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[Assistant] As a flash of lightning in the night shows up in an instant every detail of a wild landscape, so at one glance I seem to see every possible result of such an action.


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[Assistant] The detection, the capture, the honoured career ending in an irreparable failure and disgrace, my friend himself lying at the mercy of the odious Milburton. For heaven's sake, Holmes, think what you're doing, I cried.


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[Assistant] My dear fellow, I have given it every consideration. I am never precipitate in my actions, nor would I adopt so energetic and, indeed, so dangerous a course, if any other were possible. Let us look at the matter clearly and fairly.


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[Assistant] I suppose that you will admit that the action is morally justifiable, though technically criminal.


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[Assistant] To burgle his house is no more than to forcibly take his pocketbook.


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[Assistant] an action in which you were prepared to aid me I turned it over in my mind


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[Assistant] Yes, I said. It is morally justifiable, so long as our object is to take no articles save those which are used for an illegal purpose. Exactly.


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[Assistant] Since it is morally justifiable, I have only to consider the question of personal risk. Surely a gentleman should not lay much stress upon this when a lady is in most desperate need of his help. You will be in such a false position. Well, that is part of the risk.


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[Assistant] There is no other possible way of regaining those letters.


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[Assistant] The unfortunate lady is not the money, and there are none of her people in who she could confide.


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[Assistant] Tomorrow is the last day of grace, and unless we can get the letters tonight, this villain will be as good as his word and will bring about her ruin.


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[Assistant] I must therefore abandon my client to her fate, or I must play this last card.


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[Assistant] Between ourselves, Watson, it's a sporting duel between this fellow Milverton and me.


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[Assistant] He had, as you saw, the best of the first exchanges, but my self-respect and my reputation are concerned to fight it to a finish.


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[Assistant] I give you my word of honour, and I never broke it in my life, that I will take a cab straight to the police station and give you away unless you let me share this adventure with you. You can't help me. How do you know that? You can't tell what may happen. Anyway, my resolution is taken.


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[Assistant] Other people besides you have self-respect and even reputations.


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[Assistant] Holmes had looked annoyed, but his brow cleared, and he clapped me on the shoulder.


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[Assistant] Well, well, my dear fellow, be it so. We have shared this same room for some years, and it would be amusing if we ended by sharing the same cell.


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[Assistant] You know, Watson, I don't mind confessing to you that I have always had an idea that I would have made a highly efficient criminal.


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[Assistant] This is the chance of my lifetime in that direction. See here.


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[Assistant] He took a neat little leather case out of a drawer, and opening it he exhibited a number of shining instruments.


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[Assistant] This is a first-class, up-to-date burgling kit, with nickel-plated gemmy, diamond-tipped glass cutter, adaptable keys, and every modern improvement which the march of civilization demands. Here, too, is my dark lantern.


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[Assistant] Everything is in order. Have you a pair of silent shoes? I have rubber sole tennis shoes. Excellent. And a mask? I can make a couple out of black silk.


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[Assistant] I can see that you have a strong natural turn for this sort of thing. Very good.


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[Assistant] Do you make the masks? We shall have some cold supper before we start. It is now nine thirty.


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[Assistant] At eleven we shall drive as far as Church Row. It is a quarter of an hour's walk from there to Appledore Towers. We shall be at work before midnight.


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[Assistant] Milverton is a heavy sleeper and retires punctually at 10.30.


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[Assistant] With any luck, we should be back here by two with the Lady Eva's letters in my pocket.


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[Assistant] Holmes and I put on our dress clothes so that we might appear to be two theatre-goers homeward bound. In Oxford Street we picked up a handsome and drove to an address in Hampstead.


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[Assistant] Here we paid off our cab, and with our great coats buttoned up, for it was bitterly cold, and the wind seemed to blow through us, we walked along the edge of the heath.


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[Assistant] It's a business that needs delicate treatment," said Holmes. These documents are contained in a safe in the fellow's study, and the study is the anteroom of his bed-chamber.


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[Assistant] On the other hand, like all these stout little men who do themselves well, he is a plethoric sleeper.


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[Assistant] Agatha—that's my fiancée—says it is a joke in the servant's hall that it's impossible to wake the master. He has a secretary who is devoted to his interests and never budges from the study all day. That's why we're going at night. Then he has a beast of a dog which roams the garden.


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[Assistant] I met Agatha late the last two evenings, and she locks the brute up so as to give me a clear run.


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[Assistant] This is the house, this big one in its own grounds.


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[Assistant] Through the gate, now to the right among the laurels. We might put on our masks here, I think. You see there is not a glimmer of light in any of the windows, and everything is working splendidly.


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[Assistant] With our black silk face coverings, which turned us into two of the most truculent figures in London, we stole up to the silent gloomy house.


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[Assistant] A sort of tiled veranda extended along one side of it, lined by several windows and two doors.


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[Assistant] That's his bedroom, Holmes whispered. This door opens straight into the study. It would suit us best, but it is bolted as well as locked, and we should make too much noise getting in.


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[Assistant] There's a green house which opens into the drawing room.


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[Assistant] The place was locked, but Holmes removed a circle of glass and turned the key from the inside.


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[Assistant] An instant afterwards he had closed the door behind us and we had become felons in the eyes of the law.


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[Assistant] The thick warm air of the conservatory and the rich choking fragrance of exotic plants took us by the throat.


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[Assistant] He seized my hand in the darkness, and led me swiftly past banks of shrubs which brushed against our faces. Holmes had remarkable powers, carefully cultivated, of seeing in the dark.


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[Assistant] Still holding my hand in one of his, he opened a door, and I was vaguely conscious that we had entered a large room in which a cigar had been smoked not long before.


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[Assistant] He felt his way among the furniture opened another door and closed it behind us.


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[Assistant] Putting out my hand I felt several coats hanging from the wall, and I understood that I was in a passage. We passed along it, and Holmes very gently opened the door upon the right-hand side.


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[Assistant] Something rushed out at us and my heart sprang into my mouth, but I could have laughed when I realised that it was the cat.


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[Assistant] A fire was burning in this new room, and again the air was heavy with tobacco smoke. Holmes entered on tiptoe, waited for me to follow, and then very gently closed the door.


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[Assistant] We were in Milverton's study, and a portier at the far side showed the entrance to his bedroom.


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[Assistant] It was a good fire, and the room was illuminated by it. Near the door I saw the gleam of an electric switch, but it was unnecessary, even if it had been safe to turn it on. At one side of the fireplace was a heavy curtain which covered the bay window we had seen from outside.


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[Assistant] On the other side was the door which communicated with the veranda. A desk stood in the centre with a turning chair of shining red leather.


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[Assistant] Opposite was a large bookcase, with a marble bust of Athene on the top. In the corner, between the bookcase and the wall, there stood a tall green safe, the firelight flashing back from the polished brass knobs upon its face.


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[Assistant] Home stole across and looked at it. Then he crept to the door of the bedroom and stood with slanting head, listening intently. No sound came from within.


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[Assistant] Meanwhile it had struck me that it would be wise to secure our retreat through the outer door, so I examined it.


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[Assistant] To my amazement, it was neither locked nor bolted. I touched Holmes on the arm, and he turned his masked face in that direction. I saw him start, and he was evidently as surprised as I was. I don't like it, he whispered, putting his lips to my very ear. I can't quite make it out. Anyhow, we have no time to lose. Can I do anything? Yes, stand by the door.


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[Assistant] My first feeling of fear had passed away, and I thrilled now with a keener zest than I had ever enjoyed when we were the defenders of the law, instead of its defiers.


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[Assistant] The high object of our mission, the consciousness that it was unselfish and chivalrous, the villainous character of our opponent, all added to the sporting interest of the adventure.


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[Assistant] Far from feeling guilty, I rejoiced and exulted in our dangers.


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[Assistant] With a glow of admiration I watched Holmes unrolling his case of instruments and choosing his tool with the calm scientific accuracy of a surgeon who performs a delicate operation.


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[Assistant] I knew that the opening of safes was a particular hobby with him, and I understood the joy which it gave him to be confronted with this green and gold monster, the dragon which held in its moor the reputations of many fair ladies.


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[Assistant] Turning up the cuffs of his dress coat, he had placed his overcoat on a chair.


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[Assistant] Holmes laid out two drills, a gemmy, and several skeleton keys. I stood at the centre door with my eyes glancing at each of the others, ready for any emergency, though, indeed, my plans were somewhat vague as to what I should do if we were interrupted.


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[Assistant] For half an hour Holmes worked with concentrated energy, laying down one tool, picking up another,


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[Assistant] Handling each with the strength and delicacy of the trained mechanic.


