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駝背人 The Crooked Man
在我結婚數月後的一個夏夜，我坐在壁爐旁吸最後的一鬥煙，衝着一本小說不住打盹，因為白天的工作纍得我筋疲力盡了。我的妻子已經上樓去了，剛纔傳來了前廳大門上鎖的聲音，我知道僕人們也去休息了。我從椅子上站起來，正磕着煙斗灰，突然聽到一陣門鈴聲。
我看了看表，差一刻十二點。時間這樣晚，是不可能有人來拜訪的；顯然是病人，可能還是一個需要整夜護理的病人呢。我滿臉不高興地走到前廳，打開大門。出乎我的意料之外，門外石階上站的竟是歇洛剋·福爾摩斯。
“啊，華生，”福爾摩斯說道，“我希望我這時來找你還不算太晚。”
“我親愛的朋友，請進來。”
“你似乎感到驚訝，這也難怪！我想，你現在放心了吧！
唉！你怎麽還在吸你婚前吸的那種阿卡迪亞混合煙呢！從落在你衣服上蓬鬆的煙灰看，我這話沒錯。使人一望而知你一直習慣於穿軍服。華生，如果你不改掉袖中藏手帕的習慣，那你總也不象一個純粹的平民。今晚你能留我過夜嗎？”
“歡迎之至。”
“你對我說過，你有一間單身男客住室，我看現在沒有住客人。你的帽架就說明了這一點。”
“你若能住在這裏，我很高興。”
“謝謝。那麽，我就占用帽架上的一個空挂鈎了。很遺憾，我發現你的屋子裏曾經來過不列顛工人。他是一個不幸的象徵。我希望，不是修水溝的吧？”
“不，是修煤氣的。”
“啊，他的長統靴在你鋪地的漆布上留下了兩個鞋釘印，燈光正照在上面。不，謝謝你，我在滑鐵盧吃過晚飯了，不過我很高興和你一起吸一鬥煙。”
我把煙斗遞給他，他坐在我對面默默不語地吸了一會兒煙。我深知，如果沒有重要的事情，他是不會在這樣的時候來找我的，因此，我耐心地等待他開口。
“我看你近來醫務很忙呢，”他嚮我註意地望了一眼，說道。
“是的，我忙了一整天了，”我回答道。“在你看來，我這樣說似乎是非常愚蠢的，”我補充說道，“可是我真的不知道你是如何推斷出來的。”
福爾摩斯格格一笑。
“我親愛的華生，我比誰都更瞭解你的習慣，”福爾摩斯說道，“你出診時，路途近時就步行，路途遠你就乘馬車。我看你的靴子雖然穿過，可一點也不髒，便不難知道你現在忙得很，經常乘馬車了。”
“妙極了！”我高聲說道。
“這是很簡單的，”福爾摩斯說道，“一個善於推理的人所提出的結果，往往使他左右的人覺得驚奇，這是因為那些人忽略了做為推論基礎的一些細微地方。我親愛的朋友，你在寫作品時大加誇張，把一些情節故意留下，不透露給讀者，這當然也會産生同樣的效果了。現在，我正和那些讀者的情況一樣，因為有一件令人絞盡腦汁的奇案，我已經掌握了一些綫索，但我還缺乏一兩點使我的理論更加完善的根據。不過我一定會找到的，華生。我一定能找到它！”福爾摩斯雙目炯炯發光，瘦削的雙頰，也略微泛出紅色。這時，他不再矜持了，露出天真熱情的樣子，不過，這僅僅是一剎那的時間。當我再望過去時，他的臉上又恢復了印第安人那種死板板的樣子，這使得許多人以為他已失去了人性，仿佛象一架機器了。
“在這種案子中有一些值得註意的特點，”福爾摩斯說道，“我甚至可以說，是一些罕見的值得註意的特點。我已經對案情進行了調查研究，我認為，已經接近破案了。如果你能在這最後一步上助我一臂之力，你就給我幫了大忙了。”
“我很願意效勞。”
“明天你能到奧爾德肖特那麽遠的地方去嗎？”
“我相信，傑剋遜可以替我行醫。”
“太好了。我想從滑鐵盧車站乘十一點十分的火車動身。”
“這樣，我就有時間準備了。”
“那麽，如果你不十分睏的話，我可以把這案子的情況和需要做的事告訴你。”
“你來以前，我倒很睏，現在卻十分清醒了。”
“我盡量扼要地把案情跟你講講，絶不遺漏任何重要情節。可能你已經讀過關於這件事的某些報道了。那就是我正在進行調查的駐奧爾德肖特的芒斯特步兵團巴剋利上校假定被殺案。”
“我一點也沒有聽說過這件事。”
“看起來，除了在當地以外，這件案子還沒有引起足夠的註意。這件案子是兩天前纔發生的。簡要情況是這樣的：“你知道，芒斯特步兵團是不列顛軍隊中一個最著名的愛爾蘭團。它在剋裏米亞和印度兩次平叛戰役中，建立了奇功。
從那時起，在每次戰鬥中屢建功勳。這支軍隊直到這星期一夜晚，一直由詹姆斯·巴剋利上校指揮。上校是一個勇敢而經驗豐富的軍人，他開始是一個普通士兵，由於對印度叛軍作戰勇敢而被提升起來，後來便指揮他所在的這個團了。
“巴剋利上校還是軍士的時候，就已經結了婚，他妻子的閨名叫做南希·德沃伊，是該團前任上士的女兒。因此，可以想象，這對年輕夫婦（因為當時他們還很年輕）在新環境中，是受到了一些社會排擠的。但是，他們很快就適應了新的環境，我聽說，巴剋利夫人很受該團女眷們的歡迎，她的丈夫也很受同級軍官的愛戴。我可以補充一點，她是一個很美的女子，即使現在，她已經結婚三十多年了，容貌依然婉孌動人。
“巴剋利上校的家庭生活，看來始終是很美滿的。我從墨菲少校那裏瞭解到許多情況，他說，他從未聽說過這對夫婦之間有什麽不和。總的來說，他認為巴剋利上校愛他的妻子勝過他妻子愛巴剋利。如果巴剋利上校有一天離開了他的妻子，他就坐臥不安。另一方面，她雖然也愛巴剋利，也忠實於他，但是缺乏女人的柔情。不過他們二人在該團被公認為一對模範的中年夫婦。從他們夫妻關係上，人們絶對看不出什麽東西會引起以後的悲劇。
“巴剋利上校本人的性格似乎有些特別。他平常是一個驃悍而活潑的老軍人，但有時他似乎顯得相當粗暴，報復心強。
但他的這種脾氣，看來從來沒有對他妻子發作過。我也和其他五名軍官談過，其中三名軍官和墨菲少校曾註意到另一種情況，那就是上校有時有一種奇怪的意志消沉現象。少校說，巴剋利上校在餐桌上和人高興地說笑時，似乎有一隻無形的手，經常從他的臉上抹去他的笑容。在臨難前幾天，他處在這種消沉狀態中，心情極端憂鬱。這種消沉狀態和一定的迷信色彩，就是他的同夥所看到的他性格中唯一的不同尋常之處。他的迷信表現在不喜歡一個人獨處，尤其是在天黑以後。
他這種孩子氣的特徵自然引起人們的議論和猜疑。
“芒斯特步兵團，本是老一一七團，第一營多年來駐紮在奧爾德肖特。那些有妻室的軍官都住在軍營外面。上校這些年來一直住在一所叫做‘蘭靜’的小別墅中，距北營約半英裏，別墅的四周是庭院，可是西邊離公路不到三十碼。他們衹雇用了一個車夫和兩個女僕。因為巴剋利夫婦沒有孩子，平時也沒有客人住在他傢，所以整個‘蘭靜’別墅就衹有上校夫婦和這三個僕人居住。
“現在我們就來談談上星期一晚上九十點鐘在‘蘭靜’別墅發生的事情。
“看來，巴剋利夫人是一位羅馬天主教徒，她對聖喬治慈善會很關心。慈善會是瓦特街小教堂舉辦的，專門給窮人施捨舊衣服。那天晚上八點鐘，慈善會舉行一次會議。巴剋利夫人匆匆吃過飯，去參加會議。在她出門的時候，車夫聽見她對丈夫說了幾句傢常話，告訴他不久就回來。隨後她去邀請住在鄰近別墅的年輕的莫裏森小姐兩人一起去參加會。會開了四十分鐘，九點十五分巴剋利夫人回傢，在經過莫裏森小姐傢門時，兩人方纔分手。
“‘蘭靜’別墅有一間屋子用作清晨起居室，它面對着公路，有一扇大玻璃門通嚮草坪。草坪有三十碼寬，衹有一堵上面安有鐵欄桿的矮墻與公路隔開。巴剋利夫人回傢的時候，就是進的這間屋子，那時窗簾還沒有放下，因為這間屋子平常在晚上不怎麽使用。可是巴剋利夫人自己點上了燈，然後按了按鈴，要女僕簡·斯圖爾德給她送去一杯茶，這是和她平常的習慣相反的。那時上校正坐在餐室中，聽到妻子已經回來，便到清晨起居室去見她。車夫看到上校經過走廊，走進那間屋子。上校再也沒能活着走出來。
“巴剋利夫人要的茶，十分鐘後纔準備好，可是女僕走近門口時，非常驚奇，因為她聽到主人夫婦正爭吵得不可開交。
她敲了敲門，沒有人回答，又轉了轉門鈕，發現門已經從裏面鎖上了。很自然，她跑回去告訴了女廚師，這兩個女僕便和車夫一起來到走廊，聽到兩人仍在激烈地爭吵。他們一致證實說，衹聽到巴剋利和她的妻子兩個人的聲音。巴剋利的話聲很低，又不連貫，因此他們三個人誰也聽不出他說的是什麽。反之，那女人的聲音卻非常沉痛，在她高聲說話時，可以聽得很清楚。‘你這個懦夫！’她翻來覆去地說着，‘現在怎麽辦呢？現在怎麽辦呢？把我的青春還給我。我不願再和你一起生活了！你這個懦夫！你這個懦夫！’這就是她斷斷續續說的話。接着，僕人們聽到那男人突然發出一聲可怕的叫喊，同時又聽到一個轟隆倒地的聲音和那婦人發出的一聲驚心動魄的尖叫。尖叫一聲又一聲地從裏面傳出，車夫知道已經發生了悲劇，便衝嚮門前，想破門而入。然而，他卻無法進去，兩個女僕已經嚇得驚慌失措，一點也幫不上忙。不過，他突然想起一個主意，從前門跑出去，繞到對着一個法式長窗的草坪上。長窗的一扇窗戶敞開着，我聽說，在夏季這扇窗戶總是開着的，於是車夫便毫不費力地從窗子爬進去了。這時他的女主人已經停止了尖叫，失去了知覺，僵臥在長沙發上；那個不幸的軍人則直挺挺地倒斃在自己的血泊中，雙腳蹺起，擱在單人沙發的一側扶手上，頭倒在地上，靠近火爐擋板的一角。
“車夫發現已無法救活他的男主人，自然首先想到把門打開，但卻碰到了一個意料不到而令人奇怪的睏難。鑰匙不在門的裏側，他在屋子裏到處找也找不到。於是，他仍舊從窗戶出去，找來一個和一個醫務人員幫忙。這位夫人自然有重大的嫌疑，由於她仍處在昏厥狀態，被擡到她自己房中。
上校的屍體被安放到沙發上，然後，對慘案發生的現場進行了仔細的檢查。
“這位不幸的老軍人所受的致命傷，是在他後腦有一處二英寸來長的傷口，這顯然是被一種鈍器猛然一擊造成的。這兇器是什麽也不難推測。地板上緊靠着屍體，放着一根帶骨柄的雕花硬木棒。上校生前收集了各式各樣的武器，那都是從他打過仗的不同國傢帶回來的。猜測，這根木棒是他的戰利品之一。僕人們都說以前沒有看見過這根木棒，不過，它若混雜在室內大量珍貴物品之中，是可能被人忽略不加註意的。在這間屋裏沒有發現其它什麽重要的綫索。衹是有件事令人莫名其妙：那把失蹤的鑰匙，既不在巴剋利夫人身上，也不在受害者身上，室內各處也都沒有。最後，從奧爾德肖特找來了一個鎖匠，纔把門打開了。
“這就是這件案子的情況，華生，我應墨菲少校的邀請，在星期二早晨去奧爾德肖特幫助破案。我想你一定承認這件案子已經夠有趣的了，不過我經過觀察之後，立即感到，這件案子實際上比我最初想象的更加離奇古怪。
“我在檢查這間屋子以前，曾經盤問過僕人們，他們所談的事實，就是我剛纔對你說過的那些。女僕簡·斯圖爾德回憶起另外一個值得註意的細節。你一定還記得，她一聽到爭吵的聲音，就去找了另外兩個僕人一同回來。在第一次她單獨一人在那裏時，她說主人夫婦把聲音壓得很低，她幾乎聽不到什麽，她不是根據他們說的話，而是根據他們的聲調，斷定出他們是在爭吵的。可是，在我極力追問之下，她想起了她曾聽到這位夫人兩次說出大衛這個字。這一點對推測他們突然爭吵的原因，是極為重要的。你記得，上校的名字叫詹姆斯。
“這件案子中有一件事給僕人和都留下了極為深刻的印象，那就是上校的面容變得異樣了。據他們說，上校的臉上現出一種極為可怕的驚恐表情，竟變得不象一個正常人的臉了。這種可怖的面容，竟使不止一個看到他的人，都幾乎昏暈過去。這一定是他已經預見到自己的命運，引起他極度恐怖。當然，這完全符合的說法，上校可能已經看出他妻子要謀殺他了。傷在他腦後的事實和這種說法也並不十分抵觸，因為他當時也許正轉過身來想躲開這一打擊。巴剋利夫人因急性腦炎發作，暫時神智不清，無法從她那裏瞭解情況。
“我從那裏知道，那天晚上和巴剋利夫人一起出去的莫裏森小姐，否認知道引起她的女伴回傢後發火的原因。
“華生，我搜集到這些事實後，連抽了好幾鬥煙，思索着，設法分清哪些是關鍵性的，哪些是純屬偶然的。毫無疑問，這件案子最不尋常而又耐人尋味的一點，是屋門的鑰匙丟得奇怪。在室內已經進行了十分細緻的搜查，卻毫無所得。所以，鑰匙一定是被人拿走了，那是十分清楚的。但上校和他的妻子都沒有拿它，因此，一定有第三者曾經進過這個房間，而這第三者衹能是從窗子進去的。依我看，衹有對這房間和草坪仔細檢查一次，才能發現這個神秘人物留下的某些痕跡。你是知道我的調查方法的，華生。在調查這個案子中，沒有哪一種方法我沒用過。最後我終於發現了痕跡，可是與我所期望得到的截然不同。有一個人確實到過室內，他是從大路穿過草坪進來的。我一共得到了那人五個十分清晰的腳印：一個就在大路旁他翻越矮墻之處；兩個在草坪上；還有兩個不十分明顯，是當他翻窗而入時，在窗子近旁弄髒了的地板上留下的。他顯然是從草坪上跑過去的，因為他的腳尖印比腳跟印要深得多。不過使我感到驚奇的並不是這個人，而是他的同伴。”
“他的同伴！”
