could never know ease again until I had solved it.


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[Assistant] For two days after this I stayed at home and my wife appeared to abide loyally by our engagement, for as far as I know she never stirred out of the house.


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[Assistant] On the third day, however, I had ample evidence that her solemn promise was not enough to hold her back from this secret influence which drew her away from her husband and her duty.


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[Assistant] I had gone into town on that day, but I returned by the 2.40 instead of the 3.36, which is my usual train.


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[Assistant] As I entered the house the maid ran into the hall with a startled face. Where is your mistress? I asked. I think that she's gone out for a walk, she answered. My mind was instantly filled with suspicion.


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[Assistant] I rushed upstairs to make sure that she was not in the house.


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[Assistant] As I did so, I happened to glance out of one of the upper windows and saw the maid with whom I had just been speaking running across the field in the direction of the cottage. Then, of course, I saw exactly what it all meant.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My wife had gone over there, and had asked the servant to call her if I should return.


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[Assistant] Tingling with anger, I rushed down and hurried across, determined to end the matter once and forever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I saw my wife and the maid hurrying back along the lane, but I did not stop to speak with them.


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[Assistant] In the cottage lay the secret which was casting a shadow over my life.


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[Assistant] I vowed that, come what might, it should be a secret no longer.


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[Assistant] I did not even knock when I reached it, but turned the handle and rushed into the passage. It was all still and quiet upon the ground floor.


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[Assistant] In the kitchen a kettle was singing on the fire, and a large black cat lay coiled up in the basket, but there was no sign of the woman whom I had seen before. I ran into the other room, but it was equally deserted.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then I rushed up the stairs only to find two other rooms empty and deserted at the top. There was no one at all in the whole house.


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[Assistant] The furniture and pictures were of the most common and vulgar description.


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[Assistant] Saving the one chamber at the window of which I had seen the strange face.


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[Assistant] That was comfortable and elegant, and all my suspicions rose into a fierce bitter flame when I saw that on the mantelpiece stood a copy of a full-length photograph of my wife, which had been taken at my request only three months ago.


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[Assistant] I stayed long enough to make certain that the house was absolutely empty.


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[Assistant] Then I left it, feeling a weight at my heart such as I had never had before.


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[Assistant] My wife came out into the hall as I entered my house.


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[Assistant] But I was too hurt and angry to speak with her, and pushing past her I made my way into my study. She followed me, however, before I could close the door.


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[Assistant] I'm so sorry that I broke my promise, Jack," said she.


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[Assistant] Until you tell me who it is that has been living in that cottage, and who it is to whom you have given that photograph, there can never be any confidence between us, said I, and breaking away from her, I left the house.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was yesterday, Mr. Holmes, and I have not seen her since. Nor do I know anything more about this strange business.


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[Assistant] It is the first shadow that has come between us, and it has so shaken me that I do not know what I should do for the best.


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[Assistant] Suddenly, this morning, it occurred to me that you were the man to advise me. So I have hurried to you now, and I place myself unreservedly in your hands.


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[Assistant] If there is any point which I have not made clear, pray question me about it. But above all, tell me quickly what I am to do, for this misery is more than I can bear.


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[Assistant] Holmes and I had listened with the utmost interest to this extraordinary statement, which had been delivered in the jerky, broken fashion of a man who is under the influence of extreme emotions.


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[Assistant] Could you swear that this was a man's face which you saw at the window?


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[Assistant] Each time that I saw it, I was some distance away from it, so that it is impossible for me to say.


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[Assistant] You appear however to have been disagreeably impressed by it.


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[Assistant] It seemed to be of an unnatural colour and to have a strange rigidity about the features. When I approached, it vanished with a jerk.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How long is it since your wife asked you for a hundred pounds? Nearly two months. Have you ever seen a photograph of her first husband? No.


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[Assistant] There was a great fire at Atlanta very shortly after his death, and all her papers were destroyed.


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[Assistant] And yet she had a certificate of death. You say that you saw it. Yes, she got a duplicate after the fire.


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[Assistant] I should like to think over the matter a little now. If the cottage is now permanently deserted, we may have some difficulty.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If, on the other hand, as I fancy is more likely, the inmates were warned of your coming and left before you entered yesterday, then they may be back now, and we should clear it all up easily.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let me advise you then to return to Norbury and to examine the windows of the cottage again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you have reason to believe that it is inhabited, do not force your way in, but send


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[Assistant] In that case I shall come out tomorrow and talk it over with you.


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[Assistant] Goodbye, and above all, do not fret until you know that you really have a cause for it.


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[Assistant] I am afraid that this is a bad business, Watson," said my companion, as he returned after accompanying Mr. Grant Munro to the door. What do you make of it?" It had an ugly sound, I answered.


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[Assistant] Yes, there's blackmail in it, or I am much mistaken. And who is the blackmailer?


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[Assistant] Well, it must be the creature who lives in the only comfortable room in the place, and has her photograph above his fireplace.


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[Assistant] Upon my word, Watson, there is something very attractive about that livid face at the window, and I would not have missed a case for worlds. You have a theory?


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[Assistant] Yes, a provisional one, but I shall be surprised if it does not turn out to be correct.


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[Assistant] How else can we explain her frenzied anxiety that her second one should not enter it? The facts, as I read them, are something like this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This woman was married in America. Her husband developed some hateful qualities, or shall we say that he contracted some loathsome disease, and became a leper or an imbecile.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She flies from him at last, returns to England, changes her name, and starts her life as she thinks afresh.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She has been married three years, and believes that her position is quite secure, having shown her husband the death certificate of some man whose name she has assumed, when suddenly her whereabouts is discovered by her first husband,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They write to the wife and threaten to come and expose her.


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[Assistant] She asked for a hundred pounds and endeavours to buy them off.


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[Assistant] They come in spite of it, and when the husband mentions casually to the wife that there are newcomers in the cottage, she knows in some way that they are her pursuers.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She waits until her husband is asleep, and then she rushes down to endeavor to persuade them to leave her in peace.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Having no success, she goes again next morning and her husband meets her, as he has told us, as she comes out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She promises him then not to go there again, but two days afterwards the hope of getting rid of those dreadful neighbours was too strong for her, and she made another attempt, taking down with her the photograph which had probably been demanded from her.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the midst of this interview the maid rushed in to say that the master had come home, on which the wife, knowing that he would come straight down to the cottage, hurried the inmates out the back door into the grove of fir-trees, probably, which was mentioned as standing near. In this way he found the place deserted.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I shall be very much surprised, however, if it is still so when he reconnoitres it this evening. What do you think of my theory? It is awesome eyes.