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[Assistant] Finally I heard a click. The broad green door swung open, and inside I had a glimpse of a number of paper packets, each tied, sealed, and inscribed.


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[Assistant] Holmes picked one out, but it was as hard to read by the flickering fire, and he drew out his little dark lantern, for it was too dangerous, with Milverton in the next room, to switch on the electric light. Suddenly I saw him halt, listen intently,


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[Assistant] And then in an instant he had swung the door of the safe, too, picked up his coat, stuffed his tools into the pockets, and darted behind the window curtain, motioning me to do the same.


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[Assistant] It was only when I had joined him there that I heard what had alarmed his quicker senses. There was a noise somewhere within the house.


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[Assistant] A door slammed in the distance. Then a confused, dull murmur broke itself into the measured thud of heavy footsteps rapidly approaching. They were in the passage outside the room. They paused at the door.


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[Assistant] The door opened. There was a sharp snick as the electric light was turned on.


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[Assistant] The door closed once more, and the pungent reek of a strong cigar was borne to our nostrils.


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[Assistant] Then the footsteps continued backward and forward, backward and forward, within a few yards of us.


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[Assistant] Finally there was a creak from a chair, and the footsteps ceased. Then a key clicked in a lock, and I heard the rustle of papers.


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[Assistant] So far I had not dared to look out, but now I gently parted the division of the curtains in front of me and peeped through.


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[Assistant] From the pressure of Holmes's shoulder against mine, I knew that he was sharing my observations.


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[Assistant] Right in front of us, and almost within our reach, was the broad rounded back of Milverton.


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[Assistant] It was evident that we had entirely miscalculated his movements, that he had never been to his bedroom, but that he had been sitting up in some smoking or billiard room in the farther wing of the house, the windows of which we had not seen.


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[Assistant] His broad grizzled head, with its shining patch of baldness, was in the immediate foreground of our vision.


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[Assistant] He was leaning far back in the red leather chair, his legs outstretched, a long black cigar projecting at an angle from his mouth.


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[Assistant] He wore a semi-military smoking jacket, claret-coloured, with a black velvet collar. In his hand he held a long legal document, which he was reading in an indolent fashion, blowing rings of tobacco smoke from his lips as he did so.


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[Assistant] There was no promise of a speedy departure in his composed bearing and his comfortable attitude.


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[Assistant] I felt Holmes's hand steal into mine and give me a reassuring shake, as if to say that the situation was within his powers and that he was easy in his mind.


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[Assistant] I was not so sure that he had seen what was only too obvious from my position, that the door of the safe was imperfectly closed, and that Milverton might at any moment observe it.


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[Assistant] In my own mind I had determined that if I was sure, from the rigidity of his gaze, that it had caught his eye, I would at once spring out, throw my great coat over his head, pinion him, and leave the rest to Holmes.


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[Assistant] But Milverton never looked up. He was languidly interested by the papers in his hand, and page after page was turned as he followed the argument of the lawyer.


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[Assistant] At least, I thought, when he's finished the document and the cigar, he will go to his room, but before he had reached the end of either.


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[Assistant] There came a remarkable development which turned our thoughts into quite another channel.


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[Assistant] Several times I had observed that Milverton looked at his watch, and once he had risen and sat down again, with a gesture of impatience.


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[Assistant] The idea, however, that he might have an appointment at so strange an hour never occurred to me until a faint sound reached my ears from the veranda outside.


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[Assistant] Well, said he curtly, you're nearly half an hour late.


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[Assistant] So this was the explanation of the unlocked door and of the nocturnal vigil of Milverton.


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[Assistant] There was the gentle rustle of a woman's dress. I had closed the slit between the curtains as Milverton's face had turned in our direction.


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[Assistant] But now I ventured very carefully to open it once more.


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[Assistant] He had resumed his seat, the cigar still projecting at an insolent angle from the corner of his mouth.


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[Assistant] In front of him, in the full glare of the electric light, there stood a tall slim dark woman, a veil over her face, a mantle drawn round her chin.


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[Assistant] Her breath came quick and fast, and every inch of the lithe figure was quivering with strong emotion.


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[Assistant] Well," said Milverton, you made me lose a good night's rest, my dear.


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[Assistant] If the Countess is a hard mistress, you have your chance to get level with her now.


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[Assistant] Bless the girl. What are you shivering about? That's right, pull yourself together. Now, let's get down to business.


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[Assistant] He took a notebook from the drawer of his desk. You say that you have five letters which compromise the Countess d'Albert. You want to sell them? I want to buy them. So far so good. It only remains to fix a price.


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[Assistant] I should want to inspect the letters, of course. If they're really good specimens. Great heavens! Is it you?


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[Assistant] The woman, without a word, had raised her veil and dropped the mantle from her chin.


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[Assistant] It was a dark, handsome, clear-cut face which confronted Milverton. A face with a curved nose, strong, dark eyebrows, shading hard, glittering eyes, and a straight, thin-lipped mouth set in a dangerous smile. It is I, she said, the woman whose life you have ruined. Milverton laughed, but fear vibrated in his voice.


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[Assistant] You were so very obstinate," said he. Why did you drive me to such extremities? I assure you I wouldn't hurt a fly of my own accord. But every man has his business, and what was I to do? I put the price well within your means you would not pay.


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[Assistant] So you sent the letters to my husband and he


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[Assistant] The noblest gentleman that ever lived, a man whose boots I was never worthy to lace, he broke his gallant heart and died.


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[Assistant] You remember that last night when I came through that door? I begged and prayed you for mercy, and you laughed in my face as you are trying to laugh now.


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[Assistant] Only your coward heart can't keep your lips from twitching.


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[Assistant] Yes, you never thought to see me here again, but it was that night which taught me how I could meet you face to face and alone. Well, Charles Milburton, what have you to say?


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[Assistant] Don't imagine that you can bully me, said he, rising to his feet.


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[Assistant] I have only to raise my voice and I could call my servants and have you arrested.


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[Assistant] But I'll make allowance for your natural anger. Leave the room at once as you came and I will say no more.


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[Assistant] The woman stood with her hand buried in her bosom and the same deadly smile on her thin lips.


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[Assistant] You will ruin no more lives as you have ruined mine. You will wring no more hearts as you wrung mine. I will free the world of a poisonous thing.


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[Assistant] She had drawn a little gleaming revolver and emptied barrel after barrel into Milverton's body, the muzzle within two feet of his shirt-front.


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[Assistant] He shrank away and then fell forward upon the table, coughing furiously and clawing among the papers.


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[Assistant] Then he staggered to his feet, received another shot, and rolled upon the floor.


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[Assistant] The woman looked at him intently and ground her heel into his upturned face. She looked again, but there was no sound or movement. I heard a sharp rustle, the night air blew into the heated room, and the Avenger was gone.


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[Assistant] No interference upon our part could have saved the man from his fate.


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[Assistant] But as the woman poured bullet after bullet into Milverton's shrinking body, I was about to spring out, when I felt Holmes's cold, strong grasp upon my wrist.


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[Assistant] I understood the whole argument of that firm restraining grip, that it was no affair of ours.


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[Assistant] That justice had overtaken a villain that we had our own duties and our own objects which were not to be lost sight of.


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[Assistant] But hardly had the woman rush from the room when Holmes, with swift silent steps, was over at the other door. He turned the key in the lock.


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[Assistant] At the same instant we heard voices in the house and the sound of hurrying feet. The revolver shots had roused the household


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[Assistant] With perfect coolness, Holmes slipped across to the safe, filled his two arms with bundles of letters, and poured them all into the fire.


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[Assistant] Again and again he did it, until the safe was empty.


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[Assistant] Someone turned the handle and beat upon the outside of the door. Holmes looked swiftly round. The letter which had been the messenger of death for Milverton lay all mottled with his blood upon the table. Holmes tossed it in among the blazing papers.


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[Assistant] Then he drew the key from the outer door, passed through after me and locked it on the outside.


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[Assistant] This way, Watson," said he, we can scale the garden wall in this direction.


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[Assistant] I could not have believed that an alarm could have spread so swiftly. Looking back, the huge house was one blaze of light. The front door was open, and figures were rushing down the drive.


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[Assistant] The whole garden was alive with people, and one fellow raised a view hello as we emerged from the veranda and followed hard at our heels.


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[Assistant] Holmes seemed to know the grounds perfectly, and he threaded his way swiftly among a plantation of small trees, I close at his heels, and our foremost pursuer panting behind us.


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[Assistant] It was a six-foot wall which barred our path, but he sprang to the top and over. As I did the same, I felt the hand of the man behind me grab at my ankle, but I kicked myself free and scrambled over a grass-strewn coping.