福爾摩斯從他口袋裏取出一大張薄紙來，小心翼翼地在他的膝蓋上攤開。
“你看這裏什麽？”福爾摩斯問道。
紙上是一種小動物的爪印。有五個很清楚的爪指，很長的爪尖，整個痕跡大小象一個點心匙。
“這是一條狗，”我說道。
“你聽說過一條狗爬上窗簾的事嗎？可我在窗簾上發現了這個動物爬上去的清楚的痕跡。”
“那麽，是一隻猴子？”
“可是這不是猴子的爪印。”
“那麽，是什麽呢？”
“既不是狗，不是貓，不是猴子，也不是我們熟悉的別的什麽東西。我曾經設法從爪印的大小描畫出這個動物的形象。
這是它站着不動時的四個爪印。你看，從前瓜到後爪的距離，至少有十五英寸。再加上頭和頸部的長度，你就可以得出這動物至少長二英尺，如果有尾巴，那也可能還要長些。不過現在再來看看另外的尺寸。這個動物曾經走動過，我們量出了它走一步的距離，每一步衹有三英寸左右。你就可以知道，這東西身體很長，腿很短。這東西雖沒有留下什麽毛來，但它的大致形狀，一定和我所說的一樣，它能爬上窗簾，這是一種食肉動物。”
“你是怎麽推斷出來的呢？”
“因為窗戶上挂着一隻金絲雀籠子，它爬到窗簾上，似乎是要攫取那衹鳥。”
“那麽，它究竟是什麽獸類呢？”
“啊，如果我能說出它的名字，那就太有助於破案了。總的說來，這可能是什麽鼬鼠之類的東西，不過比我曾經見過的那些要大得多。”
“但這與這件罪案有什麽關係呢？”
“這一點也還沒有弄清楚。可是，你可以看出，我們已經知道了不少情況。我們知道，因為窗簾沒拉上，屋裏亮着燈，有一個人曾經站在大路上，看到巴剋利夫婦在爭吵。我們還知道，他帶着一隻奇怪的動物，跑過了草坪，走進屋內，也可能是他打了上校，也很可能是上校看到他以後，嚇得跌倒了，他的頭就在爐角上撞破了。最後，我們還知道一個奇怪的事實，就是這位闖入者在離開時，把鑰匙隨身帶走了。”
“你的這些發現，似乎把事情搞得比以前更加混亂了，”我說道。
“不錯，這些情況確實說明，這件案子比最初設想的更復雜了。我把這件事仔細想了想，得出的結論是，我必須從另一方面去探索這件案子。不過，華生，我耽誤你睡覺了，明天在我們去奧爾德肖特的路上，我可以把剩下的情況詳詳細細地告訴你。”
“謝謝你，你已經說到最有趣的地方，欲罷不能了。”
“是這樣的。巴剋利夫人七點半離開傢門時，和她丈夫的關係還很融洽。我想我已經說過，她雖然不十分溫柔體貼，可是車夫聽到她和上校說話的口氣還是很和睦的。現在，同樣肯定的是，她一回來，就走到那間她不大可能見到她丈夫的清晨起居室；正象一個女人心情激動時常有的那樣，吩咐給她準備茶。後來，當上校進去見她時，她便突然激動地責備起上校來。所以說，在七點半到九點鐘之間，一定發生了什麽事情，使她完全改變了對上校的感情。可是莫裏森小姐在這一個半小時之內，始終和巴剋利夫人在一起，因此，完全可以肯定，儘管莫裏森小姐不承認，事實上她一定知道這件事的一些情況。
“原先我猜疑，可能這年輕女人和這位老軍人有什麽關係，而她現在嚮上校夫人承認了。這就可以說明為什麽上校夫人氣衝衝地回了傢，也可以說明為什麽這位姑娘一口否認曾經發生過什麽事。這種猜測和僕人聽到的那些話也並不完全矛盾。但是巴剋利夫人曾經提到大衛；上校忠實於他的妻子是人所共知的；這些卻又與此不相符合，更不用說第三者悲劇式的闖入了，當然，這與上述推想更聯繫不上。這樣就很難選定正確的步驟，不過，總的來說，我傾嚮於放棄上校和莫裏森小姐之間有任何關係的想法，可是我更加相信這位少女對巴剋利夫人憎恨她丈夫的原因是知情的。我的辦法很簡單，就是去拜訪莫裏森小姐，嚮她說明，我完全肯定她知道這些事實，並且使她確信，不把這件事弄清楚，她的朋友巴剋利夫人將因負主要責任而受審。
“莫裏森小姐是一個瘦小而文雅的姑娘，雙眼滿含嬌羞，淡黃色的頭髮，非常聰明機智。我講過之後，她坐在那裏，沉思了一會，然後嚮我轉過身來，態度堅决地聲明了一些很值得註意的事，我簡要地把它講給你聽。
“‘我曾經答應我的朋友，决不說出這件事，既然答應了，就應該遵約，’莫裏森小姐說道，‘可是我那可憐的愛友被控犯有如此嚴重的罪行，而她自己又因病不能開口，如果我確實能夠幫助她，那麽我想，我情願不遵守約定，把星期一晚上發生的事，全部告訴你。
“‘我們大約在八點三刻從瓦特街慈善會回來。我們回傢路上要經過赫德森街，這是一條非常寧靜的大道。街上衹有一盞路燈，是在左邊。我們走近這盞路燈時，我看到一個人嚮我們迎面走來，這個人背駝得很厲害，他的一個肩膀上扛着一個象小箱子一類的東西。他看來已經殘廢了，因為他整個身體佝僂得頭嚮下低，走路時雙膝彎麯。我們從他身旁走過時，在路燈映照下，他仰起臉來看我們。他一看到我們，就停了下來，發出了一聲嚇人的驚呼聲：“天哪，是南希！”巴剋利夫人面色變得死人一樣慘白。如果不是那個面容可怕的人扶住她，她就跌倒在地了。我打算去叫，可是出我意料之外，巴剋利夫人對這個人說話十分客氣。
“‘巴剋利夫人顫聲說道：“這三十年來，我以為你已經死了，亨利。”
“‘“我是已經死了，”這個人說道。他說話的這種聲調，聽起來令人驚悸。他的臉色陰鬱、可怕，他那時的眼神，我現在還常常夢見。他的頭髮和鬍子已經灰白，面頰也皺縮得象幹枯的蘋果。
“‘“請你先走幾步，親愛的，我要和這個人說說話，用不着害怕，”她竭力說得輕鬆些，可是她面色依然死人似的蒼白，雙唇顫抖得幾乎說不出話來。
“‘我按照她的要求先走了，他們一起談了幾分鐘。後來她雙眼冒火地來到街上，我看到那個可憐的殘廢人正站在路燈桿旁，嚮空中揮舞着握緊的拳頭，氣瘋了似的。一路上她一言不發，直到我傢門口，她纔拉住我的手，求我不要把路上發生的事告訴任何人。
“‘“這是我的一個老相識，現在落魄了。”她說道。我答應她什麽也不說，她便親了親我，從那時起，我便再也沒有見到她。我現在已經把全部實情告訴了你。我以前所以不肯告訴，是因為我並不知道我親愛的朋友所處地位的危險。我現在知道，把一切事情全說出來，衹能對她有利。’“這就是莫裏森小姐告訴我的話，華生。你可以想象，這對我來說，就象在黑夜中見到了一綫光明。以前毫不相關的每一件事，立即恢復了它們的本來面貌。我對這個案件的全部過程，已經隱約看出些眉目了。我下一步顯然是去找那個給巴剋利夫人留下如此不平常印象的人。如果此人仍在奧爾德肖特，這就不是一件難辦的事。這地方居民並不多，而一個殘廢人勢必會引人註意的。我花了一天時間去找他，到了傍晚時分，也就是今天傍晚，華生，我把他找到了。這個人名叫亨利·伍德，寄居在那兩個女人遇見他的那條街上。他到這個地方剛剛五天。我以登記人員的資格和女房東談得非常投機。這個人是一個變戲法的，每天黃昏以後就到私人經營的各個士兵俱樂部去跑一圈，在每個俱樂部都表演幾個節目。他經常隨身帶着一隻動物，裝在那個小箱子裏。女房東似乎很怕這東西，因為她從未見過這樣的動物。據女房東說，他經常用這衹動物來耍幾套把戲。女房東所能告訴我的，就是這麽多。她還補充說，奇怪的是象他這樣一個備受折磨的人，竟能活下來，有時這個人說一些奇怪的話，而最近兩天夜晚，女房東聽到他在臥室裏哭泣。至於錢，他並不缺少，不過，他在付押金時，交給女房東的卻是一枚象弗羅林［銀幣名，十九世紀末葉英國的兩先令銀幣。——譯者註］的銀幣。華生，她給我看了，這是一枚印度盧比。
“我親愛的朋友，現在你可以完全看出：我為什麽要來找你了。很清楚，那兩個女人與這個人分手後，他便遠遠地尾隨着她們，他從窗外看到那對夫婦間的爭吵，便闖了進去，而他用小木箱裝着的那個東西卻溜了出來。這一切是完全可以肯定的。不過究竟那間屋中發生了什麽事情，世界上衹有他一個人能夠告訴我們了。”
“那麽你打算去問他嗎？”
“當然了，不過需要有一個見證人在場。”
“那麽你是讓我做見證人嗎？”
“如果你願意的話，那自然了。倘若他能把事情說個明白，那是最好的了。假如他不說，那麽，我們沒有別的辦法，衹有提請逮捕他。”
“可是你怎麽知道，我們回到那裏時，他還在那裏呢？
“你可以相信，我已經采取了一些措施，我把我在貝剋街雇用的一個孩子派去看守他，無論這個人走到哪裏，他也甩不掉這孩子的。明天我們會在赫德森街找到他，華生。假如我再耽誤你，去安寢，那麽，我就是犯罪了。”
中午時分，我們趕到慘案發生地點，由我的朋友引導，立即前往赫德森街。儘管福爾摩斯善於隱藏他的感情，我也能一眼看出，他是在竭力抑製他的興奮情緒。我自己一半覺得好奇，一半覺得好玩，也異常興奮激動，這是我每次和他在調查案件時都體驗到的。
“這就是那條街，”當我們拐進一條兩旁都是二層磚瓦樓房的短街時，福爾摩斯說道，“啊，辛普森來報告了。”
“他正在裏面，福爾摩斯先生，”一個小個兒街頭流浪兒嚮我們跑過來，大聲喊道。
“很好，辛普森！”福爾摩斯拍了拍流浪兒的頭，說道，“快來，華生。就是這間房子。”福爾摩斯遞進一張名片，聲言有要事前來。過了一會，我們就和我們要訪問的人見面了。
儘管天氣很熱，這個人卻仍蜷縮在火爐旁，而這間小屋子竟熱得象烘箱一樣。這個人彎腰駝背，在椅中把身體縮成一團，在某種程度上給人一種難以形容的醜惡印象。可是當他嚮我們轉過臉來時，這張臉雖然枯瘦而黝黑，但從前一定是相當漂亮的。他那雙發黃的眼睛懷疑地怒視着我們，他既不說話，也不站起來，衹指指兩把椅子讓我們坐下。
“我想，你就是從前在印度的亨利·伍德吧，”福爾摩斯和顔悅色地說道，“我們是為了巴剋利上校之死這件小事，順便來訪的。”
“我怎能知道這件事呢？”
“這就是我所要查清的了。我想，你知道，如果不把這件事弄清楚，你的一個老朋友巴剋利夫人很可能因謀殺罪受審。”
這個人猛地一驚。
“我不知道你是誰，”他大聲喊道，“也不知道你是怎麽知道這件事的，但你敢發誓，你對我所說的是真的麽？”
“當然是真的了，他們衹等她恢復知覺以後，就要逮捕她了。”
“我的天啊！你也是署的嗎？”
“不是。”
“那麽，這件事與你有什麽關係呢？”
“伸張正義，人人義不容辭。”
“你可以相信我的話，她是無辜的。”
“那麽犯罪的是你？”
“不，不是我。”
“那麽，是誰殺害了詹姆斯·巴剋利上校呢？”
“這是天理難容，他纔死於非命。不過，請你記住，如果我如願以償，把他的腦袋打開了花，那麽，他死在我的手下，也不過是罪有應得。假如不是由於他問心有愧，自己摔死了，我敢發誓說，我勢必也要殺死他。你要我講一講這件事。好，我沒有必要隱瞞，因為我對這件事是問心無愧的。
“事情是這樣的，先生。你看我現在後背象駱駝，肋骨也歪歪扭扭，但在當年，下士亨利·伍德在一一七步兵團是一個最漂亮的人。那時我們駐紮在印度的一個兵營裏，我們把那地方叫做布爾蒂。幾天前死去的巴剋利和我一樣，是同一個連的軍士，而那時團裏有一個美女，是陸戰隊上士的女兒南希·德沃伊。那時有兩個人愛她，而她衹愛其中的一個，你們看到蜷縮在火爐前的這個可憐的東西，再聽到我說那時正因為我長得英俊她纔愛我時，你們一定會忍俊不禁。
“啊，雖然我贏得了她的愛情，可是她父親卻把她許給了巴剋利。我那時是個冒失鬼，不顧一切的少年，巴剋利是一個受過教育的人，已經要提升軍官了。可是那姑娘仍然對我很忠誠，那時如果不是發生了印度叛亂，全國都騷亂起來，我似乎可以把她娶到手。
“我們都被睏在布爾蒂，我們那個團，半個炮兵連，一個錫剋教連，還有許多平民和婦女。這時有一萬叛軍包圍了我們，他們竟象一群兇猛的獵狗圍在一隻鼠籠周圍。被圍困的第二個星期，我們的飲水用光了。那時尼爾將軍的縱隊正往內地移動，所以産生了一個問題：我們是否能和他們取得聯繫，而這是我們的唯一出路，因為我們不能指望攜帶所有的婦女和兒童衝殺出去。於是我便自告奮勇突圍去嚮尼爾將軍求援。我的請求被批準了，我就和巴剋利中士商量。他比其他任何人都熟悉地形，便畫了一張路綫圖給我，以便我按圖穿過叛軍防綫。這天夜裏十點鐘，我便開始走上徵途。這時有一千條生命在等待救援，可是我在那天夜晚從城墻上爬下去的時候，心裏衹挂念着一個人。
“我要經過一條幹涸的河道，我們本指望它可以掩護我避過敵軍的崗哨，可是當我剛匍匐行進到河道拐角處，正好闖進了六個敵軍的埋伏之中，他們正蹲在黑暗中等候我。頃刻之間我被打暈過去，手足都被縛住。可是我真正的創傷是在心裏，而不是在頭上，因為當我醒來時聽到他們的談話，雖然我衹懂一點他們的語言，我也足以明白，原來我的夥伴，也就是給我安排了路綫的那個人，通過一個土著的僕人，把我出賣給敵人了。