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[Assistant] But at least it covers all the facts. When new facts come to our knowledge which cannot be covered by it, it will be time enough to reconsider it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We can do nothing more until we have a message from our friend at Norbury. But we had not very long time to wait for that. It came just as we had finished our tea.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The cottage is still tenanted," it said. Have seen the face again at the window. We'll meet to the seven o'clock train, and we'll take no steps until you arrive.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He was waiting on the platform when we stepped out, and we could see in the light of the station lamps that he was very pale and quivering with agitation.


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[Assistant] They are still there, Mr. Holmes," said he, laying his hand hard upon my friend's sleeve.


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[Assistant] I saw lights in the cottage as I came down. We shall settle it now once and for all.


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[Assistant] What is your plan then? asked Holmes as he walked down the dark tree-lined road.


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[Assistant] I'm going to force my way in and see for myself who is in the house. I wish you both to be there as witnesses.


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[Assistant] You are quite determined to do this, in spite of your wife's warning that it is better that you should not solve the mystery. Yes, I am determined. Well, I think that you are in the right. Any truth is better than indefinite doubt.


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[Assistant] We had better go up at once. Of course, legally, we are putting ourselves hopelessly in the wrong, but I think that it is worth it.


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[Assistant] It was a very dark night, and a thin rain began to fall as we turned from the high road into a narrow lane, deeply rutted, with hedges on either side.


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[Assistant] Mr Grant Monroe pushed in patiently forward, however, and we stumbled after him as best we could.


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[Assistant] There are the lights of my house," he murmured, pointing to a glimmer among the trees, and here is the cottage which I am going to enter.


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[Assistant] We turned a corner in the lane as he spoke, and there was the building close beside us.


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[Assistant] A yellow bar falling across the black foreground showed that the door was not quite closed, and one window in the upper storey was brightly illuminated.


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[Assistant] As we looked, we saw a dark blur moving across the blind. There's that creature! cried Grant Monroe.


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[Assistant] You can see for yourselves that someone is there. Now follow me and we shall soon know all.


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[Assistant] We approached the door, but suddenly a woman appeared out of the shadow and stood in the golden track of the lamplight.


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[Assistant] I could not see her face in the darkness, but her arms were thrown out in an attitude


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[Assistant] I've trusted you too long, Effie," he cried sternly. Leave go of me. I must pass through. My friends and I are going to settle this matter once and for ever.


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[Assistant] He pushed her to one side, and we followed closely after him.


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[Assistant] As he threw the door open an old woman ran out in front of him and tried to bar his passage, but he thrust her back, and an instant afterwards we were all upon the stairs.


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[Assistant] Grant Monroe rushed into the lighted room at the top and we entered at his heels.


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[Assistant] It was a cosy, well-furnished apartment, with two candles burning upon the table and two upon the mantelpiece. In the corner, stooping over a desk, there sat what appeared to be a little girl.


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[Assistant] Her face was turned away as we entered, but we could see that she was dressed in a red frock, and that she had long white gloves on.


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[Assistant] As she whisked round to us I gave a cry of surprise and horror.


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[Assistant] The face which she turned towards us was of the strangest livid tint.


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[Assistant] and the features were absolutely devoid of any expression an instant later the mystery was explained


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[Assistant] Holmes, with a laugh, passed his hand behind the child's ear.


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[Assistant] A mask peeled off from her countenance, and there was a little coal-black negros, with all her white teeth flashing in amusement at our amazed faces.


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[Assistant] I burst out laughing, out of sympathy with her merriment.


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[Assistant] But Grant Monroe stood staring with his hand clutching his throat. My God! he cried. What can be the meaning of this? I will tell you the meaning of it.


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[Assistant] Cried the lady, sweeping into the room with a proud set face.


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[Assistant] You have forced me against my own judgment to tell you, and now we must both make the best of it. My husband died at Atlanta. My child survived. Your child? She drew a large silver locket from her bosom. You have never seen this open. I understood that it did not open. She touched a spring, and the front hinged back.


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[Assistant] There was a portrait within of a man strikingly handsome and intelligent looking.


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[Assistant] But bearing unmistakable signs upon his features of his African descent.


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[Assistant] This is John Hebron of Atlanta," said the lady, and a nobler man never walked the earth.


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[Assistant] I cut myself off from my race in order to wed him, but never once while he lived did I for an instant regret it.


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[Assistant] It was our misfortune that our only child took after his people rather than mine. It is often so in such matches


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[Assistant] And little Lucy is darker far than ever her father was.


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[Assistant] But dark or fair, she is my own dear little girly and her mother's pet.


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[Assistant] The little creature ran across at the words and nestled up against the lady's dress. When I left her in America, she continued, it was only because her health was weak and the change might have done her harm.


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[Assistant] She was given to the care of a faithful Scotch woman who had once been our servant.


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[Assistant] Never for an instant did I dream of disowning her as my child.


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[Assistant] But when chance threw you in my way, Jack, and I learned to love you, I feared to tell you about my child. God forgive me, I feared that I should lose you, and I had not the courage to tell you.


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[Assistant] I had to choose between you and in my weakness I turned away from my own little girl.


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[Assistant] For three years I have kept her existence a secret from you, but I heard from the nurse, and I knew that all was well with her.


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[Assistant] At last however, there came an overwhelming desire to see the child once more. I struggled against it, but in vain.


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[Assistant] Though I knew the danger, I determined to have the child over, if it were but for a few weeks.


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[Assistant] I sent £100 to the nurse, and I gave her instructions about this cottage, so that she might come as a neighbour, without my appearing to be in any way connected with her.


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[Assistant] I pushed my precautions so far as to order her to keep the child in the house during the daytime, and to cover up her little face and hands, so that even those who might see her at the window should not gossip about there being a black child in the neighborhood.


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[Assistant] If I had been less cautious I might have been more wise, but I was half crazy with fear that you should learn the truth.


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[Assistant] It was you who told me first that the cottage was occupied. I should have waited for the morning, but I could not sleep for excitement.


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[Assistant] And so at last I slipped out, knowing how difficult it is to awake you, but you saw me go, and that was the beginning of my troubles.


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[Assistant] Next day you had my secret at your mercy, but you nobly refrained from pursuing your advantage.


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[Assistant] Three days later, however, the nurse and child only just escaped from the back door as you rushed in at the front one, and now to-night you at last know all.


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[Assistant] And I ask you what is to become of us, my child and me? She clasped her hands and waited for an answer.