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[Assistant] I fell upon my face among some bushes, but Holmes had me on my feet in an instant, and together we dashed away across the huge expanse of hamstered heath.


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[Assistant] We had run two miles, I suppose, before Holmes at last halted and listened intently. All was absolute silence behind us. We had shaken off our pursuers, and were safe.


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[Assistant] We had breakfasted and were smoking our morning pipe on the day after the remarkable experience which I have recorded, when Mr. Lestrade of Scotland Yard, very solemn and impressive, was ushered into our modest sitting-room. "'Good morning, Mr. Owmes,' said he. "'Good morning. May I ask you if you are very busy just now?' "'Not too busy to listen to you.'


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[Assistant] I thought that perhaps, if you had nothing particular on hand, you might care to assist us in a most remarkable case which occurred only last night at Amstead.


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[Assistant] I know how keen you are upon those things, and I would take it as a great favour if you would step down to Appledore Towers and give us the benefit of your advice. It is no ordinary crime. We have had our eyes upon this Mr. Milverton for some time, and between ourselves he was a bit of a villain.


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[Assistant] He's known to have held papers which he used for blackmailing purposes. These papers have all been burned by the murderers. No article of value was taken, as it is probable that the criminals were men of good position, whose sole object was to prevent social exposure. Criminals?" said Holmes.


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[Assistant] Yes, there were two of them. They were as nearly as possible captured red-handed.


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[Assistant] We have their footmarks, we have their description. It's ten to one that we trace them.


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[Assistant] The first fellow was a bit too active, but the second was caught by the under-guardner, and only got away after a struggle.


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[Assistant] He was a middle-sized, strongly-built man, square jaw, thick neck, moustache, a mask over his eyes. That's rather vague," said Sherlock Holmes. My, it might be a description of Watson. It's true," said the inspector with amusement. It might be a description of Watson.


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[Assistant] Well, I'm afraid I can't help you, Lestrade," said Holmes.


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[Assistant] The fact is that I knew this fellow, Milverton, that I considered him one of the most dangerous men in London.


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[Assistant] My sympathies are with the criminals rather than with the victim, and I will not handle this case.


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[Assistant] Holmes had not said one word to me about the tragedy which we had witnessed, but I observed all the morning that he was in the most thoughtful mood, and he gave me the impression from his vacant eyes and his abstracted manner of a man who is striving to recall something to his memory.


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[Assistant] We were in the middle of our lunch when he suddenly sprang to his feet.


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[Assistant] He hurried at his top speed down Baker Street and along Oxford Street until we had almost reached Regent Circus. Here, on the left hand, stands a shop window filled with photographs of the celebrities and beauties of the day.


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[Assistant] Holmes's eyes fixed themselves upon one of them, and following his gaze I saw the picture of a regal and stately lady in court dress, with a high diamond tiara upon her noble head.


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[Assistant] I looked at that delicately curved nose, at the marked eyebrows, at the straight mouth, and the strong little chin beneath it.


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[Assistant] Then I caught my breath as I read the time on a title of the great nobleman and statesman whose wife she had been. My eyes met those of Holmes, and he put his finger to his lips as we turned away from the window.


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[Assistant] End of The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton


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[Assistant] And now that you're on board, this place is really gonna start cookin'.


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[Assistant] Adventure 11 The Adventure of the Missing Three Quarter


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[Assistant] We were fairly accustomed to receive weird telegrams at Baker Street, but I have a particular recollection of one which reached us on a gloomy February morning, some seven or eight years ago, and gave Mr. Sherlock Holmes a puzzled quarter of an hour. It was addressed to him and ran thus. Please await me.


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[Assistant] Terrible Misfortune Right Wing Three Quarter Missing Indispensable Tomorrow Overton


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[Assistant] Strand postmark and dispatch 1036," said Holmes, reading it over and over.


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[Assistant] Mr. Overton was evidently considerably excited when he sent it, and somewhat incoherent in consequence.


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[Assistant] Well, well, he will be here, I dare say, by the time I have looked through the times, and then we shall know all about it. Even the most insignificant problem would be welcomed in these stagnant days. Things had indeed been very slow with us.


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[Assistant] And I had learned to dread such periods of inaction, for I knew by experience that my companion's brain was so abnormally active that it was dangerous to leave it without material upon which to work.


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[Assistant] For years I had gradually weaned him from that drug-mania which had threatened once to check his remarkable career.


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[Assistant] Now I knew that under ordinary conditions he no longer craved for this artificial stimulus, but I was well aware that the fiend was not dead but sleeping.


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[Assistant] And I have known that the sleep was a light one, and the waking near when in periods of idleness I have seen the drawn look upon Holmes's ascetic face, and the brooding of his deep-set and inscrutable eyes.


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[Assistant] Therefore I blessed this Mr. Overton, whoever he might be, since he had come with his enigmatic message to break that dangerous calm which brought more peril to my friend than all the storms of his tempestuous life.


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[Assistant] As we had expected, the telegram was soon followed by its sender, and the card of Mr.


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[Assistant] Trinity College, Cambridge, announced the arrival of an enormous young man, sixteen stone of solid bone and muscle, who spanned the doorway with his broad shoulders, and looked from one of us to the other with a comely face which was haggard with anxiety. Mr. Sherlock Holmes—my companion bowed.


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[Assistant] I have been down to Scotland Yard, Mr. Holmes. I saw Inspector Stanley Hopkins. He advised me to come to you. He said the case, so far as he could see, was more in your line than in that of the regular police. Pray sit down and tell me what is the matter.


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[Assistant] It's awful, Mr. Holmes. Simply awful. I wonder my hair isn't grey. Godfrey Staunton—you've heard of him, of course—is simply the hinge the whole team turns on. I'd rather spare two from the pack and have Godfrey for my three-quarter line.


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[Assistant] Whether it's passing, or tackling, or dribbling, there's no one to touch him, and when he's got the head and can hold us all together—


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[Assistant] What am I to do? That's what I ask you, Mr. Holmes. There's Morehouse, First Reserve, but he's trained as a half, and he always edges right in on the scrum, instead of keeping out on the touch-line.


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[Assistant] He's a fine place kick, it's true, but then he has no judgment, and he can't sprint for nuts. Why, Morton or Johnson, the Oxford Flyers could romp around him


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[Assistant] Stevenson is fast enough, but he couldn't drop from the 25 line, and a three-quarter who can't either punt or drop isn't worth a place for pace alone.


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[Assistant] No, Mr. Holmes. We're done unless you can help me to find Godfrey Staunton.


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[Assistant] My friend had listened with amused surprise to this long speech, which was poured forth with extraordinary vigour and earnestness, every point being driven home by the slapping of a brawny hand upon the speaker's knee.


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[Assistant] When our visitor was silent, Holmes stretched out his hand and took down letter S of his commonplace


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[Assistant] For once he dug in vain into that mine of varied information.


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[Assistant] There is Arthur H. Staunton, the rising young forger, said he, and there was Henry Staunton, whom I helped to hang. But Godfrey Staunton is a new name to me. It was our visitor's turn to look surprised.


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[Assistant] Why, Mr. Holmes, I thought you knew things," said he. I suppose, then, if you've never heard of Godfrey Staunton, you don't know Cyril Overton, either. Holmes shook his head good-humouredly.


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[Assistant] Great Scott!" cried the athlete. Why, I was first reserve for England against Wales, and I've skippered the varsity all this year.


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[Assistant] But that's nothing. I didn't think there was a soul in England who didn't know Godfrey Staunton, the Crack Three Quarter, Cambridge, Blackheath, and Five Internationals. Good Lord, Mr. Holmes, where have you lived?


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[Assistant] Holmes laughed at the young giant's naive astonishment.


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[Assistant] You live in a different world to me, Mr. Overton, a sweeter and healthier one. My ramifications stretch out into many sections of society, but never, I am happy to say, into amateur sport, which is the best and soundest thing in England.


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[Assistant] However, your unexpected visit this morning shows me that even in that world of fresh air and fair play there may be work for me to do.


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[Assistant] So now, my good sir, I beg you to sit down and to tell me slowly and quietly exactly what it is that has occurred, and how you desire that I should help you.


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[Assistant] Young Overton's face assumed the bothered look of the man who is more accustomed to using his muscles than his wits, but by degrees, with many repetitions and obscurities, which I may omit from this narrative, he laid his strange story before us.


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[Assistant] It's this way, Mr. Holmes. As I have said, I am the skipper of the rugger team of Cambridge, Varsity, and Godfrey Staunton is my best man. Tomorrow we play Oxford.


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[Assistant] Yesterday we all came up, and we settled at Bentley's private hotel. At ten o'clock I went round and saw that all the fellows had gone to roost, for I believe in strict training, and plenty of sleep to keep a team fit.