“啊，我不需要詳細講述這一部分了。你們現在已經知道詹姆斯·巴剋利善於做出什麽事了。第二天布爾蒂由尼爾將軍前來解了圍，可是叛軍在撤退時，把我隨他們一起帶走了，多年來我再也見不到一個白人。我備受折磨，便設法逃走，又被捉回，重新遭受折磨。你們可以親眼看見，他們把我弄成現在這副模樣了。那時他們有些人帶着我一同跑到尼泊爾，後來又轉到大吉嶺。那裏的山民把帶我的那幾個叛軍殺死了，於是在我逃脫前，我又一度成了他們的奴隸。不過我逃走時沒有嚮南逃，而不得不嚮北逃，一直逃到阿富汗。我在那裏遊蕩了幾年，最後又回到旁遮普。我在那裏多半時間住在土人中，學會了變戲法，用以維持生活。象我這樣一個可憐的跛子，又何必再回到英國，讓我的一些老同事知道我這種情況呢？即使我渴望復仇，我也不願回去。我寧願南希和我的老夥伴們認為亨利·伍德已經直挺挺地死了，也不願讓他們看到他活着，象一隻黑猩猩一樣拄着一根拐杖躑躅而行。他們深信我已經死了，我也願意他們這樣想。我聽說巴剋利已經娶了南希，並且在團裏升得很快，可是即便如此，我也不願說出。
“不過人到了晚年，思鄉之念，油然而生。幾年來，我夢想着看到英國緑油油的大地和田園。後來我終於决定在我未死之前再看一看我的故鄉。我積蓄了回鄉的路費，便來到駐軍的地方，因為我瞭解士兵的生活，知道怎樣使他們快樂，並藉此維持生活。”
“你講的故事是非常動人的，”歇洛剋·福爾摩斯說道，“我已經聽說你遇到了巴剋利夫人，你們彼此都認出來了。我想，後來你尾隨她回傢去，從窗外看到她和她丈夫爭吵起來，當時巴剋利夫人很可能當面斥責了他對你的行為。你情不自禁地奔過了草坪，衝着他們闖了進去。”
“我正是這樣，先生，可是他一看到我，臉色就變了，我以前還從未見過這樣難看的臉色。接着他嚮後摔倒，一頭撞到爐子護板上。其實他在摔倒以前就已經死了。我從他臉上覺察到他已經死了，這就象我會讀壁爐上放着的課本那樣一清二楚的。他一看見我，就象一顆子彈射中了他的心，那顆做了虧心事的心。”
“後來呢？”
“後來南希暈倒了，我趕忙從她手中拿起了開門的鑰匙，打算開門呼救。可是這時我覺得不如不管它走了算了，因為這件事看來對我很不利，如果我被抓住，我的秘密就全暴露出來了。我急忙把鑰匙塞進衣袋裏，丟下我的手杖去捕捉爬上了窗簾的特笛。我把它捉住放回箱子裏，便盡快地逃離了這間屋子。”
“誰是特笛呢？”福爾摩斯問道。
這個人俯身嚮前，拉開屋角一隻籠子的門，轉瞬間籠子裏溜出來一隻漂亮的紅褐色小動物。它的身子瘦小而柔軟，長着鼬鼠似的腿，一個細長的鼻子，一雙很美的紅眼睛，我還從未見過別的動物有這樣美麗的眼睛呢。
“這是一隻貓鼬，”我喊道。
“對，有些人這樣叫它，也有人把它叫做獴。”那個人說道，“我把它叫做捕蛇鼬，特笛捕捉眼鏡蛇快得驚人。我這裏有一條去掉了毒牙的蛇，特笛每晚就在士兵俱樂部裏表演捕蛇，給士兵們取樂。
“還有別的問題嗎？先生。”
“好，如果巴剋利夫人遭到大的不幸，我們再來找你。”
“當然，要是那樣的話，我會自己來的。”
“如果不是那樣，那也不必把死者過去所做的醜事重新翻騰出來。你現在既然已經知道，三十年來，他因為過去做了壞事一直受到良心的責備，至少也該滿意了。啊，墨菲少校走到街那邊了。再見，伍德。我想瞭解一下昨天以來又發生什麽事沒有。”
少校還沒走到街拐角處，我們就及時趕上了他。
“啊，福爾摩斯，”少校說道，“我想你已經聽說這件事完全是庸人自擾了吧。”
“那麽，是怎麽回事呢？”
“剛剛驗完屍體。醫生證明，上校的死是由中風引起的。
你看，這不過是一件十分簡單的案子。”
“啊，不可能再簡單了，”福爾摩斯笑容可掬地說道，“華生，走吧，我想奧爾德肖特這裏已經沒有我們的事了。”
“還有一件事，”我們來到車站時，我說道，“如果說她丈夫的名字叫詹姆斯，而另一個人叫亨利，她為什麽提到大衛呢？”
“我親愛的華生，如果我真是你所喜歡描述的那種理想的推理傢，那麽，從這一個詞我就應該推想出這全部故事。這顯然是一個斥責的字眼。”
“斥責的字眼？”
“是啊，你知道，大衛有一次也象詹姆斯·巴剋利中士一樣偶然做了錯事。你可記得烏利亞和拔示巴［大衛和烏利亞以及拔示巴：《聖經》中記載，以色列王大衛為了攫取以色列軍隊中赫梯人將領烏利亞之妻拔示巴為妻，把烏利亞派到前方，烏利亞遇伏被害。——譯者註］這個小故事嗎？我恐怕我對《聖經》的知識有一點遺忘了。但是你可以在《聖經》的《撒母耳記》第一或第二章去找，便可以得到這個故事了。”
I looked at the clock. It was a quarter to twelve. This could not be a visitor at so late an hour. A patient, evidently, and possibly an all-night sitting. With a wry face I went out into the hall and opened the door. To my astonishment it was Sherlock Holmes who stood upon my step.
"Ah, Watson," said he, "I hoped that I might not be too late to catch you."
"My dear fellow, pray come in."
"You look surprised, and no wonder! Relieved, too, I fancy! Hum! You still smoke the Arcadia mixture of your bachelor days then! There's no mistaking that fluffy ash upon your coat. It's easy to tell that you have been accustomed to wear a uniform, Watson. You'll never pass as a pure-bred civilian as long as you keep that habit of carrying your handkerchief in your sleeve. Could you put me up to-night?"
"With pleasure."
"You told me that you had bachelor quarters for one, and I see that you have no gentleman visitor at present. Your hat-stand proclaims as much."
"I shall be delighted if you will stay."
"Thank you. I'll fill the vacant peg then. Sorry to see that you've had the British workman in the house. He's a token of evil. Not the drains, I hope?"
"No, the gas."
"Ah! He has left two nail-marks from his boot upon your linoleum just where the light strikes it. No, thank you, I had some supper at Waterloo, but I'll smoke a pipe with you with pleasure."
I handed him my pouch, and he seated himself opposite to me and smoked for some time in silence. I was well aware that nothing but business of importance would have brought him to me at such an hour, so I waited patiently until he should come round to it.
"I see that you are professionally rather busy just now," said he, glancing very keenly across at me.
"Yes, I've had a busy day," I answered. "It may seem very foolish in your eyes," I added, "but really I don't know how you deduced it."
Holmes chuckled to himself.
"I have the advantage of knowing your habits, my dear Watson," said he. "When your round is a short one you walk, and when it is a long one you use a hansom. As I perceive that your boots, although used, are by no means dirty, I cannot doubt that you are at present busy enough to justify the hansom."
"Excellent!" I cried.
"Elementary," said he. "It is one of those instances where the reasoner can produce an effect which seems remarkable to his neighbor, because the latter has missed the one little point which is the basis of the deduction. The same may be said, my dear fellow, for the effect of some of these little sketches of yours, which is entirely meretricious, depending as it does upon your retaining in your own hands some factors in the problem which are never imparted to the reader. Now, at present I am in the position of these same readers, for I hold in this hand several threads of one of the strangest cases which ever perplexed a man's brain, and yet I lack the one or two which are needful to complete my theory. But I'll have them, Watson, I'll have them!" His eyes kindled and a slight flush sprang into his thin cheeks. For an instant only. When I glanced again his face had resumed that red-Indian composure which had made so many regard him as a machine rather than a man.
"The problem presents features of interest," said he. "I may even say exceptional features of interest. I have already looked into the matter, and have come, as I think, within sight of my solution. If you could accompany me in that last step you might be of considerable service to me."
"I should be delighted."