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[Assistant] It was a long ten minutes before Grant Monroe broke the silence, and when his answer came it was one of which I loved to think.


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[Assistant] He lifted the little child, kissed her, and then, still carrying her, he held his other hand out to his wife and turned towards the door.


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[Assistant] But I think that I'm a better one than you have given me credit for.


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[Assistant] Not another word did he say of the case until late that night, when he was turning away with his lighted candle for his bedroom.


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[Assistant] If it should ever strike you that I am getting a little overconfident in my powers, or giving less pains to a case than it deserves,


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[Assistant] One summer night, a few months after my marriage, I was seated by my own hearth, smoking a last pipe, and nodding over a novel, for my day's work had been an exhausting one.


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[Assistant] My wife had already gone upstairs, and the sound of the locking of the hall door some time before told me that the servants had also retired.


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[Assistant] I had risen from my seat and was knocking out the ashes of my pipe when I suddenly heard the clang of the bell. I looked at the clock. It was a quarter to twelve. This could not be a visitor at so late an hour.


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[Assistant] A patient evidently, and possibly an all-night sitting.


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[Assistant] With a wry face I went out into the hall and opened the door.


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[Assistant] To my astonishment, it was Sherlock Holmes who stood upon my step.


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[Assistant] Ah, Watson," said he, I hope that I might not be too late to catch you. My dear fellow, pray come in.


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[Assistant] You look surprised and no wonder. Relieved too, I fancy.


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[Assistant] Hmm. You still smoke the Arcadia mixture of your bachelor days, then? There's no mistaking that fluffy ash upon your coat.


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[Assistant] It's easy to tell that you have been accustomed to wear a uniform, Watson.


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[Assistant] You'll never pass as a pure-bred civilian as long as you keep that habit of carrying your handkerchief in your sleeve. Could you put me up to-night? With pleasure.


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[Assistant] You told me that you had bachelor quarters for one, and I see that you have no gentleman visitor at present. Your hat-stand proclaims as much. I shall be delighted if you will stay.


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[Assistant] Thank you. I'll fill the vacant peg then. Sorry to see that you've had the British workman in the house. He's a token of evil. Not the drains, I hope. No, the gas.


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[Assistant] Ah, he has left two nail marks from his boot upon your linoleum, just where the light strikes it.


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[Assistant] No, thank you. I had some supper at Waterloo, but I'll smoke a pipe with you with pleasure.


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[Assistant] I handed him my pouch and he seated himself opposite to me and smoked for some time in silence.


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[Assistant] I was well aware that nothing but business of importance would have brought him to me at such an hour, so I waited patiently until he should come round to it.


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[Assistant] I see that you are professionally rather busy just now," said he, glancing very keenly across at me.


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[Assistant] Yes, I've had a busy day," I answered. It may seem very foolish in your eyes, I added, but really I don't know how you deduced it.


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[Assistant] When your round is a short one you walk, and when it is a long one you use a handsome.


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[Assistant] It is one of those instances where the reasoner can produce an effect which seems remarkable to his neighbour, because the latter has missed the one little point which is the basis of the deduction.


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[Assistant] The same may be said, my dear fellow, for the effect of some of these little sketches of yours, which is entirely meretricious depending, as it does upon your retaining in your own hands, some factors in the problem which are never imparted to the reader.


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[Assistant] Now, at present I am in the position of these same readers, for I hold in this hand several threads of one of the strangest cases which ever perplexed a man's brain, and yet I lack the one or two which are needful to complete my theory. But I'll have them, Watson. I'll have them.


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[Assistant] His eyes kindled and a slight flush sprang into his thin cheeks. For an instant only,


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[Assistant] When I glanced again his face had resumed that Red Indian composure which had made so many regard him as a machine rather than a man. The problem presents features of interest, said he.


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[Assistant] I may even say exceptional features of interest.


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[Assistant] I have already looked into the matter, and have come, as I think, within sight of my solution.


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[Assistant] If you could accompany me in the last step you might be of considerable service to me. I should be delighted. Could you go as far as Oldershot tomorrow? I have no doubt Jackson would take my practice.


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[Assistant] Very good. I want to start by the 11.10 from Waterloo. That would give me time.


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[Assistant] Then if you are not too sleepy, I will give you a sketch of what has happened, and of what remains to be done.


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[Assistant] I was sleepy before you came. I'm quite waitful now.


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[Assistant] I will compress the story as far as may be done without omitting anything vital to the case.


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[Assistant] It is conceivable that you may even have read some account of the matter.


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[Assistant] It is the supposed murder of Colonel Barkley of the Royal Munsters at Aldershot, which I am investigating. I've heard nothing of it.


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[Assistant] It has not excited much attention yet, except locally.


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[Assistant] The facts are only two days old. Briefly they are these.


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[Assistant] The Royal Munsters is, as you know, one of the most famous Irish regiments in the British Army.


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[Assistant] It did wonders both in the Crimea and the Mutiny, and has since that time distinguished itself upon every possible occasion.


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[Assistant] It was commanded up to Monday night by James Barclay, a gallant veteran who started as a full private, was raised to commission rank for his bravery at the time of the mutiny, and so lived to command the regiment in which he had once carried a musket.


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[Assistant] Colonel Barclay had married at the time when he was a sergeant, and his wife, whose maiden name was Miss Nancy Devoy, was the daughter of a former colour sergeant in the same corps.


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[Assistant] There was, therefore, as can be imagined, some little social friction when the young couple, although they were still young, found themselves in their new surroundings.


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[Assistant] They appear, however, to have quickly adapted themselves, and Mrs. Barclay has always, I understand, been as popular with the ladies of the regiment as her husband was with his brother officers.


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[Assistant] I may add that she was a woman of great beauty, and that even now, when she has been married for upwards of thirty years, she is still of a striking and queenly appearance.


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[Assistant] Colonel Barkley's family life appears to have been a uniformly happy one.


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[Assistant] Major Murphy, to my own most of my facts, assures me that he has never heard of any misunderstanding between the pair.


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[Assistant] On the whole he thinks that Barkley's devotion to his wife was greater than his wife's to Barkley.


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[Assistant] He was acutely uneasy if he were absent from her for a day.


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[Assistant] She on the other hand, though devoted and faithful, was less obtrusively affectionate.


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[Assistant] But they were regarded in the regiment as the very model of a middle aged couple.


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[Assistant] There was absolutely nothing in their mutual relations to prepare people for the tragedy which was to follow


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[Assistant] Colonel Barkley himself seems to have had some singular traits in his character.