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[Assistant] I had a word or two with Godfrey before he turned in. He seemed to me to be pale and


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[Assistant] I asked him what was the matter. He said he was all right, just a touch of headache. I bade him good night and left him.


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[Assistant] Half an hour later, the porter tells me that a rough-looking man with a beard called with a note for Godfrey


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[Assistant] He'd not gone to bed, and the note was taken to his room.


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[Assistant] Godfrey read it and fell back in a chair as if he'd been poleaxed.


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[Assistant] The porter was so scared that he was going to fetch me, but Godfrey stopped him, had a drink of water, and pulled himself together.


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[Assistant] Then he went downstairs, said a few words to the man who was waiting in the hall, and the two of them went off together.


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[Assistant] The last that the porter saw of them, they were almost running down the street in the direction of the Strand.


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[Assistant] This morning Godfrey's room was empty, his bed had never been slept in, and his things were all just as I'd seen them the night before.


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[Assistant] He'd gone off at a moment's notice with this stranger, and no word has come from him since. I don't believe he will ever come back.


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[Assistant] He was a sportsman, was Godfrey, down to his marrow, and he wouldn't have stopped his training and let in his skipper if it were not for some cause that was too strong for him. No, I feel as if he were gone for good, and we should never see him again.


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[Assistant] Sherlock Holmes listened with the deepest attention to this singular narrative. What did you do? he asked.


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[Assistant] I wired to Cambridge to learn if anything had been heard of him there. I've had an answer. No one has seen him. Could he have got back to Cambridge? Yes, there is a late train, quarter past eleven.


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[Assistant] Godfrey is an orphan, and Lord Mount James is his nearest relative—his uncle, I believe. Indeed, this throws new light upon the matter. Lord Mount James is one of the richest men in England. So I've heard Godfrey say. And your friend was closely related?


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[Assistant] They say he could chalk his billiard queue with his knuckles. He never allowed Godfrey a shilling in his life, for he's an absolute miser. But it will all come to him right enough. Have you heard from Lord Mount James? No.


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[Assistant] What motive could you, friendo, have in going to Lord Mount James?


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[Assistant] Well, something was worrying him the night before, and if it was to do with money, it is possible that he would make for his nearest relative, who had so much of it, though from all I have heard he would not have much chance of getting it.


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[Assistant] Godfrey was not fond of the old man. He would not go if he could help it.


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[Assistant] Well, we can soon determine that. If your friend was going to his relative, Lord Mount James, you have then to explain the visit of this rough-looking fellow at so late an hour, and the agitation that was caused by his coming. Cyril Overton pressed his hands to his head. I can make nothing of it, said he.


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[Assistant] Well, well, I have a clear day, and I shall be happy to look into the matter," said Holmes.


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[Assistant] I should strongly recommend you to make your preparations for your match without reference to this young gentleman. It must, as you say, have been an overpowering necessity which tore him away in such a fashion, and the same necessity is likely to hold him away.


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[Assistant] Let us step round together to the hotel and see if the porter can throw any fresh light upon the matter.


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[Assistant] Sherlock Holmes was a past master in the art of putting a humble witness at his ease, and very soon, in the privacy of Godfrey Staunton's abandoned room, he had extracted all that the porter had to tell.


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[Assistant] The visitor of the night before was not a gentleman. Neither was he a working man.


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[Assistant] He was simply what the porter described as a medium-looking chap.


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[Assistant] A man of fifty, beard grizzled, pale face, quietly dressed. He seemed himself to be agitated. The porter had observed his hand trembling when he had held out the note. Godfrey Staunton had crammed the note into his pocket. Staunton had not shaken hands with the man in the hall,


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[Assistant] They had exchanged a few sentences, of which the porter had only distinguished the one word,


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[Assistant] Then they hurried off in the manner described. It was just half-past ten by the whole clock.


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[Assistant] Let me see," said Holmes, seating himself on Staunton's bed. You are the day porter, are you not? Yes, sir. I'll go off duty at eleven. The night porter saw nothing, I suppose.


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[Assistant] No sir, one theatre party came in late, no one else.


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[Assistant] Were you on duty all day yesterday? Yes, sir. Did you take any messages to Mr. Staunton? Yes, sir. One telegram.


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[Assistant] Yes, sir, I was standing by the door, and he with his back turned at the table. When he'd written it, he said, All right, Porter, I'll take this myself. What did he write it with? A pen, sir.


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[Assistant] Was the telegraphic form one of these on the table? Yes sir, it was the top one.


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[Assistant] Holmes rose. Taking the forms, he carried them over to the window, and carefully examined that which was uppermost.


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[Assistant] It is a pity he did not write in pencil," said he, throwing them down again with a shrug of disappointment. As you have no doubt frequently observed, Watson, the impression usually goes through a fact which has dissolved many a happy marriage.


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[Assistant] However, I can find no trace here. I rejoice, however, to perceive that he wrote with a broad pointed quill pen.


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[Assistant] And I can hardly doubt that we will find some impression upon this blotting pad.


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[Assistant] He tore off a strip of the blotting paper and turned towards us the following hieroglyphic.


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[Assistant] Cyril Overton was much excited. Hold it to the glass! he cried.


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[Assistant] That is unnecessary, said Holmes. The paper is thin, and the reverse will give the message. Here it is. He turned it over and read. Stand by us, for God's sake.


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[Assistant] So that is the tail-end of the telegram which Godfrey Staunton dispatched within a few hours of his disappearance.


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[Assistant] There are at least six words of the message which have escaped us, but what remains, stand by us for God's sake, proves that this young man saw a formidable danger which approached him and from which someone else could protect him.


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[Assistant] Us, mark you. Another person was involved. Who should it be but the pale-faced bearded man who seemed himself in so nervous a state?


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[Assistant] What then is the connection between Godfrey Staunton and the Bearded Man, and what is the third source from which each of them sought for help against pressing danger?


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[Assistant] Our inquiry has already narrowed down to that.


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[Assistant] We have only to find to whom the telegram is addressed, I suggested.


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[Assistant] Exactly, my dear Watson. Your reflection, though profound, had already crossed my mind. But I dare say it may have come to your notice that, counter-foil of another man's message, there may be some disinclination on the part of the officials to oblige you. There is so much red tape in these matters.


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[Assistant] However, I have no doubt that with a little delicacy and finesse the end may be attained.


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[Assistant] Meanwhile, I should like in your presence, Mr. Overton, to go through these papers which have been left upon the table.


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[Assistant] There were a number of letters, bills, and notebooks which Holmes turned over and examined with quick, nervous fingers and darting, penetrating eyes.


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[Assistant] Nothing here, he said at last. By the way, I suppose your friend was a healthy young fellow. Nothing amiss with him. Sound as a bell. Have you ever known him ill?


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[Assistant] Not a day. He's been laid up with a hack, and once he slipped his kneecap, but that was nothing.


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[Assistant] Perhaps he was not so strong as you suppose. I should think he may have had some secret trouble.


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[Assistant] With your assent I will put one or two of these papers in my pocket in case they should bear upon our future inquiry. One moment, one moment! cried a querulous voice.


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[Assistant] And we looked up to find a queer little old man jerking and twitching in the doorway.


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[Assistant] He was dressed in rusty black, with a very broad-brimmed top hat and a loose white necktie, the whole effect being that of a very rustic parson or of an undertaker's mute.


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[Assistant] Yet in spite of his shabby and even absurd appearance, his voice had a sharp crackle and his manner a quick intensity which commanded attention.


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[Assistant] Who are you, sir? And by what right do you touch this gentleman's papers? he asked.


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[Assistant] I am a private detective and I am endeavouring to explain his disappearance.


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[Assistant] Oh, you are, are you? And who instructed you, eh?


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[Assistant] This gentleman, Mr. Staunton's friend, was referred to me by Scotland Yard. Who are you, sir? I am Cyril Overton.


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[Assistant] Then it is you who sent me a telegram. My name is Lord Mount James. I came round as quickly as the Bayswater bus would bring me. So you've instructed a detective? Yes, sir. And are you prepared to meet the cost?


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[Assistant] I have no doubt, sir, that my friend Godfrey, when we find him, will be prepared to do that. But if he's never found, eh? Answer me that.


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[Assistant] And I tell you that I am not responsible. If he has any expectations, it is due to the fact that I have never wasted money, and I do not propose to begin to do so now.


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[Assistant] As to those papers with which you are making so free, I may tell you that in case there should be anything of any value among them, you will be held strictly to account for what you do with them. Very good, sir," said Sherlock Holmes.


