The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (booksvooks txt) ๐
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- Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Read book online ยซThe Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (booksvooks txt) ๐ยป. Author - Arthur Conan Doyle
The study proved to be a small chamber, lined on three sides with books, and with a writing-table facing an ordinary window, which looked out upon the garden. Our first attention was given to the body of the unfortunate squire, whose huge frame lay stretched across the room. His disordered dress showed that he had been hastily aroused from sleep. The bullet had been fired at him from the front, and had remained in his body after penetrating the heart. His death had certainly been instantaneous and painless. There was no powder-marking either upon his dressing-gown or on his hands. According to the country surgeon the lady had stains upon her face, but none upon her hand.
โThe absence of the latter means nothing, though its presence may mean everything,โ said Holmes. โUnless the powder from a badly-fitting cartridge happens to spurt backwards, one may fire many shots without leaving a sign. I would suggest that Mr. Cubitt's body may now be removed. I suppose, doctor, you have not recovered the bullet which wounded the lady?โ
โA serious operation will be necessary before that can be done. But there are still four cartridges in the revolver. Two have been fired and two wounds inflicted, so that each bullet can be accounted for.โ
โSo it would seem,โ said Holmes. โPerhaps you can account also for the bullet which has so obviously struck the edge of the window?โ
He had turned suddenly, and his long, thin finger was pointing to a hole which had been drilled right through the lower window-sash about an inch above the bottom.
โBy George!โ cried the inspector. โHow ever did you see that?โ
โBecause I looked for it.โ
โWonderful!โ said the country doctor. โYou are certainly right, sir. Then a third shot has been fired, and therefore a third person must have been present. But who could that have been and how could he have got away?โ
โThat is the problem which we are now about to solve,โ said Sherlock Holmes. โYou remember, Inspector Martin, when the servants said that on leaving their room they were at once conscious of a smell of powder I remarked that the point was an extremely important one?โ
โYes, sir; but I confess I did not quite follow you.โ
โIt suggested that at the time of the firing the window as well as the door of the room had been open. Otherwise the fumes of powder could not have been blown so rapidly through the house. A draught in the room was necessary for that. Both door and window were only open for a very short time, however.โ
โHow do you prove that?โ
โBecause the candle has not guttered.โ
โCapital!โ cried the inspector. โCapital!โ
โFeeling sure that the window had been open at the time of the tragedy I conceived that there might have been a third person in the affair, who stood outside this opening and fired through it. Any shot directed at this person might hit the sash. I looked, and there, sure enough, was the bullet mark!โ
โBut how came the window to be shut and fastened?โ
โThe woman's first instinct would be to shut and fasten the window. But, halloa! what is this?โ
It was a lady's hand-bag which stood upon the study tableโa trim little hand-bag of crocodile-skin and silver. Holmes opened it and turned the contents out. There were twenty fifty-pound notes of the Bank of England, held together by an india-rubber bandโnothing else.
โThis must be preserved, for it will figure in the trial,โ said Holmes, as he handed the bag with its contents to the inspector. โIt is now necessary that we should try to throw some light upon this third bullet, which has clearly, from the splintering of the wood, been fired from inside the room. I should like to see Mrs. King, the cook, again. You said, Mrs. King, that you were awakened by a LOUD explosion. When you said that, did you mean that it seemed to you to be louder than the second one?โ
โWell, sir, it wakened me from my sleep, and so it is hard to judge. But it did seem very loud.โ
โYou don't think that it might have been two shots fired almost at the same instant?โ
โI am sure I couldn't say, sir.โ
โI believe that it was undoubtedly so. I rather think, Inspector Martin, that we have now exhausted all that this room can teach us. If you will kindly step round with me, we shall see what fresh evidence the garden has to offer.โ
A flower-bed extended up to the study window, and we all broke into an exclamation as we approached it. The flowers were trampled down, and the soft soil was imprinted all over with footmarks. Large, masculine feet they were, with peculiarly long, sharp toes. Holmes hunted about among the grass and leaves like a retriever after a wounded bird. Then, with a cry of satisfaction, he bent forward and picked up a little brazen cylinder.
โI thought so,โ said he; โthe revolver had an ejector, and here is the third cartridge. I really think, Inspector Martin, that our case is almost complete.โ
The country inspector's face had shown his intense amazement at the rapid and masterful progress of Holmes's investigation. At first he had shown some disposition to assert his own position; but now he was overcome with admiration and ready to follow without question wherever Holmes led.
โWhom do you suspect?โ he asked.
โI'll go into that later. There are several points in this problem which I have not been able to explain to you yet. Now that I have got so far I had best proceed on my own lines, and then clear the whole matter up once and for all.โ
โJust as you wish, Mr. Holmes, so long as we get our man.โ
โI have no desire to make mysteries, but it is impossible at the moment of action to enter into long and complex explanations. I have the threads of this affair all in my hand. Even if this lady should never recover consciousness we can still reconstruct the events of last night and ensure that justice be done. First of all I wish to know whether there is any inn in this neighbourhood known as 'Elrige's'?โ
The servants were cross-questioned, but none of them had heard of such a place. The stable-boy threw a light upon the matter by remembering that a farmer of that name lived some miles off in the direction of East Ruston.
โIs it a lonely farm?โ
โVery lonely, sir.โ
โPerhaps they have not heard yet of all that happened here during the night?โ
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