"Could you go as far as Aldershot to-morrow?"
"I have no doubt Jackson would take my practice."
"Very good. I want to start by the 11.10 from Waterloo."
"That would give me time."
"Then, if you are not too sleepy, I will give you a sketch of what has happened, and of what remains to be done."
"I was sleepy before you came. I am quite wakeful now."
"I will compress the story as far as may be done without omitting anything vital to the case. It is conceivable that you may even have read some account of the matter. It is the supposed murder of Colonel Barclay, of the Royal Munsters, at Aldershot, which I am investigating."
"I have heard nothing of it."
"It has not excited much attention yet, except locally. The facts are only two days old. Briefly they are these:
"The Royal Munsters is, as you know, one of the most famous Irish regiments in the British army. It did wonders both in the Crimea and the Mutiny, and has since that time distinguished itself upon every possible occasion. It was commanded up to Monday night by James Barclay, a gallant veteran, who started as a full private, was raised to commissioned rank for his bravery at the time of the Mutiny, and so lived to command the regiment in which he had once carried a musket.
"Colonel Barclay had married at the time when he was a sergeant, and his wife, whose maiden name was Miss Nancy Devoy, was the daughter of a former color-sergeant in the same corps. There was, therefore, as can be imagined, some little social friction when the young couple (for they were still young) found themselves in their new surroundings. They appear, however, to have quickly adapted themselves, and Mrs. Barclay has always, I understand, been as popular with the ladies of the regiment as her husband was with his brother officers. I may add that she was a woman of great beauty, and that even now, when she has been married for upwards of thirty years, she is still of a striking and queenly appearance.
"Colonel Barclay's family life appears to have been a uniformly happy one. Major Murphy, to whom I owe most of my facts, assures me that he has never heard of any misunderstanding between the pair. On the whole, he thinks that Barclay's devotion to his wife was greater than his wife's to Barclay. He was acutely uneasy if he were absent from her for a day. She, on the other hand, though devoted and faithful, was less obtrusively affectionate. But they were regarded in the regiment as the very model of a middle-aged couple. There was absolutely nothing in their mutual relations to prepare people for the tragedy which was to follow.
"Colonel Barclay himself seems to have had some singular traits in his character. He was a dashing, jovial old soldier in his usual mood, but there were occasions on which he seemed to show himself capable of considerable violence and vindictiveness. This side of his nature, however, appears never to have been turned towards his wife. Another fact, which had struck Major Murphy and three out of five of the other officers with whom I conversed, was the singular sort of depression which came upon him at times. As the major expressed it, the smile had often been struck from his mouth, as if by some invisible hand, when he has been joining the gayeties and chaff of the mess-table. For days on end, when the mood was on him, he has been sunk in the deepest gloom. This and a certain tinge of superstition were the only unusual traits in his character which his brother officers had observed. The latter peculiarity took the form of a dislike to being left alone, especially after dark. This puerile feature in a nature which was conspicuously manly had often given rise to comment and conjecture.
"The first battalion of the Royal Munsters (which is the old 117th) has been stationed at Aldershot for some years. The married officers live out of barracks, and the Colonel has during all this time occupied a villa called Lachine, about half a mile from the north camp. The house stands in its own grounds, but the west side of it is not more than thirty yards from the high-road. A coachman and two maids form the staff of servants. These with their master and mistress were the sole occupants of Lachine, for the Barclays had no children, nor was it usual for them to have resident visitors.
"Now for the events at Lachine between nine and ten on the evening of last Monday."
"Mrs. Barclay was, it appears, a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and had interested herself very much in the establishment of the Guild of St. George, which was formed in connection with the Watt Street Chapel for the purpose of supplying the poor with cast-off clothing. A meeting of the Guild had been held that evening at eight, and Mrs. Barclay had hurried over her dinner in order to be present at it. When leaving the house she was heard by the coachman to make some commonplace remark to her husband, and to assure him that she would be back before very long. She then called for Miss Morrison, a young lady who lives in the next villa, and the two went off together to their meeting. It lasted forty minutes, and at a quarter-past nine Mrs. Barclay returned home, having left Miss Morrison at her door as she passed.