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[Assistant] May I ask, in the meanwhile, whether you have yourself any theory to account for this young man's disappearance?


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[Assistant] No sir, I have not. He's big enough and old enough to look after himself, and if he's so foolish as to lose himself, I entirely refuse to accept the responsibility of hunting for him.


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[Assistant] I quite understand your position," said Holmes, with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Perhaps you don't quite understand mine. Godfrey Staunton appears to have been a poor man. If he has been kidnapped, it could not have been for anything which he himself possesses.


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[Assistant] The fame of your wealth has gone abroad, Lord Mount James, and it is entirely possible that a gang of thieves have secured your nephew in order to gain from him some information as to your house, your habits, and your treasure.


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[Assistant] The face of our unpleasant little visitor turned as white as his neck-cloth.


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[Assistant] Heavens, sir! What an idea! I never thought of such villainy.


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[Assistant] What inhuman rogues there are in the world. But Godfrey is a fine lad, a staunch lad.


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[Assistant] Nothing would induce him to give his old uncle away. I'll have the plate removed over to the bank this evening. In the meantime, spare no pains, Mr. Detective. I beg you to leave no stone unturned to bring him safely back.


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[Assistant] As to money, well, so far as a fiver or even a tenner goes, you can always look to me.


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[Assistant] Even in his chastened frame of mind the noble miser could give us no information which would help us, for he knew little of the private life of his nephew.


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[Assistant] Our only clue lay in the truncated telegram, and with a copy of this in his hand, Holmes set forth to find a second link for his chain. We had shaken off Lord Mount James, and Overton had gone to consult with the other members of his team over the misfortune which had befallen them.


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[Assistant] There was a telegraph office at a short distance from the hotel. We halted outside it.


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[Assistant] It's worth trying, Watson," said Holmes. Of course, with a warrant, we could demand to see the counter-foils, but we have not reached that stage yet. I don't suppose they remember faces in so busy a place. Let us venture it.


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[Assistant] I am so sorry to trouble you," said he in his blandest manner to the young woman behind the grating. There is some small mistake about a telegram I sent yesterday. I have had no answer, and I very much fear that I must have omitted to put my name at the end. Could you tell me if this was so?


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[Assistant] The young woman turned over a sheaf of counter foils.


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[Assistant] This is it. There is no name, said she, smoothing it out upon the counter.


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[Assistant] Then that of course accounts for my getting no answer," said Holmes. Dear me, how very stupid of me, to be sure. Good morning, Miss, and many thanks for having relieved my mind. He chuckled and rubbed his hands when we found ourselves in the street once more. Well? I asked.


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[Assistant] We progress, my dear Watson, we progress. I had seven different schemes for getting a glimpse of that telegram, but I could hardly hope to succeed the very first time. And what have you gained? A starting point for our investigation. He hailed a cab. King's Cross Station, said he. We have a journey, then.


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[Assistant] Yes, I think we must run down to Cambridge together. All the indications seem to me to point in that direction. Tell me, I asked as we rattled up Grey's Inn Road.


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[Assistant] Have you any suspicion yet as to be the cause of the disappearance?


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[Assistant] I don't think that among all our cases I've known one where the motives are more obscure.


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[Assistant] I confess, my dear Watson, that that does not appeal to me as a very probable explanation. It struck me, however, as being the one which was most likely to interest that exceedingly unpleasant old person.


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[Assistant] It certainly did that. But what are your alternatives?


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[Assistant] I could mention several. You must admit that it is curious and suggestive that this incident should occur on the eve of this important match, and should involve the only man whose presence seems essential to the success of the side.


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[Assistant] It may of course be a coincidence, but it is interesting. Amateur sport is free from betting,


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[Assistant] But a good deal of outside betting goes on among the public, and it is possible that it might be worth someone's while to get at a player as the ruffians of the turf get at a racehorse. There is one explanation.


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[Assistant] A second very obvious one is that this young man really is the heir of a great property, however modest his means may at present be, and it is not impossible that a plot to hold him for ransom might be concocted. These theories take no account of the telegram. Quite true, Watson.


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[Assistant] The telegram still remains the only solid thing with which we have to deal, and we must not permit our attention to wander away from it.


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[Assistant] But I shall be very much surprised if before evening we have not cleared it up, or made a considerable advance along it.


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[Assistant] It was already dark when we reached the old university city. Holmes took a cab at the station and ordered the man to drive to the house of Dr. Leslie Armstrong.


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[Assistant] A few minutes later we had stopped at a large mansion in the busiest thoroughfare. We were shown in, and after a long wait were at last admitted into the consulting room, where we found the doctor seated behind his table.


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[Assistant] It argues the degree in which I had lost touch with my profession that the name of Leslie Armstrong was unknown to me.


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[Assistant] Now I am aware that he is not only one of the heads of the medical school of the university, but a thinker of European reputation in more than one branch of science.


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[Assistant] Yet, even without knowing his brilliant record, one could not fail to be impressed by a mere glance at the man—the square massive face, the brooding eyes under the thatched brows, and the granite moulding of the inflexible jaw.


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[Assistant] A man of deep character, a man with an alert mind, grim, ascetic, self-contained, formidable. So I read Dr. Leslie Armstrong. He held my friend's card in his hand, and he looked up with no very pleased expression upon his dour features.


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[Assistant] I have heard your name, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and I am aware of your profession, one of which I by no means approve.


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[Assistant] In that, Doctor, you will find yourself in agreement with every criminal in the country," said my friend quietly.


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[Assistant] So far as your efforts are directed towards the suppression of crime, sir, they must have the support of every reasonable member of the community, though I cannot doubt that the official machinery is amply sufficient for the purpose.


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[Assistant] Where your calling is more open to criticism is when you pry into the secrets of private individuals, when you rake up family matters which are better hidden, and when you incidentally waste the time of men who are more busy than yourself.


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[Assistant] At the present moment, for example, I should be writing a treatise instead of conversing with you.


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[Assistant] No doubt, Doctor, and yet the conversation may prove more important than the treatise.


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[Assistant] Incidentally, I may tell you that we are doing the reverse of what you very justly blame, and that we are endeavouring to prevent anything like public exposure of private matters which must necessarily follow when once the case is fairly in the hands of the official police.


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[Assistant] You may look upon me simply as an irregular pioneer who goes in front of the regular forces of the country. I have come to ask you about Mr. Godfrey Staunton. What about him? You know him, do you not? He is an intimate friend of mine. You are aware that he has disappeared? Ah, indeed.


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[Assistant] There was no change of expression in the rugged features of the Doctor.


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[Assistant] He left his hotel last night. He has not been heard of. No doubt he will return. Tomorrow is the varsity football match. I have no sympathy with these childish games.


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[Assistant] The young man's fate interests me deeply, since I know him and like him.


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[Assistant] The football match does not come within my horizon at all.


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[Assistant] Holmes popped a sheet of paper before the doctor's eyes.


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[Assistant] Then perhaps you will explain this receited bill for thirteen guineas paid by Mr. Godfrey Staunton last month to Dr. Leslie Armstrong of Cambridge. I picked it out from among the papers upon his desk. The doctor flushed with anger.


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[Assistant] I do not feel that there is any reason why I should render an explanation to you, Mr. Holmes." Holmes replaced the bill in his notebook.


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[Assistant] If you prefer a public explanation, it must come sooner or later," said he.


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[Assistant] I have already told you that I can hush up that which others will be bound to publish, and you would really be wiser to take me into your complete confidence. I know nothing about it. Did you hear from Mr. Staunton in London? Certainly not. Dear me, dear me, the post office again, home side wearily.


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[Assistant] A most urgent telegram was dispatched to you from London by Godfrey Staunton at 6.15 yesterday evening. A telegram which is undoubtedly associated with his disappearance, and yet you have not had it. It is most culpable. I shall certainly go down to the office here and register a complaint.


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[Assistant] Dr. Leslie Armstrong sprang up from behind his desk and his dark face was crimson with fury.


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[Assistant] I'll trouble you to walk out of my house, sir," said he. You can tell your employer, Lord Mount James, that I do not wish to have anything to do either with him or with his agents. No, sir, no, another word.


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[Assistant] A pompous butler ushered us severely to the door, and we found ourselves in the street. Holmes burst out laughing.


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[Assistant] Dr. Leslie Armstrong is certainly a man of energy and character," said he. I have not seen a man who, if he turns his talents that way, was more calculated to fill the gap left by the illustrious Moriarty.


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[Assistant] And now, my dear Watson, here we are, stranded and friendless in this inhospitable town which we cannot leave without abandoning our case.


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[Assistant] This little inn, just opposite Armstrong's house, is singularly adapted to our needs.