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[Assistant] He was a dashing, jovial old soldier in his usual mood.


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[Assistant] There were occasions on which he seemed to show himself capable of considerable violence and vindictiveness


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[Assistant] This side of his nature, however, appears never to have been turned towards his wife.


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[Assistant] Another fact which had struck Major Murphy, and three out of five of the other officers with whom I conversed, was the singular sort of depression which came upon him at times.


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[Assistant] As the Major expressed it, the smile had often been struck from his mouth, as if by some invisible hand, when he has been joining the gaieties and chaff of the mess-table.


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[Assistant] For days on end, when the mood was on him, he has been sunk in the deepest gloom.


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[Assistant] This and a certain tinge of superstition were the only unusual traits in his character, which his brother officers had observed.


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[Assistant] The latter peculiarity took the form of a dislike to being left alone, especially after dark.


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[Assistant] This puerile feature, in a nature which was conspicuously manly, had often given rise to comment and conjecture


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[Assistant] The First Battalion of the Royal Munsters, which is the old 117th, has been stationed at Aldershot for some years.


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[Assistant] The house stands in its own grounds, but the west side of it is not more than thirty yards from the high road.


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[Assistant] A coachman and two maids formed the staff of servants. These, with their master and mistress, were the sole occupants of Lachine, for the Barclays had no children, nor was it usual for them to have resident visitors.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now for the events at Lashin between 9 and 10 on the evening of last Monday.


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[Assistant] Mrs. Barclay was, it appears, a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and had interested herself very much in the establishment of the Guild of St. George, which was formed in connection with the Watt Street Chapel, for the purpose of supplying the poor with cast-off clothing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A meeting of the guild had been held that evening at eight, and Mrs. Barclay had hurried over her dinner in order to be present at it.


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[Assistant] When leaving the house she was heard by the coachman to make some commonplace remark to her husband and to assure him that she would be back before very long.


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[Assistant] She then called for Miss Morrison, a young lady who lives in a next villa, and the two went off together to their meeting.


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[Assistant] It lasted forty minutes, and at a quarter past nine Mrs. Barclay returned home, having left Miss Morrison at her door as she passed.


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[Assistant] There's a room which is used as a morning room at Lachine.


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[Assistant] This faces the road and opens by a large glass folding door onto the lawn.


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[Assistant] The lawn is 30 yards across and is only divided from the highway by a low wall with an iron rail above it.


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[Assistant] It was into this room that Mrs Barclay went upon her return.


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[Assistant] The blinds were not down, for the room was seldom used in the evening.


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[Assistant] But Mrs. Barclay herself lit the lamp and then rang the bell, asking Jane Stewart, the housemaid, to bring her a cup of tea, which was quite contrary to her usual habits.


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[Assistant] The Colonel had been sitting in the dining-room, but hearing that his wife had returned, he joined her in the morning-room.


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[Assistant] The coachman saw him cross the hall and enter it. He was never seen again alive.


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[Assistant] The tea which had been ordered was brought up at the end of ten minutes, but the maid, as she approached the door, was surprised to hear the voices of her master and mistress in furious altercation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She knocked without receiving any answer, and even turned the handle, but only to find that the door was locked upon the inside. Naturally enough she ran down to tell the cook


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[Assistant] And the two women with the coachman came up into the hall and listened to the dispute which was still raging.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They all agreed that only two voices were to be heard, those of Barclay and of his wife.


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[Assistant] Barkley's remarks were subdued and abrupt, so that none of them were audible to the listeners.


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[Assistant] The ladies on the other hand were most bitter, and when she raised her voice could be plainly heard.


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[Assistant] You coward! She repeated over and over again. What can be done? What can be done now? Give me back my life!


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[Assistant] I will never so much as breathe the same air with you again, you coward, you coward!


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[Assistant] Those were scraps of her conversation, ending in a sudden dreadful cry in the man's voice with a crash and a piercing scream from the woman.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Convinced that some tragedy had occurred, the coachman rushed to the door and strove to force it, while scream after scream issued from within.


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[Assistant] He was unable, however, to make his way in and the maids were too distracted with fear to be of any assistance to him.


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[Assistant] A sudden thought struck him, however, and he ran through the hall door and round to the lawn upon which the long French windows open.


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[Assistant] One side of the window was open, which I understand was quite usual in the summer time, and he passed without difficulty into the room.


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[Assistant] His mistress had ceased to scream and was stretched insensible upon a couch.


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[Assistant] While with his feet tilted over the side of an armchair, and his head upon the ground near the corner of the fender, was lying the unfortunate soldier, stone dead, in a pool of his own blood.


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[Assistant] Naturally the coachman's first thought, on finding that he could do nothing for his master, was to open the door.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But here an unexpected and singular difficulty presented itself. The key was not in the inner side of the door, nor could he find it anywhere in the room.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He went out again, therefore, through the window, and having obtained the help of a policeman and of a medical man, he returned.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The lady against whom naturally the strongest suspicion rested was removed to her room, still in a state of insensibility.


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[Assistant] The Colonel's body was then placed upon the sofa, and a careful examination made of the scene of the tragedy.


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[Assistant] The injury from which the unfortunate veteran was suffering was found to be a jagged cut some two inches long at the back part of his head.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which had evidently been caused by a violent blow from a blunt weapon.


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[Assistant] Nor was it difficult to guess what that weapon may have been.


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[Assistant] Upon the floor, close to the body, was lying a singular club of hard-carved wood with a bone handle.


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[Assistant] The Colonel possessed a varied collection of weapons brought from the different countries in which he had fought.


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[Assistant] But among the numerous curiosities in the house it is possible that it may have been overlooked.


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[Assistant] Nothing else of importance was discovered in the room by the police, save the inexplicable fact that neither upon Mrs. Barkley's person, nor upon that of the victim, nor in any part of the room, was the missing key to be found.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The door had eventually to be opened by a locksmith from Aldershot.


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[Assistant] That was the state of things, Watson, when upon the Tuesday morning I, at the request of Major Murphy, went down to Aldershot to supplement the efforts of the police.


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[Assistant] I think that you will acknowledge that the problem was already one of interest, but my observations soon made me realize that it was in truth much more extraordinary than what at first sight appeared.


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[Assistant] Before examining the room, I cross questioned the servants, but only succeeded in eliciting the facts which I have already stated.


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[Assistant] One other detail of interest was remembered by Jane Stewart, the housemaid.


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[Assistant] You'll remember that on hearing the sound of the quarrel she descended and returned with the other servants.