"There is a room which is used as a morning-room at Lachine. This faces the road and opens by a large glass folding-door on to the lawn. The lawn is thirty yards across, and is only divided from the highway by a low wall with an iron rail above it. It was into this room that Mrs. Barclay went upon her return. The blinds were not down, for the room was seldom used in the evening, but Mrs. Barclay herself lit the lamp and then rang the bell, asking Jane Stewart, the house-maid, to bring her a cup of tea, which was quite contrary to her usual habits. The Colonel had been sitting in the dining-room, but hearing that his wife had returned he joined her in the morning-room. The coachman saw him cross the hall and enter it. He was never seen again alive.
"The tea which had been ordered was brought up at the end of ten minutes; but the maid, as she approached the door, was surprised to hear the voices of her master and mistress in furious altercation. She knocked without receiving any answer, and even turned the handle, but only to find that the door was locked upon the inside. Naturally enough she ran down to tell the cook, and the two women with the coachman came up into the hall and listened to the dispute which was still raging. They all agreed that only two voices were to be heard, those of Barclay and of his wife. Barclay's remarks were subdued and abrupt, so that none of them were audible to the listeners. The lady's, on the other hand, were most bitter, and when she raised her voice could be plainly heard. 'You coward!' she repeated over and over again. 'What can be done now? What can be done now? Give me back my life. I will never so much as breathe the same air with you again! You coward! You coward!' Those were scraps of her conversation, ending in a sudden dreadful cry in the man's voice, with a crash, and a piercing scream from the woman. Convinced that some tragedy had occurred, the coachman rushed to the door and strove to force it, while scream after scream issued from within. He was unable, however, to make his way in, and the maids were too distracted with fear to be of any assistance to him. A sudden thought struck him, however, and he ran through the hall door and round to the lawn upon which the long French windows open. One side of the window was open, which I understand was quite usual in the summer-time, and he passed without difficulty into the room. His mistress had ceased to scream and was stretched insensible upon a couch, while with his feet tilted over the side of an arm-chair, and his head upon the ground near the corner of the fender, was lying the unfortunate soldier stone dead in a pool of his own blood.
"Naturally, the coachman's first thought, on finding that he could do nothing for his master, was to open the door. But here an unexpected and singular difficulty presented itself. The key was not in the inner side of the door, nor could he find it anywhere in the room. He went out again, therefore, through the window, and having obtained the help of a policeman and of a medical man, he returned. The lady, against whom naturally the strongest suspicion rested, was removed to her room, still in a state of insensibility. The Colonel's body was then placed upon the sofa, and a careful examination made of the scene of the tragedy.
"The injury from which the unfortunate veteran was suffering was found to be a jagged cut some two inches long at the back part of his head, which had evidently been caused by a violent blow from a blunt weapon. Nor was it difficult to guess what that weapon may have been. Upon the floor, close to the body, was lying a singular club of hard carved wood with a bone handle. The Colonel possessed a varied collection of weapons brought from the different countries in which he had fought, and it is conjectured by the police that his club was among his trophies. The servants deny having seen it before, but among the numerous curiosities in the house it is possible that it may have been overlooked. Nothing else of importance was discovered in the room by the police, save the inexplicable fact that neither upon Mrs. Barclay's person nor upon that of the victim nor in any part of the room was the missing key to be found. The door had eventually to be opened by a locksmith from Aldershot.
"That was the state of things, Watson, when upon the Tuesday morning I, at the request of Major Murphy, went down to Aldershot to supplement the efforts of the police. I think that you will acknowledge that the problem was already one of interest, but my observations soon made me realize that it was in truth much more extraordinary than would at first sight appear.
"Before examining the room I cross-questioned the servants, but only succeeded in eliciting the facts which I have already stated. One other detail of interest was remembered by Jane Stewart, the housemaid. You will remember that on hearing the sound of the quarrel she descended and returned with the other servants. On that first occasion, when she was alone, she says that the voices of her master and mistress were sunk so low that she could hear hardly anything, and judged by their tones rather than their words that they had fallen out. On my pressing her, however, she remembered that she heard the word David uttered twice by the lady. The point is of the utmost importance as guiding us towards the reason of the sudden quarrel. The Colonel's name, you remember, was James.
"There was one thing in the case which had made the deepest impression both upon the servants and the police. This was the contortion of the Colonel's face. It had set, according to their account, into the most dreadful expression of fear and horror which a human countenance is capable of assuming. More than one person fainted at the mere sight of him, so terrible was the effect. It was quite certain that he had foreseen his fate, and that it had caused him the utmost horror. This, of course, fitted in well enough with the police theory, if the Colonel could have seen his wife making a murderous attack upon him. Nor was the fact of the wound being on the back of his head a fatal objection to this, as he might have turned to avoid the blow. No information could be got from the lady herself, who was temporarily insane from an acute attack of brain-fever.
"From the police I learned that Miss Morrison, who you remember went out that evening with Mrs. Barclay, denied having any knowledge of what it was which had caused the ill-humor in which her companion had returned.
"Having gathered these facts, Watson, I smoked several pipes over them, trying to separate those which were crucial from others which were merely incidental. There could be no question that the most distinctive and suggestive point in the case was the singular disappearance of the door-key. A most careful search had failed to discover it in the room. Therefore it must have been taken from it. But neither the Colonel nor the Colonel's wife could have taken it. That was perfectly clear. Therefore a third person must have entered the room. And that third person could only have come in through the window. It seemed to me that a careful examination of the room and the lawn might possibly reveal some traces of this mysterious individual. You know my methods, Watson. There was not one of them which I did not apply to the inquiry. And it ended by my discovering traces, but very different ones from those which I had expected. There had been a man in the room, and he had crossed the lawn coming from the road. I was able to obtain five very clear impressions of his foot-marks: one in the roadway itself, at the point where he had climbed the low wall, two on the lawn, and two very faint ones upon the stained boards near the window where he had entered. He had apparently rushed across the lawn, for his toe-marks were much deeper than his heels. But it was not the man who surprised me. It was his companion."
"His companion!"
Holmes pulled a large sheet of tissue-paper out of his pocket and carefully unfolded it upon his knee.
"What do you make of that?" he asked.
The paper was covered with he tracings of the foot-marks of some small animal. It had five well-marked foot-pads, an indication of long nails, and the whole print might be nearly as large as a dessert-spoon.
"It's a dog," said I.
"Did you ever hear of a dog running up a curtain? I found distinct traces that this creature had done so."
"A monkey, then?"
"But it is not the print of a monkey."
"What can it be, then?"
"Neither dog nor cat nor monkey nor any creature that we are familiar with. I have tried to reconstruct it from the measurements. Here are four prints where the beast has been standing motionless. You see that it is no less than fifteen inches from fore-foot to hind. Add to that the length of neck and head, and you get a creature not much less than two feet long--probably more if there is any tail. But now observe this other measurement. The animal has been moving, and we have the length of its stride. In each case it is only about three inches. You have an indication, you see, of a long body with very short legs attached to it. It has not been considerate enough to leave any of its hair behind it. But its general shape must be what I have indicated, and it can run up a curtain, and it is carnivorous."
"How do you deduce that?"
"Because it ran up the curtain. A canary's cage was hanging in the window, and its aim seems to have been to get at the bird."
"Then what was the beast?"
"Ah, if I could give it a name it might go a long way towards solving the case. On the whole, it was probably some creature of the weasel and stoat tribe--and yet it is larger than any of these that I have seen."
"But what had it to do with the crime?"
"That, also, is still obscure. But we have learned a good deal, you perceive. We know that a man stood in the road looking at the quarrel between the Barclays--the blinds were up and the room lighted. We know, also, that he ran across the lawn, entered the room, accompanied by a strange animal, and that he either struck the Colonel or, as is equally possible, that the Colonel fell down from sheer fright at the sight of him, and cut his head on the corner of the fender. Finally, we have the curious fact that the intruder carried away the key with him when he left."
"Your discoveries seem to have left the business more obscure that it was before," said I.
"Quite so. They undoubtedly showed that the affair was much deeper than was at first conjectured. I thought the matter over, and I came to the conclusion that I must approach the case from another aspect. But really, Watson, I am keeping you up, and I might just as well tell you all this on our way to Aldershot to-morrow."
"Thank you, you have gone rather too far to stop."
"It is quite certain that when Mrs. Barclay left the house at half-past seven she was on good terms with her husband. She was never, as I think I have said, ostentatiously affectionate, but she was heard by the coachman chatting with the Colonel in a friendly fashion. Now, it was equally certain that, immediately on her return, she had gone to the room in which she was least likely to see her husband, had flown to tea as an agitated woman will, and finally, on his coming in to her, had broken into violent recriminations. Therefore something had occurred between seven-thirty and nine o'clock which had completely altered her feelings towards him. But Miss Morrison had been with her during the whole of that hour and a half. It was absolutely certain, therefore, in spite of her denial, that she must know something of the matter.
"My first conjecture was, that possibly there had been some passages between this young lady and the old soldier, which the former had now confessed to the wife. That would account for the angry return, and also for the girl's denial that anything had occurred. Nor would it be entirely incompatible with most of the words overhead. But there was the reference to David, and there was the known affection of the Colonel for his wife, to weigh against it, to say nothing of the tragic intrusion of this other man, which might, of course, be entirely disconnected with what had gone before. It was not easy to pick one's steps, but, on the whole, I was inclined to dismiss the idea that there had been anything between the Colonel and Miss Morrison, but more than ever convinced that the young lady held the clue as to what it was which had turned Mrs. Barclay to hatred of her husband. I took the obvious course, therefore, of calling upon Miss M., of explaining to her that I was perfectly certain that she held the facts in her possession, and of assuring her that her friend, Mrs. Barclay, might find herself in the dock upon a capital charge unless the matter were cleared up.
"Miss Morrison is a little ethereal slip of a girl, with timid eyes and blond hair, but I found her by no means wanting in shrewdness and common-sense. She sat thinking for some time after I had spoken, and then, turning to me with a brisk air of resolution, she broke into a remarkable statement which I will condense for your benefit.
"'I promised my friend that I would say nothing of the matter, and a promise is a promise,' said she; 'but if I can really help her when so serious a charge is laid against her, and when her own mouth, poor darling, is closed by illness, then I think I am absolved from my promise. I will tell you exactly what happened upon Monday evening.
"'We were returning from the Watt Street Mission about a quarter to nine o'clock. On our way we had to pass through Hudson Street, which is a very quiet thoroughfare. There is only one lamp in it, upon the left-hand side, and as we approached this lamp I saw a man coming towards us with his back very bent, and something like a box slung over one of his shoulders. He appeared to be deformed, for he carried his head low and walked with his knees bent. We were passing him when he raised his face to look at us in the circle of light thrown by the lamp, and as he did so he stopped and screamed out in a dreadful voice, "My God, it's Nancy!" Mrs. Barclay turned as white as death, and would have fallen down had the dreadful-looking creature not caught hold of her. I was going to call for the police, but she, to my surprise, spoke quite civilly to the fellow.