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[Assistant] If you would engage a front room and purchase the necessaries for the night, I may have time to make a few inquiries.


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[Assistant] These few inquiries proved, however, to be a more lengthy proceeding than Holmes had imagined, for he did not return to the inn until nearly nine o'clock.


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[Assistant] He was pale and dejected, stained with dust and exhausted with hunger and fatigue.


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[Assistant] A cold supper was ready upon the table, and when his needs were satisfied and his pipe alight, he was ready to take that half-comic and wholly philosophic view which was natural to him when his affairs were going awry. The sound of carriage wheels caused him to rise and glance out of the window.


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[Assistant] A brotham and a pair of greys under the glare of a gas-lamp stood before the doctor's door


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[Assistant] It's been out three hours," said Holmes. Started at half-past six, and here it is back again. That gives a radius of ten or twelve miles, and he does it once or sometimes twice a day. No unusual thing for a doctor in practice.


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[Assistant] But Armstrong is not really a doctor in practice. He is a lecturer and a consultant, but he does not care for general practice, which distracts him from his literary work.


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[Assistant] Why, then, does he make these long journeys which must be exceedingly irksome to him? And who is it that he visits? His coachman, my dear Watson.


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[Assistant] Can you doubt it was to him that I first applied?


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[Assistant] I do not know whether it came from his own innate depravity, or from the promptings of his master, but he was rude enough to set a dog at me.


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[Assistant] Neither dog nor man liked the look of my stick, however, and the matter fell through. Relations were strained after that, and further inquiries out of the question.


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[Assistant] All that I have learned I got from a friendly native in the yard of our own inn.


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[Assistant] It was he who told me of the doctor's habits and of his daily journey.


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[Assistant] At that instant to give point to his words, the carriage came round to the door.


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[Assistant] Excellent, Watson. You are scintillating this evening. The idea did cross my mind. There is, as you may have observed, a bicycle shop next to our inn. Into this I rushed, engaged a bicycle, and was able to get started before the carriage was quite out of sight.


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[Assistant] I rapidly overtook it, and then, keeping at a discreet distance of a hundred yards or so, I followed its lights until we were clear of the town.


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[Assistant] We had got well out on the country road when a somewhat mortifying incident occurred.


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[Assistant] The carriage stopped, the doctor alighted, walked swiftly back to where I had also halted, and told me in an excellent sardonic fashion that he feared the road was narrow, and that he hoped his carriage did not impede the passage of my bicycle. Nothing could have been more admirable than his way of putting it.


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[Assistant] I at once rode past the carriage, and keeping to the main road, I went on for a few miles, and then halted in a convenient place to see if the carriage passed.


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[Assistant] There was no sign of it, however, and so it became evident that it had turned down one of several side roads which I had observed. I rode back but again saw nothing of the carriage, and now, as you perceive, it has returned after me.


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[Assistant] Of course, I had at the outset no particular reason to connect these journeys with the disappearance of Godfrey Staunton, and was only inclined to investigate them on the general grounds that everything which concerns Dr. Armstrong is at present of interest to us.


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[Assistant] Now that I find he keeps so keen a look out upon anyone who may follow him on these excursions,


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[Assistant] The affair appears more important, and I shall not be satisfied until I have made the matter clear. We can follow him tomorrow. Can we? It is not so easy as you seem to think. You are not familiar with Cambridgeshire's scenery, are you? It does not lend itself to concealment.


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[Assistant] All this country that I passed over tonight is as flat and clean as the palm of your hand.


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[Assistant] And the man we are following is no fool, as he is very clearly shown tonight.


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[Assistant] I have wired to Overton to let us know any fresh London developments at this address, and in the meantime we can only concentrate our attention upon Dr. Armstrong, whose name the obliging young lady at the office allowed me to read upon the counter-foil of Staunton's urgent message.


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[Assistant] He knows where the young man is. To that I'll swear. And if he knows, then it must be our own fault if we cannot manage to know also.


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[Assistant] At present it must be admitted that the odd trick is in his possession, and, as you are aware, Watson, it is not my habit to leave the game in that condition.


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[Assistant] And yet the next day brought us no nearer to the solution of the mystery. A note was handed in after breakfast, which Holmes passed across to me with a smile.


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[Assistant] Sir," it ran, I can assure you that you are wasting your time in dogging my movements. I have, as you discovered last night, a window at the back of my brothel, and if you desire a twenty-mile ride which will lead you to the spot from which you started, you have only to follow me.


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[Assistant] Meanwhile, I can inform you that no spying upon me can in any way help Mr. Godfrey Staunton and I am convinced that the best service you can do to that gentleman is to return at once to London and to report to your employer that you are unable to trace him.


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[Assistant] Your time in Cambridge will certainly be wasted. Yours faithfully, Leslie Armstrong.


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[Assistant] An outspoken, honest antagonist is the Doctor," said Holmes. Well, well, he excites my curiosity, and I must really know before I leave him.


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[Assistant] His carriage is at his door now," said I. There he is, stepping into it. I saw him glance up at our window as he did so. Suppose I try my look upon the bicycle. No, no, my dear Watson.


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[Assistant] With all respect for your natural acumen, I do not think that you are quite a match for the worthy doctor. I think that possibly I can attain our end by some independent explorations of my own.


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[Assistant] I am afraid that I must leave you to your own devices, as the appearance of two inquiring strangers upon a sleepy countryside might excite more gossip than I care for.


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[Assistant] No doubt you will find some sights to amuse you in this venerable city.


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[Assistant] And I hope to bring back a more favorable report to you before evening.


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[Assistant] Once more however my friend was destined to be disappointed. He came back at night weary and unsuccessful.


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[Assistant] I have had a blank day, Watson. Having got the doctor's general direction, I spent the day in and visiting all the villages upon that side of Cambridge, and comparing notes with publicans and other local news agencies.


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[Assistant] I have covered some ground. Chesterton, Histon, Waterbeach, and Oakington have each been explored, and have each proved disappointing.


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[Assistant] The daily appearance of a brotham and pear could hardly have been overlooked in such sleepy hollows. The doctor has scored once more. Is there a telegram for me? Yes, I opened it. Here it is.


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[Assistant] Ask for Pompey from Jeremy Dixon Trinity College. I don't understand it.


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[Assistant] Oh, it is clear enough. It is from our friend Overton, and is in answer to a question from me.


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[Assistant] I'll just send round a note to Mr. Jeremy Dixon, and then I have no doubt that our luck will return. By the way, is there any news of the match?


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[Assistant] Yes, the local evening paper has an excellent account in its last edition.


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[Assistant] Oxford won by a goal and two tries. The last sentences of the description say,


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[Assistant] The defeat of the light blues may be entirely attributed to the unfortunate absence of the crack international Godfrey Staunton, whose want was felt at every instant of the game. The lack of combination in the three-quarter line and their weakness both in attack and defense more than neutralized the efforts of a heavy and hard-working pack.


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[Assistant] Then our friend Overton's forebodings have been justified, said Holmes.


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[Assistant] Personally I am in agreement with Dr. Armstrong, and football does not come with my horizon.


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[Assistant] Early to bed tonight, Watson, for I foresee that tomorrow may be an eventful day.


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[Assistant] I was horrified by my first glimpse of Holmes next morning, for he sat by the fire holding his tiny hypodermic syringe.


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[Assistant] I associated that instrument with the single weakness of his nature, and I feared the worst when I saw it glittering in his hand. He laughed at my expression of dismay and laid it upon the table. No, no, my dear fellow, there is no cause for alarm.


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[Assistant] It is not upon this occasion the instrument of evil, but it will rather prove to be the key which will unlock our mystery.


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[Assistant] On this syringe I base all my hopes. I have just returned from a small scouting expedition, and everything is favourable.


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[Assistant] Eat a good breakfast, Watson, for I propose to get upon Dr. Armstrong's trail today, and once on it I will not stop for rest or food until I run him to his burrow.


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[Assistant] In that case," said I, we had best carry our breakfast with us, for he is making an early start. His carriage is at the door.


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[Assistant] Never mind, let him go. He will be clever if he can drive where I cannot follow him. When you have finished, come downstairs with me, and I will introduce you to a detective who is a very eminent specialist in the work that lies before us.


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[Assistant] When we descended I followed Holmes into the stable yard, where he opened the door of a loose box and let out a squat, lop-eared, white-and-tan dog—something between a beagle and a foxhound. "'Let me introduce you to Pompey,' said he.


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[Assistant] Pompey is the pride of the local draghounds. No very great flyer, as his build will show, but a staunch hound on a scent.