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[Assistant] On that first occasion, when she was alone, she says that the voices of her master and mistress were sunk so low that she could hear hardly anything.


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[Assistant] And judged by their tones rather than their words that they had fallen out.


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[Assistant] On my pressing her, however, she remembered that she heard the word David uttered twice by the lady.


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[Assistant] The point is of the utmost importance as guiding us towards the reason of the sudden quarrel.


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[Assistant] The Colonel's name, you remember, was James.


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[Assistant] There was one thing in the case which had made the deepest impression, both upon the servants and the police. This was the contortion of the Colonel's face.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It had set, according to their account, into the most dreadful expression of fear and horror which a human countenance is capable of assuming.


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[Assistant] More than one person fainted at the mere sight of him. So terrible was the effect.


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[Assistant] It was quite certain that he had foreseen his fate and that it had caused him the utmost horror. This of course fitted in well enough with the police theory.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If the Colonel could have seen his wife making a murderous attack upon him.


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[Assistant] Nor was the fact of the wound being on the back of his head a fatal objection to this, as he might have turned to avoid the blow.


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[Assistant] No information could be got from the lady herself, who was temporarily insane from an acute attack of brain fever.


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[Assistant] From the police I learned that Miss Morrison, who you remember, went out that evening with Mrs. Barkley, denied having any knowledge of what it was which had caused the ill-humour in which her companion had returned.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Having gathered these facts, Watson, I smoked several pipes over them, trying to separate those which were crucial from others which were merely incidental.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There could be no question that the most distinctive and suggestive point in the case was the singular disappearance of the door-key.


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[Assistant] A most careful search had failed to discover it in the room.


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[Assistant] Therefore, it must have been taken from it.


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[Assistant] But neither the Colonel nor the Colonel's wife could have taken it. That was perfectly clear.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Therefore a third person must have entered the room, and that third person could only have come in through the window.


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[Assistant] It seemed to me that a careful examination of the room and the lawn might possibly reveal some traces of this mysterious individual. You know my methods, Watson.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was not one of them which I did not apply to the inquiry, and it ended by my discovering traces


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[Assistant] But very different ones from those which I had expected.


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[Assistant] There had been a man in the room, and he had crossed the lawn coming from the road.


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[Assistant] I was able to obtain five very clear impressions of his footmarks, one in the roadway itself, at the point where he had climbed the low wall, two on the lawn, and two very faint ones upon the stained boards near the window where he had entered.


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[Assistant] He had apparently rushed across the lawn, for his toe marks were much deeper than his heels. But it was not the man who surprised me. It was his companion. His companion?


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[Assistant] The paper was covered with the tracings of the footmarks of some small animal.


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[Assistant] It had five well-marked foot pads, an indication of long nails,


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[Assistant] And the whole print might be nearly as large as a dessert spoon. It's a dog, said I. Did you ever hear of a dog running up a curtain?


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[Assistant] Neither dog nor cat nor monkey nor any creature that we are familiar with. I have tried to reconstruct it from the measurements.


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[Assistant] Here are four prints where the beast has been standing motionless.


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[Assistant] You see that it is no less than fifteen inches from forefoot to hind.


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[Assistant] Add to that the length of neck and head, and you get a creature not much less than two feet long, probably more if there's any tail. But now observe this other measurement.


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[Assistant] The animal has been moving, and we have the length of its stride.


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[Assistant] In each case it is only about three inches.


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[Assistant] You have an indication you see of a long body with very short legs attached to it.


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[Assistant] It has not been considerate enough to leave any of its hair behind it, but its general shape must be what I have indicated, and it can run up a curtain, and it is carnivorous. How do you deduce that? Because it ran up the curtain.


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[Assistant] A canary's cage was hanging in the window, and its aim seems to have been to get at the bird. And what was the beast?


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[Assistant] Ah, if I could give it a name it might go a long way towards solving the case.


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[Assistant] On the whole, it was probably some creature of the Weasel and Stote tribe, and yet it is larger than any of these that I have seen. But what had it to do with a crime? That also is still obscure, but we have learned a good deal, you perceive.


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[Assistant] We know that a man stood in the road looking at the quarrel between the Barclays. The blinds were up and the room lighted.


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[Assistant] We know also that he ran across the lawn, entered the room, accompanied by a strange animal, and that he either struck the Colonel, or, as is equally possible, that the Colonel fell down from sheer fright at the sight of him, and cut his head on the corner of the fender.


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[Assistant] Finally, we have the curious fact that the intruder carried away the key with him when he left.


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[Assistant] Your discoveries seem to have left the business more obscure than it was before," said I.


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[Assistant] They undoubtedly showed that the affair was much deeper than was at first conjectured.


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[Assistant] I thought the matter over, and I came to the conclusion that I must approach the case from another aspect. But really Watson, I'm keeping you up.


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[Assistant] And I might just as well tell you all this on our way to Aldershot tomorrow. Thank you. You have gone rather too far to stop.


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[Assistant] It is quite certain that when Mrs. Barclay left the house at half-past seven she was on good terms with her husband.


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[Assistant] She was never, as I think I've said, ostentatiously affectionate, but she was heard by the coachman chatting with the Colonel in a friendly fashion.


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[Assistant] Now it was equally certain that immediately on her return she had gone to the room in which she was least likely to see her husband, had flown to tea as an agitated woman will, and finally, on his coming into her, had broken into violent recriminations


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[Assistant] Therefore something had occurred between seven-thirty and nine o'clock, which had completely altered her feelings towards him.


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[Assistant] But Miss Morrison had been with her during the whole of that hour and a half. It was absolutely certain, therefore, in spite of her denial, that she must know something of the matter.


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[Assistant] My first conjecture was that possibly there had been some passages between this young lady and the old soldier, which the former had now confessed to the wife.


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[Assistant] That would account for the angry return and also for the girl's denial that anything had occurred.


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[Assistant] Nor would it be entirely incompatible with most of the words overheard.


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[Assistant] But there was the reference to David, and there was the known affection of the Colonel for his wife to weigh against it, to say nothing of the tragic intrusion of this other man, which might, of course, be entirely disconnected with what had gone before.


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[Assistant] It was not easy to pick one's steps, but on the whole I was inclined to dismiss the idea that there had been anything between the Colonel and Miss Morrison.


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[Assistant] More than ever convinced that the young lady held the clue as to what it was which had turned Mrs. Barclay to hatred of her husband.