"'"I thought you had been dead this thirty years, Henry," said she, in a shaking voice.
"'"So I have," said he, and it was awful to hear the tones that he said it in. He had a very dark, fearsome face, and a gleam in his eyes that comes back to me in my dreams. His hair and whiskers were shot with gray, and his face was all crinkled and puckered like a withered apple.
"'"Just walk on a little way, dear," said Mrs. Barclay; "I want to have a word with this man. There is nothing to be afraid of." She tried to speak boldly, but she was still deadly pale and could hardly get her words out for the trembling of her lips.
"'I did as she asked me, and they talked together for a few minutes. Then she came down the street with her eyes blazing, and I saw the crippled wretch standing by the lamp-post and shaking his clenched fists in the air as if he were mad with rage. She never said a word until we were at the door here, when she took me by the hand and begged me to tell no one what had happened.
"'"It's an old acquaintance of mine who has come down in the world," said she. When I promised her I would say nothing she kissed me, and I have never seen her since. I have told you now the whole truth, and if I withheld it from the police it is because I did not realize then the danger in which my dear friend stood. I know that it can only be to her advantage that everything should be known.'
"There was her statement, Watson, and to me, as you can imagine, it was like a light on a dark night. Everything which had been disconnected before began at once to assume its true place, and I had a shadowy presentiment of the whole sequence of events. My next step obviously was to find the man who had produced such a remarkable impression upon Mrs. Barclay. If he were still in Aldershot it should not be a very difficult matter. There are not such a very great number of civilians, and a deformed man was sure to have attracted attention. I spent a day in the search, and by evening--this very evening, Watson--I had run him down. The man's name is Henry Wood, and he lives in lodgings in this same street in which the ladies met him. He has only been five days in the place. In the character of a registration-agent I had a most interesting gossip with his landlady. The man is by trade a conjurer and performer, going round the canteens after nightfall, and giving a little entertainment at each. He carries some creature about with him in that box; about which the landlady seemed to be in considerable trepidation, for she had never seen an animal like it. He uses it in some of his tricks according to her account. So much the woman was able to tell me, and also that it was a wonder the man lived, seeing how twisted he was, and that he spoke in a strange tongue sometimes, and that for the last two nights she had heard him groaning and weeping in his bedroom. He was all right, as far as money went, but in his deposit he had given her what looked like a bad florin. She showed it to me, Watson, and it was an Indian rupee.
"So now, my dear fellow, you see exactly how we stand and why it is I want you. It is perfectly plain that after the ladies parted from this man he followed them at a distance, that he saw the quarrel between husband and wife through the window, that he rushed in, and that the creature which he carried in his box got loose. That is all very certain. But he is the only person in this world who can tell us exactly what happened in that room."
"And you intend to ask him?"
"Most certainly--but in the presence of a witness."
"And I am the witness?"
"If you will be so good. If he can clear the matter up, well and good. If he refuses, we have no alternative but to apply for a warrant."
"But how do you know he'll be there when we return?"
"You may be sure that I took some precautions. I have one of my Baker Street boys mounting guard over him who would stick to him like a burr, go where he might. We shall find him in Hudson Street to-morrow, Watson, and meanwhile I should be the criminal myself if I kept you out of bed any longer."
It was midday when we found ourselves at the scene of the tragedy, and, under my companion's guidance, we made our way at once to Hudson Street. In spite of his capacity for concealing his emotions, I could easily see that Holmes was in a state of suppressed excitement, while I was myself tingling with that half-sporting, half-intellectual pleasure which I invariably experienced when I associated myself with him in his investigations.
"This is the street," said he, as we turned into a short thoroughfare lined with plain two-storied brick houses. "Ah, here is Simpson to report."
"He's in all right, Mr. Holmes," cried a small street Arab, running up to us.
"Good, Simpson!" said Holmes, patting him on the head. "Come along, Watson. This is the house." He sent in his card with a message that he had come on important business, and a moment later we were face to face with the man whom we had come to see. In spite of the warm weather he was crouching over a fire, and the little room was like an oven. The man sat all twisted and huddled in his chair in a way which gave an indescribably impression of deformity; but the face which he turned towards us, though worn and swarthy, must at some time have been remarkable for its beauty. He looked suspiciously at us now out of yellow-shot, bilious eyes, and, without speaking or rising, he waved towards two chairs.
"Mr. Henry Wood, late of India, I believe," said Holmes, affably. "I've come over this little matter of Colonel Barclay's death."
"What should I know about that?"
"That's what I want to ascertain. You know, I suppose, that unless the matter is cleared up, Mrs. Barclay, who is an old friend of yours, will in all probability be tried for murder."
The man gave a violent start.
"I don't know who you are," he cried, "nor how you come to know what you do know, but will you swear that this is true that you tell me?"
"Why, they are only waiting for her to come to her senses to arrest her."
"My God! Are you in the police yourself?"
"No."
"What business is it of yours, then?"
"It's every man's business to see justice done."
"You can take my word that she is innocent."
"Then you are guilty."
"No, I am not."
"Who killed Colonel James Barclay, then?"
"It was a just providence that killed him. But, mind you this, that if I had knocked his brains out, as it was in my heart to do, he would have had no more than his due from my hands. If his own guilty conscience had not struck him down it is likely enough that I might have had his blood upon my soul. You want me to tell the story. Well, I don't know why I shouldn't, for there's no cause for me to be ashamed of it.
"It was in this way, sir. You see me now with my back like a camel and by ribs all awry, but there was a time when Corporal Henry Wood was the smartest man in the 117th foot. We were in India then, in cantonments, at a place we'll call Bhurtee. Barclay, who died the other day, was sergeant in the same company as myself, and the belle of the regiment, ay, and the finest girl that ever had the breath of life between her lips, was Nancy Devoy, the daughter of the color-sergeant. There were two men that loved her, and one that she loved, and you'll smile when you look at this poor thing huddled before the fire, and hear me say that it was for my good looks that she loved me.
"Well, though I had her heart, her father was set upon her marrying Barclay. I was a harum-scarum, reckless lad, and he had had an education, and was already marked for the sword-belt. But the girl held true to me, and it seemed that I would have had her when the Mutiny broke out, and all hell was loose in the country.
"We were shut up in Bhurtee, the regiment of us with half a battery of artillery, a company of Sikhs, and a lot of civilians and women-folk. There were ten thousand rebels round us, and they were as keen as a set of terriers round a rat-cage. About the second week of it our water gave out, and it was a question whether we could communicate with General Neill's column, which was moving up country. It was our only chance, for we could not hope to fight our way out with all the women and children, so I volunteered to go out and to warn General Neill of our danger. My offer was accepted, and I talked it over with Sergeant Barclay, who was supposed to know the ground better than any other man, and who drew up a route by which I might get through the rebel lines. At ten o'clock the same night I started off upon my journey. There were a thousand lives to save, but it was of only one that I was thinking when I dropped over the wall that night.
"My way ran down a dried-up watercourse, which we hoped would screen me from the enemy's sentries; but as I crept round the corner of it I walked right into six of them, who were crouching down in the dark waiting for me. In an instant I was stunned with a blow and bound hand and foot. But the real blow was to my heart and not to my head, for as I came to and listened to as much as I could understand of their talk, I heard enough to tell me that my comrade, the very man who had arranged the way that I was to take, had betrayed me by means of a native servant into the hands of the enemy.
"Well, there's no need for me to dwell on that part of it. You know now what James Barclay was capable of. Bhurtee was relieved by Neill next day, but the rebels took me away with them in their retreat, and it was many a long year before ever I saw a white face again. I was tortured and tried to get away, and was captured and tortured again. You can see for yourselves the state in which I was left. Some of them that fled into Nepaul took me with them, and then afterwards I was up past Darjeeling. The hill-folk up there murdered the rebels who had me, and I became their slave for a time until I escaped; but instead of going south I had to go north, until I found myself among the Afghans. There I wandered about for many a year, and at last came back to the Punjab, where I lived mostly among the natives and picked up a living by the conjuring tricks that I had learned. What use was it for me, a wretched cripple, to go back to England or to make myself known to my old comrades? Even my wish for revenge would not make me do that. I had rather that Nancy and my old pals should think of Harry Wood as having died with a straight back, than see him living and crawling with a stick like a chimpanzee. They never doubted that I was dead, and I meant that they never should. I heard that Barclay had married Nancy, and that he was rising rapidly in the regiment, but even that did not make me speak.
"But when one gets old one has a longing for home. For years I've been dreaming of the bright green fields and the hedges of England. At last I determined to see them before I died. I saved enough to bring me across, and then I came here where the soldiers are, for I know their ways and how to amuse them and so earn enough to keep me."
"Your narrative is most interesting," said Sherlock Holmes. "I have already heard of your meeting with Mrs. Barclay, and your mutual recognition. You then, as I understand, followed her home and saw through the window an altercation between her husband and her, in which she doubtless cast his conduct to you in his teeth. Your own feelings overcame you, and you ran across the lawn and broke in upon them."
"I did, sir, and at the sight of me he looked as I have never seen a man look before, and over he went with his head on the fender. But he was dead before he fell. I read death on his face as plain as I can read that text over the fire. The bare sight of me was like a bullet through his guilty heart."
"And then?"
"Then Nancy fainted, and I caught up the key of the door from her hand, intending to unlock it and get help. But as I was doing it it seemed to me better to leave it alone and get away, for the thing might look black against me, and any way my secret would be out if I were taken. In my haste I thrust the key into my pocket, and dropped my stick while I was chasing Teddy, who had run up the curtain. When I got him into his box, from which he had slipped, I was off as fast as I could run."
"Who's Teddy?" asked Holmes.
The man leaned over and pulled up the front of a kind of hutch in the corner. In an instant out there slipped a beautiful reddish-brown creature, thin and lithe, with the legs of a stoat, a long, thin nose, and a pair of the finest red eyes that ever I saw in an animal's head.
"It's a mongoose," I cried.
"Well, some call them that, and some call them ichneumon," said the man. "Snake-catcher is what I call them, and Teddy is amazing quick on cobras. I have one here without the fangs, and Teddy catches it every night to please the folk in the canteen.
"Any other point, sir?"
"Well, we may have to apply to you again if Mrs. Barclay should prove to be in serious trouble."
"In that case, of course, I'd come forward."
"But if not, there is no object in raking up this scandal against a dead man, foully as he has acted. You have at least the satisfaction of knowing that for thirty years of his life his conscience bitterly reproached him for this wicked deed. Ah, there goes Major Murphy on the other side of the street. Good-by, Wood. I want to learn if anything has happened since yesterday."
We were in time to overtake the major before he reached the corner.