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[Assistant] Well, Pompey, you may not be fast, but I expect you won't be too fast for a couple of middle-aged London gentlemen, so I will take the liberty of fastening this leather leash to your collar. Now, boy, come along and show what you can do.


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[Assistant] He led him across to the doctor's door. The dog sniffed round for an instant, and then, with a shrill whine of excitement, started off down the street, tugging at his leash in his efforts to go faster.


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[Assistant] In half an hour we were clear of the town and hastening down a country road. What have you done, Holmes? I asked.


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[Assistant] A threadbare and venerable device, but useful upon occasion. I walked into the doctor's yard this morning and shot my syringe full of aniseed over the hind-wheel.


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[Assistant] A draghound will follow Annecy from here to John O'Groats, and our friend Armstrong would have to drive through the camp before he would shake Pompey off his trail. Oh, the cunning rascal! This is how he gave me the slip the other night.


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[Assistant] The dog had suddenly turned out of the main road into a grass-grown lane. Half a mile farther, this opened into another broad road, and the trail turned hard to the right in the direction of the town, which we had just quitted. The road took a sweep to the south of the town, and continued in the opposite direction to that in which we started.


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[Assistant] This detour has been entirely for our benefit then," said Holmes. No wonder that my inquiries among those villagers led to nothing. The doctor has certainly played the game for all it is worth, and one would like to know the reason for such elaborate deception.


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[Assistant] This should be the village of Trumpington to the right of us. And by Jove, here is a brotham coming round the corner. Quick, Watson, quick, or we are done.


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[Assistant] He sprang through a gate into a field, dragging the reluctant Pompey after him. We had hardly gotten to the shelter of the hedge when the carriage rattled past.


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[Assistant] I caught a glimpse of Dr. Armstrong within. His shoulders bowed, his head sunk on his hands, the very image of distress. I could tell by my companion's graver face that he also had seen.


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[Assistant] I fear there is some dark ending to our quest," said he. It cannot be long before we know it. Come, Pompey. Ah, it is the cottage in the field.


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[Assistant] There could be no doubt that we had reached the end of our journey. Pompey ran about and whined eagerly outside the gate, where the marks of the Brougham's wheels were still to be seen. A footpath led across to the lonely cottage. Holmes tied the dog to the hedge, and we hastened onward.


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[Assistant] My friend knocked at the little rustic door and knocked again without response.


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[Assistant] And yet the cottage was not deserted, for a low sound came to our ears, a kind of drone of misery and despair which was indescribably melancholy. Holmes paused, irresolute, and then he glanced back at the road which he had just traversed.


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[Assistant] A brothel was coming down it, and there could be no mistaking those grey horses.


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[Assistant] By Jove, the doctor is coming back, cried Holmes. That settled it. We are bound to see what it means before he comes.


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[Assistant] He opened the door and we stepped into the hall. A droning sound swelled louder upon our ears until it became one long, deep wail of distress. It came from upstairs.


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[Assistant] Holmes darted up, and I followed him. He pushed open a half-closed door, and we both stood appalled at the sight before us.


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[Assistant] A woman, young and beautiful, was lying dead upon the bed. Her calm, pale face, with dim, wide-opened blue eyes, looked upward from amid a great tangle of golden hair.


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[Assistant] At the foot of the bed, half sitting, half kneeling, his face buried in the clothes, was a young man whose frame was wracked by his sobs.


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[Assistant] The man was so dazed that he could not make to understand that we were anything but doctors who had been sent to his assistance.


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[Assistant] Holmes was endeavouring to utter a few words of consolation and to explain the alarm which had been caused to his friends by his sudden disappearance when there was a step upon the stairs, and there was the heavy, stern, questioning face of Dr. Armstrong at the door.


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[Assistant] So, gentlemen," said he, you have attained your end, and have certainly chosen a particularly delicate moment for your intrusion.


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[Assistant] I would not brawl in the presence of death, but I can assure you that if I were a younger man your monstrous conduct would not pass with impunity.


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[Assistant] Excuse me, Dr. Armstrong, I think we are a little at cross-purposes," said my friend with dignity. If you could step downstairs with us, we may each be able to give some light to the other upon this miserable affair.


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[Assistant] A minute later the grim doctor and ourselves were in the sitting-room below.


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[Assistant] And that my sympathies in this matter are entirely against that nobleman.


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[Assistant] When a man is lost it is my duty to ascertain his fate.


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[Assistant] But having done so the matter ends so far as I am concerned, and so long as there is nothing criminal, I am much more anxious to hush up private scandals than to give them publicity.


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[Assistant] If, as I imagine there is no breach of the law in this matter, you can absolutely depend upon my discretion and my cooperation in keeping the facts out of the papers.


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[Assistant] Dr Armstrong took a quick step forward and wrung Holmes by the hand.


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[Assistant] You are a good fellow," said he. I had misjudged you.


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[Assistant] I thank heaven that my compunction at leaving poor Staunton all alone in this plight caused me to turn my carriage back, and so to make your acquaintance.


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[Assistant] Knowing as much as you do, the situation is very easily explained.


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[Assistant] A year ago, Godfrey Staunton lodged in London for a time and became passionately attached to his landlady's daughter whom he married.


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[Assistant] But Godfrey was the heir to this crabbed old nobleman.


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[Assistant] And he was quite certain that the news of his marriage would have been the end of his inheritance.


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[Assistant] I knew the lad well and I loved him for his many excellent qualities. I did all I could to help him to keep things straight.


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[Assistant] We did our very best to keep the thing from everyone, for when one such a whisper gets about, it is not long before everyone has heard it.


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[Assistant] Thanks to this lonely cottage and his own discretion, Godfrey has up to now succeeded.


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[Assistant] Their secret was known to no one save to me, and to one excellent servant who was at present gone for assistance to Trumpington.


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[Assistant] But at last there came a terrible blow in the shape of dangerous illness to his wife. It was consumption of the most virulent kind.


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[Assistant] Poor boy was half crazed with grief, and yet he had to go to London to play this match, for he could not get out of it without explanations which would expose his secret.


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[Assistant] And he sent me one in reply, imploring me to do all I could.


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[Assistant] This was the telegram which you appear in some inexplicable way to have seen.


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[Assistant] I did not tell him how urgent the danger was, for I knew that he could do no good here.


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[Assistant] The result was that he came straight away in a state bordering on frenzy, and has remained in the same state, kneeling at the end of her bed, until this morning death put an end to her sufferings.


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[Assistant] That is all, Mr. Holmes, and I am sure that I can rely upon your discretion and that of your friend." Holmes grasped the doctor's hand.


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[Assistant] Come, Watson," said he, and we passed from that house of grief into the pale sunlight of the winter day.


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[Assistant] End of The Adventure of the Missing Three Quarter


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[Assistant] That really sucks. I thought I was gonna die. My life was flashing before my eyes. You're good, man.


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[Assistant] Sounds like a job for the spider pals.


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[Assistant] All these villains. I really thought the suit could solve it all.


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[Assistant] Ace House. I haven't asked Pete about her in a long time. What's wrong with me?


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[Assistant] I don't know. This city still looks like a two-spiderman job to me.


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[Assistant] He got away from us.


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[Assistant] Uhm, he's not normally like that, right?


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[Assistant] We searched the whole tunnel. He is gone.


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[Assistant] I've been calling you. For hours. Nothing. You know Miles has been hunting the-


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[Assistant] All Miles talks about is how to be a better Spider-Man. Not school, not his friends. How to help you.


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[Assistant] Chapter 5 The People of the Drama


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[Assistant] Have you seen all you want of the study? asked White Mason as we re-entered the house. For the time, said the inspector, and Holmes nodded.


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[Assistant] Then perhaps you would now like to hear the evidence of some of the people in the house. We could use the dining-room. Ames, please come yourself first and tell us what you know." The butler's account was a simple and a clear one, and he gave a convincing impression of sincerity.


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[Assistant] He'd been engaged five years before when Douglas first came to Bilstone.


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[Assistant] He understood that Mr. Douglas was a rich gentleman who had made his money in America. He'd been a kind and considerate employer.


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[Assistant] Not quite what Ames was used to, perhaps, but one can't have everything. He never saw any signs of apprehension in Mr. Douglas. On the contrary, he was the most fearless man he had ever known.


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[Assistant] He ordered a drawbridge to be pulled up every night because it was the ancient custom of the old house, and he liked to keep the old ways up. Mr. Douglas seldom went to London or left the village


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[Assistant] But on the day before the crime he had been shopping at Tunbridge Wells.


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[Assistant] He, Ames, had observed some restlessness and excitement on the part of Mr. Douglas that


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[Assistant] He had not gone to bed that night, but was in the pantry at the back of the house.