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[Assistant] I took the obvious course, therefore, of calling upon Miss M., of explaining to her that I was perfectly certain that she held the facts in her possession, and of assuring her that her friend Mrs. Barclay might find herself in the dock upon a capital charge unless the matter were cleared up.


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[Assistant] Miss Morrison has a little ethereal slip of a girl, with timid eyes and blonde hair,


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[Assistant] And then turning to me with a brisk air of resolution, she broke into a remarkable statement which I will condense for your benefit.


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[Assistant] I promised my friend that I would say nothing of the matter. And a promise is a promise," said she.


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[Assistant] But if I can really help her when so serious a charge is laid against her, and when her own mouth, poor darling, is closed by illness, then I think I am absolved from my promise. I will tell you exactly what happened upon Monday evening.


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[Assistant] We were returning from the Watt Street Mission about a quarter to nine o'clock.


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[Assistant] On our way we had to pass through Hudson Street, which is a very quiet thoroughfare.


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[Assistant] There is only one lamp in it upon the left-hand side, and as we approached this lamp I saw a man coming towards us with his back very bent and something like a box slung over one of his shoulders.


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[Assistant] He appeared to be deformed, for he carried his head low and walked with his knees bent.


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[Assistant] We were passing him when he raised his face to look at us in the circle of light thrown by the lamp.


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[Assistant] Mrs. Barclay turned as white as death, and would have fallen down had the dreadful looking creature not caught hold of her.


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[Assistant] I was going to call for the police, but she to my surprise spoke quite civilly to the fellow.


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[Assistant] He had a very dark, fearsome face, and a gleam in his eyes that comes back to me in my dreams.


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[Assistant] His hair and whiskers were shot with grey, and his face was all crinkled and puckered like a withered apple.


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[Assistant] Just walk on a little way, dear," said Mrs. Barkley. I want to have a word with this man. There's nothing to be afraid of.


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[Assistant] She tried to speak boldly, but she was still deadly pale, and could hardly get her words out for the trembling of her lips.


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[Assistant] I did as she asked me and they talked together for a few minutes.


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[Assistant] Then she came down the street with her eyes blazing, and I saw the crippled wretch standing by the lamp-post, and shaking his clenched fists in the air, as if he were mad with rage.


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[Assistant] She never said a word until we were at the door again, when she took me by the hand and begged me to tell no one what had happened.


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[Assistant] And if I withheld it from the police, it is because I did not realize then the danger which my dear friend stood.


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[Assistant] And to me, as you can imagine, it was like a light on a dark night.


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[Assistant] Everything which had been disconnected before began at once to assume its true place, and I had a shadowy presentiment of the whole sequence of events.


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[Assistant] My next step, obviously, was to find the man who had produced such a remarkable impression upon Mrs. Barkley.


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[Assistant] If he was still in older shot it should not be a very difficult matter.


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[Assistant] There are not such a very great number of civilians, and a deformed man was sure to have attracted attention. I spent a day in the search, and by evening—this very evening, Watson—I had run him down


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[Assistant] The man's name is Henry Wood, and he lives in Lodgings in this same street in which the ladies met him.


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[Assistant] He has only been five days in the place. In the character of a registration agent I had a most interesting gossip with his landlady.


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[Assistant] The man is by trade a conjurer and performer, going round the canteens after nightfall, and giving a little entertainment at each.


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[Assistant] He carries some creature about with him in that box, about which the landlady seemed to be in considerable trepidation, for she had never seen an animal like it.


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[Assistant] he uses it in some of his tricks according to her account


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[Assistant] So much the woman was able to tell me, and also that it was a wonder the man lived, seeing how twisted he was, and that he spoke in a strange tongue sometimes,


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[Assistant] And that for the last two nights she had heard him groaning and weeping in his bedroom.


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[Assistant] He was all right as far as money went, but in his deposit he had given her what looked like a bad florin.


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[Assistant] She showed it to me, Watson, and it was an Indian rupee.


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[Assistant] So now, my dear fellow, you see exactly how we stand and why it is I want you.


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[Assistant] It is perfectly plain that after the ladies parted from this man he followed them at a distance.


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[Assistant] If he will be so good. If he can clear the matter up, well and good. If he refuses, we have no alternative but to apply for a warrant. But how do you know he will be there when we return?


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[Assistant] You may be sure that I took some precautions. I have one of my Baker Street boys mounting guard over him who would stick to him like a burr, go where he might.


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[Assistant] We shall find him in Hudson Street tomorrow, Watson, and meanwhile I should be the criminal myself if I kept you out of bed any longer.


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[Assistant] It was midday when we found ourselves at the scene of the tragedy, and under my companion's guidance we made our way at once to Hudson Street.


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[Assistant] I could easily see that Holmes was in a state of suppressed excitement.


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[Assistant] While I was myself tingling with that half-sporting, half-intellectual pleasure which I invariably experienced when I associated myself with him in his investigations.


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[Assistant] This is a street," said he, as we turned into a short thoroughfare lined with plain two-storied brick houses. Ah, here is Simpson to report.


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[Assistant] Is in all right, Mr Holmes?" cried a small street arrow running up to us. Good, Simpson, said Holmes, patting him on the head. Come along, Watson. This is the house.


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[Assistant] He sent in his card with a message that he had come on important business, and a moment later we were face to face with the man whom we had come to see.


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[Assistant] In spite of the warm weather he was crouching over a fire and the little room was like an oven.


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[Assistant] The man sat all twisted and huddled in his chair, in a way which gave an indescribable impression of deformity.


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[Assistant] But the face which he turned towards us, though worn and swarthy, must at some time have been remarkable for its beauty.


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[Assistant] He looked suspiciously at us now out of yellow-shot, bilious eyes, and without speaking or rising he waved towards two chairs.


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[Assistant] Mr. Henry Wood, late of India, I believe, said Holmes affably.


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[Assistant] I've come over this little matter of Colonel Barclay's death. What should I know about that? That's what I want to ascertain.


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[Assistant] Nor how you come to know what you do know. But will you swear that this is true that you tell me?


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[Assistant] Why, they are only waiting for her to come to her senses to arrest her. My God! Are you in the police yourself? No. What business is it of yours, then? It's every man's business to see justice done. You can take my word that she is innocent. Then you are guilty. No, I'm not. Who killed Colonel James Barkley, then? It was a just providence that killed him.


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[Assistant] But mind you this, that if I had knocked his brains out, as it was in my heart to do, he would have had no more than his dew from my hands.


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[Assistant] If his own guilty conscience had not struck him down it is likely enough that I may have had his blood upon my soul.