"Ah, Holmes," he said: "I suppose you have heard that all this fuss has come to nothing?"
"What then?"
"The inquest is just over. The medical evidence showed conclusively that death was due to apoplexy. You see it was quite a simple case after all."
"Oh, remarkably superficial," said Holmes, smiling. "Come, Watson, I don't think we shall be wanted in Aldershot any more."
"There's one thing," said I, as we walked down to the station. "If the husband's name was James, and the other was Henry, what was this talk about David?"
"That one word, my dear Watson, should have told me the whole story had I been the ideal reasoner which you are so fond of depicting. It was evidently a term of reproach."
"Of reproach?"
"Yes; David strayed a little occasionally, you know, and on one occasion in the same direction as Sergeant James Barclay. You remember the small affair of Uriah and Bathsheba? My biblical knowledge is a trifle rusty, I fear, but you will find the story in the first or second of Samuel."
我看了看表，差一刻十二點。時間這樣晚，是不可能有人來拜訪的；顯然是病人，可能還是一個需要整夜護理的病人呢。我滿臉不高興地走到前廳，打開大門。出乎我的意料之外，門外石階上站的竟是歇洛剋·福爾摩斯。
“啊，華生，”福爾摩斯說道，“我希望我這時來找你還不算太晚。”
“我親愛的朋友，請進來。”
“你似乎感到驚訝，這也難怪！我想，你現在放心了吧！
唉！你怎麽還在吸你婚前吸的那種阿卡迪亞混合煙呢！從落在你衣服上蓬鬆的煙灰看，我這話沒錯。使人一望而知你一直習慣於穿軍服。華生，如果你不改掉袖中藏手帕的習慣，那你總也不象一個純粹的平民。今晚你能留我過夜嗎？”
“歡迎之至。”
“你對我說過，你有一間單身男客住室，我看現在沒有住客人。你的帽架就說明了這一點。”
“你若能住在這裏，我很高興。”
“謝謝。那麽，我就占用帽架上的一個空挂鈎了。很遺憾，我發現你的屋子裏曾經來過不列顛工人。他是一個不幸的象徵。我希望，不是修水溝的吧？”
“不，是修煤氣的。”
“啊，他的長統靴在你鋪地的漆布上留下了兩個鞋釘印，燈光正照在上面。不，謝謝你，我在滑鐵盧吃過晚飯了，不過我很高興和你一起吸一鬥煙。”
我把煙斗遞給他，他坐在我對面默默不語地吸了一會兒煙。我深知，如果沒有重要的事情，他是不會在這樣的時候來找我的，因此，我耐心地等待他開口。
“我看你近來醫務很忙呢，”他嚮我註意地望了一眼，說道。
“是的，我忙了一整天了，”我回答道。“在你看來，我這樣說似乎是非常愚蠢的，”我補充說道，“可是我真的不知道你是如何推斷出來的。”
福爾摩斯格格一笑。
“我親愛的華生，我比誰都更瞭解你的習慣，”福爾摩斯說道，“你出診時，路途近時就步行，路途遠你就乘馬車。我看你的靴子雖然穿過，可一點也不髒，便不難知道你現在忙得很，經常乘馬車了。”
“妙極了！”我高聲說道。
“這是很簡單的，”福爾摩斯說道，“一個善於推理的人所提出的結果，往往使他左右的人覺得驚奇，這是因為那些人忽略了做為推論基礎的一些細微地方。我親愛的朋友，你在寫作品時大加誇張，把一些情節故意留下，不透露給讀者，這當然也會産生同樣的效果了。現在，我正和那些讀者的情況一樣，因為有一件令人絞盡腦汁的奇案，我已經掌握了一些綫索，但我還缺乏一兩點使我的理論更加完善的根據。不過我一定會找到的，華生。我一定能找到它！”福爾摩斯雙目炯炯發光，瘦削的雙頰，也略微泛出紅色。這時，他不再矜持了，露出天真熱情的樣子，不過，這僅僅是一剎那的時間。當我再望過去時，他的臉上又恢復了印第安人那種死板板的樣子，這使得許多人以為他已失去了人性，仿佛象一架機器了。
“在這種案子中有一些值得註意的特點，”福爾摩斯說道，“我甚至可以說，是一些罕見的值得註意的特點。我已經對案情進行了調查研究，我認為，已經接近破案了。如果你能在這最後一步上助我一臂之力，你就給我幫了大忙了。”
“我很願意效勞。”
“明天你能到奧爾德肖特那麽遠的地方去嗎？”
“我相信，傑剋遜可以替我行醫。”
“太好了。我想從滑鐵盧車站乘十一點十分的火車動身。”
“這樣，我就有時間準備了。”
“那麽，如果你不十分睏的話，我可以把這案子的情況和需要做的事告訴你。”
“你來以前，我倒很睏，現在卻十分清醒了。”
“我盡量扼要地把案情跟你講講，絶不遺漏任何重要情節。可能你已經讀過關於這件事的某些報道了。那就是我正在進行調查的駐奧爾德肖特的芒斯特步兵團巴剋利上校假定被殺案。”
“我一點也沒有聽說過這件事。”
“看起來，除了在當地以外，這件案子還沒有引起足夠的註意。這件案子是兩天前纔發生的。簡要情況是這樣的：“你知道，芒斯特步兵團是不列顛軍隊中一個最著名的愛爾蘭團。它在剋裏米亞和印度兩次平叛戰役中，建立了奇功。
從那時起，在每次戰鬥中屢建功勳。這支軍隊直到這星期一夜晚，一直由詹姆斯·巴剋利上校指揮。上校是一個勇敢而經驗豐富的軍人，他開始是一個普通士兵，由於對印度叛軍作戰勇敢而被提升起來，後來便指揮他所在的這個團了。
“巴剋利上校還是軍士的時候，就已經結了婚，他妻子的閨名叫做南希·德沃伊，是該團前任上士的女兒。因此，可以想象，這對年輕夫婦（因為當時他們還很年輕）在新環境中，是受到了一些社會排擠的。但是，他們很快就適應了新的環境，我聽說，巴剋利夫人很受該團女眷們的歡迎，她的丈夫也很受同級軍官的愛戴。我可以補充一點，她是一個很美的女子，即使現在，她已經結婚三十多年了，容貌依然婉孌動人。
“巴剋利上校的家庭生活，看來始終是很美滿的。我從墨菲少校那裏瞭解到許多情況，他說，他從未聽說過這對夫婦之間有什麽不和。總的來說，他認為巴剋利上校愛他的妻子勝過他妻子愛巴剋利。如果巴剋利上校有一天離開了他的妻子，他就坐臥不安。另一方面，她雖然也愛巴剋利，也忠實於他，但是缺乏女人的柔情。不過他們二人在該團被公認為一對模範的中年夫婦。從他們夫妻關係上，人們絶對看不出什麽東西會引起以後的悲劇。
“巴剋利上校本人的性格似乎有些特別。他平常是一個驃悍而活潑的老軍人，但有時他似乎顯得相當粗暴，報復心強。
但他的這種脾氣，看來從來沒有對他妻子發作過。我也和其他五名軍官談過，其中三名軍官和墨菲少校曾註意到另一種情況，那就是上校有時有一種奇怪的意志消沉現象。少校說，巴剋利上校在餐桌上和人高興地說笑時，似乎有一隻無形的手，經常從他的臉上抹去他的笑容。在臨難前幾天，他處在這種消沉狀態中，心情極端憂鬱。這種消沉狀態和一定的迷信色彩，就是他的同夥所看到的他性格中唯一的不同尋常之處。他的迷信表現在不喜歡一個人獨處，尤其是在天黑以後。
他這種孩子氣的特徵自然引起人們的議論和猜疑。
“芒斯特步兵團，本是老一一七團，第一營多年來駐紮在奧爾德肖特。那些有妻室的軍官都住在軍營外面。上校這些年來一直住在一所叫做‘蘭靜’的小別墅中，距北營約半英裏，別墅的四周是庭院，可是西邊離公路不到三十碼。他們衹雇用了一個車夫和兩個女僕。因為巴剋利夫婦沒有孩子，平時也沒有客人住在他傢，所以整個‘蘭靜’別墅就衹有上校夫婦和這三個僕人居住。
“現在我們就來談談上星期一晚上九十點鐘在‘蘭靜’別墅發生的事情。
“看來，巴剋利夫人是一位羅馬天主教徒，她對聖喬治慈善會很關心。慈善會是瓦特街小教堂舉辦的，專門給窮人施捨舊衣服。那天晚上八點鐘，慈善會舉行一次會議。巴剋利夫人匆匆吃過飯，去參加會議。在她出門的時候，車夫聽見她對丈夫說了幾句傢常話，告訴他不久就回來。隨後她去邀請住在鄰近別墅的年輕的莫裏森小姐兩人一起去參加會。會開了四十分鐘，九點十五分巴剋利夫人回傢，在經過莫裏森小姐傢門時，兩人方纔分手。
“‘蘭靜’別墅有一間屋子用作清晨起居室，它面對着公路，有一扇大玻璃門通嚮草坪。草坪有三十碼寬，衹有一堵上面安有鐵欄桿的矮墻與公路隔開。巴剋利夫人回傢的時候，就是進的這間屋子，那時窗簾還沒有放下，因為這間屋子平常在晚上不怎麽使用。可是巴剋利夫人自己點上了燈，然後按了按鈴，要女僕簡·斯圖爾德給她送去一杯茶，這是和她平常的習慣相反的。那時上校正坐在餐室中，聽到妻子已經回來，便到清晨起居室去見她。車夫看到上校經過走廊，走進那間屋子。上校再也沒能活着走出來。
“巴剋利夫人要的茶，十分鐘後纔準備好，可是女僕走近門口時，非常驚奇，因為她聽到主人夫婦正爭吵得不可開交。