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[Assistant] But it was hardly possibly would as the pantry and kitchens were at the very back of the house, and there were several closed doors and a long passage between.


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[Assistant] He had seen Mrs Douglas coming down it. No, she was not hurrying it.


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[Assistant] It did not seem to him that she was particularly agitated


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[Assistant] Just as she reached the bottom of the stair, Mr Barker had rushed out of the study


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[Assistant] He had stopped Mrs. Douglas and begged her to go back.


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[Assistant] For God's sake, go back to your room," he cried. Poor Jack is dead. You can do nothing. For God's sake, go back. After some persuasion upon the stairs, Mrs. Douglas had gone back. She did not scream. She made no outcry, whatever.


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[Assistant] Mrs Allen, the housekeeper, had taken her upstairs and stayed with her in the bedroom.


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[Assistant] Ames and Mr. Barker had then returned to the study, where they had found everything exactly as the police had seen it. The candle was not lit at that time, but the lamp was burning


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[Assistant] They had looked out of the window, but the night was very dark and nothing could be seen or heard.


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[Assistant] They had then rushed out into the hall, where Ames had turned the windlass which lowered the drawbridge. Mr. Barker had then hurried off to get the police. Such in its essentials was the evidence of the butler.


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[Assistant] The account of Mrs. Allen, the housekeeper, was, so far as it went, a corroboration of that of her fellow servant.


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[Assistant] The housekeeper's room was rather nearer to the front of the house than the pantry in which Ames had been working.


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[Assistant] She was preparing to go to bed when the loud ringing of the bell attracted her attention. She was a little hard of hearing.


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[Assistant] Perhaps that was why she had not heard the shot. But in any case, the study was a long way off.


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[Assistant] She remembered hearing some sound which she imagined to be the slamming of a door.


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[Assistant] That was a good deal earlier, half an hour at least before the ringing of the bell. When Mr. Ames ran to the front, she went with him.


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[Assistant] She saw Mr. Barker, very pale and excited, come out of the study.


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[Assistant] He intercepted Mrs Douglas, who was coming down the stairs.


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[Assistant] He entreated her to go back and she answered him, but what she said could not be heard.


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[Assistant] Take her up, stay with her, he had said to Mrs Allen.


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[Assistant] She had therefore taken her to the bedroom and endeavoured to soothe her. She was greatly excited, trembling all over, but made no other attempt to go downstairs.


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[Assistant] She just sat in her dressing gown by her bedroom fire, with her head sunk in her hands. Mrs. Allen stayed with her most of the night.


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[Assistant] As to the other servants, they had all gone to bed, and the alarm did not reach them until just before the police arrived. They slept at the extreme back of the house, and could not possibly have heard anything


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[Assistant] So far the housekeeper could add nothing on cross examination save lamentations and expressions of amazement.


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[Assistant] Cecil Barker succeeded Mrs. Allen as a witness.


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[Assistant] As to the occurrences of the night before, he had very little to add to what he had already told the police.


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[Assistant] Personally he was convinced that the murderer had escaped by the window.


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[Assistant] The bloodstain was conclusive in his opinion on that point.


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[Assistant] Besides, as the bridge was up, there was no other possible way of escaping.


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[Assistant] He could not explain what had become of the assassin, or why he had not taken his bicycle, if it were indeed his.


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[Assistant] He could not possibly have been drowned in the moat, which was at no place more than three feet deep. In his own mind he had a very definite theory about the murder.


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[Assistant] Douglas was a reticent man, and there were some chapters in his life of which he never spoke. He had emigrated to America when he was a very young man. He had prospered well, and Barker had first met him in California


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[Assistant] Where they had become partners in a successful mining claim at a place called Benito Canyon. They'd done very well, but Douglas had suddenly sold out and started for England. He was a widower at that time.


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[Assistant] Barker had afterwards realized his money and come to live in London. Thus they had renewed their friendship.


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[Assistant] Douglas had given him the impression that some danger was hanging over his head, and he had always looked upon his sudden departure from California, and also his renting a house in so quiet a place in England, as being connected with this peril


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[Assistant] He imagined that some secret society, some implacable organization, was on Douglas's track, which would never rest until it killed him. Some remarks of his had given him this idea, though he never told him what the society was, nor how he had come to offend it.


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[Assistant] He could only suppose that the legend upon the placard had some reference to this secret society. "'How long were you with Douglas in California?' asked Inspector MacDonald. "'Five years altogether. He was a bachelor, you see. A widower. Have you ever heard where his first wife came from?'


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[Assistant] No, I remember his saying that she was of German extraction, and I have seen her portrait.


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[Assistant] She was a very beautiful woman. She died of typhoid the year before I met him.


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[Assistant] You don't associate his past with any particular part of America.


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[Assistant] I've heard him talk of Chicago. He knew that city well and had worked there.


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[Assistant] I have heard him talk of the coal and iron districts. He had traveled a good deal in his time. Was he a politician? Had this secret society to do with politics? No, he cared nothing about politics. You have no reason to think it was criminal. On the contrary, I never met a straighter man in my life.


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[Assistant] I told them that he's gone to Europe, and I did not know where to find him.


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[Assistant] They meant him no good. It was easy to see that. Were these men Americans? Californians? Well, I don't know about Californians. They were Americans alright, but they were not miners.


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[Assistant] I don't know what they were, and was very glad to see their backs. That was six years ago. Nearer seven.


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[Assistant] And then you were together 5 years in California. So that this business dates back and not less than 11 years at the least. That is so.


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[Assistant] It must be a very serious feud that would be kept up with such earnestness for as long as that. It would be no light thing that would give rise to it. I think it shadowed his whole life. It was never quite out of his mind. But if a man had a dagger hanging over him and knew what it was, don't you think he would turn to the police for protection?


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[Assistant] Maybe it was some danger that he could not be protected against. There's one thing you should know. He always went about armed. His revolver was never out of his pocket.


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[Assistant] But by bad luck he was in his dressing gown and had left it in the bedroom last night.


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[Assistant] Once the bridge was up, I guess he thought he was safe.


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[Assistant] I should like these dates a little clearer," said MacDonald. It is quite six years since Douglas left California. You followed him next year, did you not? That is so. And he'd been married five years. He must have returned from the time of his marriage. About a month before, I was his best man. Did you know Mrs. Douglas before her marriage?


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[Assistant] No, I did not. I had been away from England for ten years. But you have seen a good deal of her since. Barker looked sternly at the detective.


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[Assistant] If I have seen her, it is because you cannot visit a man without knowing his wife. If you imagine there's any connection. I imagine nothing, Mr Barker.


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[Assistant] I'm bound to make every inquiry which can bear upon the case, but I mean no offence. Some inquiries are offensive, Barker answered angrily. It's only the facts that we want.


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[Assistant] It is in your interest and everyone's interest that this should be cleared up.


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[Assistant] Did Mr Douglas entirely approve your friendship with his wife?


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[Assistant] Barker grew paler, and his great, strong hands were clasped convulsively together.


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[Assistant] You have no right to ask such questions, he cried. What has this to do with the matter you're investigating? I must repeat the question. Well, I refuse to answer. You can refuse to answer.


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[Assistant] But you must be aware that your refusal is in itself an answer for you would not refuse if you had nothing to conceal.


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[Assistant] Barker stood for a moment, with his face set grimly and his strong black eyebrows drawn low in intense thought. Then he looked up with a smile.


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[Assistant] I guess you gentlemen are only doing your clear duty after all, and I have no right to stand in the way of it.


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[Assistant] I'd only ask you not to worry Miss Douglas over this matter, for she is enough upon her just now.


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[Assistant] I may tell you that poor Douglas had just one fault in the world, and that was his jealousy. He was fond of me. No man could be fonder of a friend, and he was devoted to his wife.


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[Assistant] A kind of wave of jealousy would pass over him, and he would be off the handle and saying the wildest things in a moment.


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[Assistant] More than once I've sworn off coming for that reason, and then he would write me with such penitent, imploring letters that I just had to. But you can take it from me, gentlemen.


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[Assistant] If it was my last word that no man ever had a more loving, faithful wife.


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[Assistant] When I said appears I meant that it was conceivable that he had himself taken off the ring. The mere fact that the ring should be absent


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[Assistant] Whoever may have removed it would suggest to anyone's mind, would it not, that the marriage and the tragedy were connected? Barker shrugged his broad shoulders.


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[Assistant] I can't profess to say what it means, he answered.


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[Assistant] And then with an evident effort he got a grip upon his own emotions. Well, you are on the wrong track, that's all.


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[Assistant] I don't know that I have anything else to ask you at present," said MacDonald coldly.


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[Assistant] There was one small point remarked Sherlock Holmes.