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[Assistant] You want me to tell the story? Well, I don't know why I shouldn't, for there's no cause for me to be ashamed of it. It was in this way, sir.


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[Assistant] You see me now with my back like a camel and my ribs all awry, but there was a time when Corporal Henry Wood was the smartest man in the 117th foot.


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[Assistant] We were in India, then, in Cantonments, at a place we'll call Bhurti.


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[Assistant] Barclay, who died the other day, was sergeant in the same company as myself.


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[Assistant] And the bell of the regiment, ay, and the finest girl that ever had the breath of life between her lips was Nancy Devoy, the daughter of the Colour Sergeant.


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[Assistant] There were two men who loved her, and one that she loved.


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[Assistant] And you'll smile when you look at this poor thing huddled before the fire and hear me say that it was for my good looks that she loved me. Well,


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[Assistant] Though I had her heart, her father was set upon her marrying Barclay.


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[Assistant] I was a harem-scarem reckless lad, and he had had an education and was already marked for the sword-belt.


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[Assistant] But the girl held true to me, and it seemed that I would have had her when the mutiny broke out, and all hell was loose in the country.


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[Assistant] We were shut up in Bertie, the regiment of us with half a battery of artillery, a company of Sikhs, a lot of civilians, and women folk.


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[Assistant] There were ten thousand rebels around us, and they were as keen as a set of terriers round a rat-cage.


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[Assistant] About the second week of it our water gave out, and it was a question whether we could communicate with General Neal's column, which was moving up country.


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[Assistant] It was our only chance, for we could not hope to fight our way out with all the women and children.


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[Assistant] So I volunteered to go out and to warn General Neal of our danger. My offer was accepted.


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[Assistant] And I talked it over with Sergeant Barkley, who was supposed to know the ground better than any other man.


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[Assistant] And who drew up a route by which I might get through the rebel lines?


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[Assistant] At ten o'clock, the same night, I started off upon my journey. There were a thousand lives to save, but it was of only one that I was thinking when I dropped over the wall that night.


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[Assistant] My way ran down a dried-up water-course, which we hoped would screen me from the enemy's sentries.


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[Assistant] But as I crept round the corner of it, I walked right into six of them, who were crouching down in the dark waiting for me.


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[Assistant] In an instant, I was stunned with a blow and bound hand and foot.


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[Assistant] But the real blow was to my heart and not to my head.


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[Assistant] I heard enough to tell me that my comrade, the very man who had arranged the way that I was to take, had betrayed me by means of a native servant into the hands of the enemy.


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[Assistant] Well, there's no need for me to dwell on that part of it. You know now what James Barclay was capable of.


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[Assistant] Bertie was relieved by Neil next day, but the rebels took me away with them in their retreat, and it was many a long year before ever I saw a white face again.


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[Assistant] I was tortured and tried to get away and was captured and tortured again. You can see for yourselves the state in which I was left.


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[Assistant] Some of them that fled into Nepal took me with them, and then afterwards I was up past Darjeeling.


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[Assistant] The hill folk up there murdered the rebels who had me, and I became their slave for a time until I escaped.


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[Assistant] But instead of going south, I had to go north until I found myself among the Afghans.


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[Assistant] There I wandered about for many a year, and at last came back to the Punjab, where I lived mostly among the natives, and picked up a living by the conjuring tricks that I had learned.


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[Assistant] What use was it for me, a wretched cripple, to go back to England, or to make myself known to my old comrades?


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[Assistant] Even my wish for revenge would not make me do that.


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[Assistant] I had rather that Nancy and my old pals should think of Harry Wood as having died with a straight back.


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[Assistant] I heard that Barclay had married Nancy, and that he was rising rapidly in the regiment, but even that did not make me speak. But when one gets old, one has a longing for home.


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[Assistant] For years I've been dreaming of the bright green fields and the hedges of England.


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[Assistant] At last I determined to see them before I died. I saved enough to bring me a cross.


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[Assistant] And then I came here where the soldiers are, for I know their ways, and how to amuse them, and so earn enough to keep me.


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[Assistant] Your narrative is most interesting, said Sherlock Holmes. I have already heard of your meeting with Mrs Barclay and your mutual recognition.


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[Assistant] You then, as I understand, followed her home, and saw through the window an altercation between her husband and her, in which she doubtless cast his conduct to you in his teeth.


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[Assistant] Your own feelings overcame you and you ran across the lawn and broke in upon them.


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[Assistant] I did, sir, and at the sight of me he looked as I have never seen a man look before, and over he went with his head on the fender. But he was dead before he fell.


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[Assistant] I read Death on his face as plain as I can read that text over the fire.


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[Assistant] The bare sight of me was like a bullet through his guilty heart.


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[Assistant] Then Nancy fainted, and I caught up the key of the door from her hand intending to unlock it and get help.


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[Assistant] But as I was doing it, it seemed to me better to leave it alone and get away, for the thing might look black against me, and anyway my secret would be out if I were taken.


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[Assistant] In my haste I thrust the key into my pocket and dropped my stick while I was chasing Teddy, who had run up the curtain.


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[Assistant] The man leaned over and pulled up the front of a kind of hutch in the corner.


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[Assistant] In an instant out there slipped a beautiful reddish-brown creature, thin and lithe, with the legs of a stoat, a long thin nose, and a pair of the finest red eyes that ever I saw in an animal's head.


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[Assistant] Well, some call them that, and some call them Ick Newman, said the man.


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[Assistant] Snakecatcher is what I call them, and Teddy is amazing quick on cobras.


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[Assistant] I have one here without the fangs, and Teddy catches it every night to please the folk in the canteen. Any other point sir?


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[Assistant] Well, we may have to apply to you again if Mrs. Barclay should prove to be in serious trouble. In that case, of course, I'd come forward.


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[Assistant] But if not, there is no object in raking up this scandal against a dead man, foully as he has acted. You have at least the satisfaction of knowing that for thirty years of his life his conscience bitterly reproached him for this wicked deed. Ah, there goes Major Murphy on the other side of the street.


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[Assistant] Goodbye, Wood. I want to learn if anything has happened since yesterday. We were in time to overtake the Major before he reached the corner.


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[Assistant] Ah, Holmes, he said, I suppose you've heard that all this fuss has come to nothing. What then? The inquest is just over.


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[Assistant] The medical evidence shows conclusively that death was due to apoplexy. You can see it was quite a simple case after all.


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[Assistant] Oh, remarkably superficial, said Holmes smiling.


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[Assistant] Come, Watson. I don't think we shall be wanted in Aldershot any more.


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[Assistant] There's one thing," said I, as we walked down to the station.


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[Assistant] If the husband's name was James, and the other was Henry, what was this talk about David?


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[Assistant] That one word, my dear Watson, should have told me the whole story had I been the ideal reasoner which you are so fond of depicting. It was evidently a term of reproach. Of reproach?


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[Assistant] Yes. David strayed a little occasionally, you know, and on one occasion in the same direction as Sergeant James Barkley.


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[Assistant] You remember the small fair of Uriah and Bathsheba.


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[Assistant] My biblical knowledge is a trifle rusty, I fear, but you will find the story in the first or second of Samuel. End of The Crooked Man


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[Assistant] Sir Henry Baskerville and Dr Mortimer were ready upon the appointed day, and we started as arranged for Devonshire.


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[Assistant] Mr. Sherlock Holmes drove with me to the station and gave me his last parting injunctions and advice.


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[Assistant] I will not bias your mind by suggesting theories or suspicions, Watson," said he.


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[Assistant] I wish you simply to report facts in the fullest possible manner to me, and you can leave me to do the theorising. What sort of facts? I asked.


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[Assistant] Anything which may seem to have a bearing, however indirect upon the case, and especially the relations between young Baskerville and his neighbours, or any fresh particulars concerning the death of Sir Charles.


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[Assistant] I have made some inquiries myself in the last few days, but the results have, I fear, been negative.


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[Assistant] One thing only appears to be certain, and that is that Mr James Desmond, who is the next heir, is an elderly gentleman of a very amiable disposition, so that this persecution does not arise from him.


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[Assistant] I really think that we may eliminate him entirely from our calculations.


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[Assistant] There remain the people who will actually surround Sir Henry Baskerville upon the moor.


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[Assistant] By no means. You could not make a great mistake. If they are innocent it will be a cruel injustice.


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[Assistant] And if they are guilty we should be giving up all chance of bringing it home to them.


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[Assistant] No, no. We will preserve them upon our list of suspects.


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[Assistant] Then there is a groom at the hall, if I remember right. There are two Moreland farmers. There is our friend Dr Mortimer, whom I believe to be entirely honest, and there is his wife, of whom we know nothing.


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[Assistant] There is this naturalist, Stapleton, and there is his sister, who is said to be a young lady of attractions.


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[Assistant] There is Mr. Franklin of Lafter Hall, who is also an unknown factor, and there are one or two other neighbours.


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[Assistant] These are the folk who must be your very special study.


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[Assistant] Most certainly. Keep your revolver near you night and day, and never relax your precautions.


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[Assistant] Our friends had already secured a first-class carriage and were waiting for us upon the platform.


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[Assistant] No, we have no news of any kind," said Dr Mortimer in answer to my friend's questions.


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[Assistant] I can swear to one thing, and that is that we have not been shadowed during the last two days. We have never gone out without keeping a sharp watch, and no one could have escaped our notice. You have always kept together, I presume? Except yesterday afternoon.


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[Assistant] I usually give up one day to pure amusement when I come to town, so I spent it at the Museum of the College of Surgeons. And I went to look at the folk in the park, said Buskeville. But we had no trouble of any kind.


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[Assistant] It was imprudent all the same, said Holmes, shaking his head and looking very grave.


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[Assistant] I beg Sir Henry that you will not go about alone. Some great misfortune will befall you if you do. Did you get your other boot? No, sir. It is gone for ever. Indeed. That is very interesting.


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[Assistant] Well, good-bye," he added as the train began to glide down the platform. Bear in mind, Sir


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[Assistant] One of the phrases in that queer old legend which Dr. Mortimer has read to us, and avoid them more in those hours of darkness when the powers of evil are exalted.


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[Assistant] I looked back at the platform when we had left it far behind, and saw the tall or steer figure of Holmes standing motionless and gazing after us.


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[Assistant] The journey was a swift and pleasant one, and I spent it in making the more intimate acquaintance of my two companions, and in playing with Dr Mortimer's spaniel.


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[Assistant] In a very few hours the brown earth had become ruddy, the brick had changed to granite, and red cows grazed in well-hedged fields


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[Assistant] Where the lush grasses and more luxuriant vegetation spoke of a richer, if a damper, climate.


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[Assistant] Young Baskerville stared eagerly out of the window and cried aloud with delight as he recognised the familiar features of the Devon scenery.


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[Assistant] I've been over a good part of the world since I left it, Dr Watson," said he, but I've never seen a place to compare with it.


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[Assistant] I never saw a Devonshire man who did not swear by his county," I remarked.


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[Assistant] It depends upon the breed of men quite as much as on the county," said Dr Mortimer.


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[Assistant] A glance at our friend here reveals the rounded head of the Celt, which carries inside it the Celtic enthusiasm and power of attachment.


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[Assistant] Poor Sir Charles's head was of a very rare type—half Gaelic, half Ivernian in its characteristics.


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[Assistant] But you were very young when you last saw Baskerville Hall, were you not?


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[Assistant] I was a boy in my teens at the time of my father's death, and had never seen the hall, for he lived in a little cottage on the south coast. Thence I went straight to a friend in America.


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[Assistant] I tell you it is all as new to me as it is to Dr. Watson, and I am as keen as possible to see them more.


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[Assistant] Are you? Then your wish is easily granted.


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[Assistant] For there is your first sight of the moor," said Dr Mortimer, pointing out of the carriage window.


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[Assistant] Over the green squares of the fields and the low curve of a wood there rose in the distance a grey melancholy hill with a strange jagged summit, dim and vague in the distance, like some fantastic landscape in a dream.


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[Assistant] Baskerville sat for a long time, his eyes fixed upon it.


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[Assistant] And I read upon his eager face how much it meant to him, this first sight of that strange spot where the men of his blood had held sway so long and left their mark so deep.


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[Assistant] There he sat with his tweed suit, in the corner of a prosaic railway carriage, and yet, as I looked at his dark and expressive face, I felt more than ever how truer descendant he was of that long line of high-blooded, fiery, and masterful men.


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[Assistant] There were pride, valour, and strength in his thick brows, his sensitive nostrils, and his large hazel eyes.


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[Assistant] If on that forbidding more, a difficult and dangerous quest should lie before us, this was at least a comrade for whom one might venture to take a risk with the certainty that he would bravely share it.


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[Assistant] The train pulled up at a small wayside station and we all descended.


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[Assistant] Outside, beyond the low white fence, a wagonet with a pair of cobs was waiting.