她敲了敲門，沒有人回答，又轉了轉門鈕，發現門已經從裏面鎖上了。很自然，她跑回去告訴了女廚師，這兩個女僕便和車夫一起來到走廊，聽到兩人仍在激烈地爭吵。他們一致證實說，衹聽到巴剋利和她的妻子兩個人的聲音。巴剋利的話聲很低，又不連貫，因此他們三個人誰也聽不出他說的是什麽。反之，那女人的聲音卻非常沉痛，在她高聲說話時，可以聽得很清楚。‘你這個懦夫！’她翻來覆去地說着，‘現在怎麽辦呢？現在怎麽辦呢？把我的青春還給我。我不願再和你一起生活了！你這個懦夫！你這個懦夫！’這就是她斷斷續續說的話。接着，僕人們聽到那男人突然發出一聲可怕的叫喊，同時又聽到一個轟隆倒地的聲音和那婦人發出的一聲驚心動魄的尖叫。尖叫一聲又一聲地從裏面傳出，車夫知道已經發生了悲劇，便衝嚮門前，想破門而入。然而，他卻無法進去，兩個女僕已經嚇得驚慌失措，一點也幫不上忙。不過，他突然想起一個主意，從前門跑出去，繞到對着一個法式長窗的草坪上。長窗的一扇窗戶敞開着，我聽說，在夏季這扇窗戶總是開着的，於是車夫便毫不費力地從窗子爬進去了。這時他的女主人已經停止了尖叫，失去了知覺，僵臥在長沙發上；那個不幸的軍人則直挺挺地倒斃在自己的血泊中，雙腳蹺起，擱在單人沙發的一側扶手上，頭倒在地上，靠近火爐擋板的一角。
“車夫發現已無法救活他的男主人，自然首先想到把門打開，但卻碰到了一個意料不到而令人奇怪的睏難。鑰匙不在門的裏側，他在屋子裏到處找也找不到。於是，他仍舊從窗戶出去，找來一個和一個醫務人員幫忙。這位夫人自然有重大的嫌疑，由於她仍處在昏厥狀態，被擡到她自己房中。
上校的屍體被安放到沙發上，然後，對慘案發生的現場進行了仔細的檢查。
“這位不幸的老軍人所受的致命傷，是在他後腦有一處二英寸來長的傷口，這顯然是被一種鈍器猛然一擊造成的。這兇器是什麽也不難推測。地板上緊靠着屍體，放着一根帶骨柄的雕花硬木棒。上校生前收集了各式各樣的武器，那都是從他打過仗的不同國傢帶回來的。猜測，這根木棒是他的戰利品之一。僕人們都說以前沒有看見過這根木棒，不過，它若混雜在室內大量珍貴物品之中，是可能被人忽略不加註意的。在這間屋裏沒有發現其它什麽重要的綫索。衹是有件事令人莫名其妙：那把失蹤的鑰匙，既不在巴剋利夫人身上，也不在受害者身上，室內各處也都沒有。最後，從奧爾德肖特找來了一個鎖匠，纔把門打開了。
“這就是這件案子的情況，華生，我應墨菲少校的邀請，在星期二早晨去奧爾德肖特幫助破案。我想你一定承認這件案子已經夠有趣的了，不過我經過觀察之後，立即感到，這件案子實際上比我最初想象的更加離奇古怪。
“我在檢查這間屋子以前，曾經盤問過僕人們，他們所談的事實，就是我剛纔對你說過的那些。女僕簡·斯圖爾德回憶起另外一個值得註意的細節。你一定還記得，她一聽到爭吵的聲音，就去找了另外兩個僕人一同回來。在第一次她單獨一人在那裏時，她說主人夫婦把聲音壓得很低，她幾乎聽不到什麽，她不是根據他們說的話，而是根據他們的聲調，斷定出他們是在爭吵的。可是，在我極力追問之下，她想起了她曾聽到這位夫人兩次說出大衛這個字。這一點對推測他們突然爭吵的原因，是極為重要的。你記得，上校的名字叫詹姆斯。
“這件案子中有一件事給僕人和都留下了極為深刻的印象，那就是上校的面容變得異樣了。據他們說，上校的臉上現出一種極為可怕的驚恐表情，竟變得不象一個正常人的臉了。這種可怖的面容，竟使不止一個看到他的人，都幾乎昏暈過去。這一定是他已經預見到自己的命運，引起他極度恐怖。當然，這完全符合的說法，上校可能已經看出他妻子要謀殺他了。傷在他腦後的事實和這種說法也並不十分抵觸，因為他當時也許正轉過身來想躲開這一打擊。巴剋利夫人因急性腦炎發作，暫時神智不清，無法從她那裏瞭解情況。
“我從那裏知道，那天晚上和巴剋利夫人一起出去的莫裏森小姐，否認知道引起她的女伴回傢後發火的原因。
“華生，我搜集到這些事實後，連抽了好幾鬥煙，思索着，設法分清哪些是關鍵性的，哪些是純屬偶然的。毫無疑問，這件案子最不尋常而又耐人尋味的一點，是屋門的鑰匙丟得奇怪。在室內已經進行了十分細緻的搜查，卻毫無所得。所以，鑰匙一定是被人拿走了，那是十分清楚的。但上校和他的妻子都沒有拿它，因此，一定有第三者曾經進過這個房間，而這第三者衹能是從窗子進去的。依我看，衹有對這房間和草坪仔細檢查一次，才能發現這個神秘人物留下的某些痕跡。你是知道我的調查方法的，華生。在調查這個案子中，沒有哪一種方法我沒用過。最後我終於發現了痕跡，可是與我所期望得到的截然不同。有一個人確實到過室內，他是從大路穿過草坪進來的。我一共得到了那人五個十分清晰的腳印：一個就在大路旁他翻越矮墻之處；兩個在草坪上；還有兩個不十分明顯，是當他翻窗而入時，在窗子近旁弄髒了的地板上留下的。他顯然是從草坪上跑過去的，因為他的腳尖印比腳跟印要深得多。不過使我感到驚奇的並不是這個人，而是他的同伴。”
“他的同伴！”
福爾摩斯從他口袋裏取出一大張薄紙來，小心翼翼地在他的膝蓋上攤開。
“你看這裏什麽？”福爾摩斯問道。
紙上是一種小動物的爪印。有五個很清楚的爪指，很長的爪尖，整個痕跡大小象一個點心匙。
“這是一條狗，”我說道。
“你聽說過一條狗爬上窗簾的事嗎？可我在窗簾上發現了這個動物爬上去的清楚的痕跡。”
“那麽，是一隻猴子？”
“可是這不是猴子的爪印。”
“那麽，是什麽呢？”
“既不是狗，不是貓，不是猴子，也不是我們熟悉的別的什麽東西。我曾經設法從爪印的大小描畫出這個動物的形象。
這是它站着不動時的四個爪印。你看，從前瓜到後爪的距離，至少有十五英寸。再加上頭和頸部的長度，你就可以得出這動物至少長二英尺，如果有尾巴，那也可能還要長些。不過現在再來看看另外的尺寸。這個動物曾經走動過，我們量出了它走一步的距離，每一步衹有三英寸左右。你就可以知道，這東西身體很長，腿很短。這東西雖沒有留下什麽毛來，但它的大致形狀，一定和我所說的一樣，它能爬上窗簾，這是一種食肉動物。”
“你是怎麽推斷出來的呢？”
“因為窗戶上挂着一隻金絲雀籠子，它爬到窗簾上，似乎是要攫取那衹鳥。”
“那麽，它究竟是什麽獸類呢？”
“啊，如果我能說出它的名字，那就太有助於破案了。總的說來，這可能是什麽鼬鼠之類的東西，不過比我曾經見過的那些要大得多。”
“但這與這件罪案有什麽關係呢？”
“這一點也還沒有弄清楚。可是，你可以看出，我們已經知道了不少情況。我們知道，因為窗簾沒拉上，屋裏亮着燈，有一個人曾經站在大路上，看到巴剋利夫婦在爭吵。我們還知道，他帶着一隻奇怪的動物，跑過了草坪，走進屋內，也可能是他打了上校，也很可能是上校看到他以後，嚇得跌倒了，他的頭就在爐角上撞破了。最後，我們還知道一個奇怪的事實，就是這位闖入者在離開時，把鑰匙隨身帶走了。”
“你的這些發現，似乎把事情搞得比以前更加混亂了，”我說道。
“不錯，這些情況確實說明，這件案子比最初設想的更復雜了。我把這件事仔細想了想，得出的結論是，我必須從另一方面去探索這件案子。不過，華生，我耽誤你睡覺了，明天在我們去奧爾德肖特的路上，我可以把剩下的情況詳詳細細地告訴你。”
“謝謝你，你已經說到最有趣的地方，欲罷不能了。”
“是這樣的。巴剋利夫人七點半離開傢門時，和她丈夫的關係還很融洽。我想我已經說過，她雖然不十分溫柔體貼，可是車夫聽到她和上校說話的口氣還是很和睦的。現在，同樣肯定的是，她一回來，就走到那間她不大可能見到她丈夫的清晨起居室；正象一個女人心情激動時常有的那樣，吩咐給她準備茶。後來，當上校進去見她時，她便突然激動地責備起上校來。所以說，在七點半到九點鐘之間，一定發生了什麽事情，使她完全改變了對上校的感情。可是莫裏森小姐在這一個半小時之內，始終和巴剋利夫人在一起，因此，完全可以肯定，儘管莫裏森小姐不承認，事實上她一定知道這件事的一些情況。
“原先我猜疑，可能這年輕女人和這位老軍人有什麽關係，而她現在嚮上校夫人承認了。這就可以說明為什麽上校夫人氣衝衝地回了傢，也可以說明為什麽這位姑娘一口否認曾經發生過什麽事。這種猜測和僕人聽到的那些話也並不完全矛盾。但是巴剋利夫人曾經提到大衛；上校忠實於他的妻子是人所共知的；這些卻又與此不相符合，更不用說第三者悲劇式的闖入了，當然，這與上述推想更聯繫不上。這樣就很難選定正確的步驟，不過，總的來說，我傾嚮於放棄上校和莫裏森小姐之間有任何關係的想法，可是我更加相信這位少女對巴剋利夫人憎恨她丈夫的原因是知情的。我的辦法很簡單，就是去拜訪莫裏森小姐，嚮她說明，我完全肯定她知道這些事實，並且使她確信，不把這件事弄清楚，她的朋友巴剋利夫人將因負主要責任而受審。
“莫裏森小姐是一個瘦小而文雅的姑娘，雙眼滿含嬌羞，淡黃色的頭髮，非常聰明機智。我講過之後，她坐在那裏，沉思了一會，然後嚮我轉過身來，態度堅决地聲明了一些很值得註意的事，我簡要地把它講給你聽。
“‘我曾經答應我的朋友，决不說出這件事，既然答應了，就應該遵約，’莫裏森小姐說道，‘可是我那可憐的愛友被控犯有如此嚴重的罪行，而她自己又因病不能開口，如果我確實能夠幫助她，那麽我想，我情願不遵守約定，把星期一晚上發生的事，全部告訴你。
“‘我們大約在八點三刻從瓦特街慈善會回來。我們回傢路上要經過赫德森街，這是一條非常寧靜的大道。街上衹有一盞路燈，是在左邊。我們走近這盞路燈時，我看到一個人嚮我們迎面走來，這個人背駝得很厲害，他的一個肩膀上扛着一個象小箱子一類的東西。他看來已經殘廢了，因為他整個身體佝僂得頭嚮下低，走路時雙膝彎麯。我們從他身旁走過時，在路燈映照下，他仰起臉來看我們。他一看到我們，就停了下來，發出了一聲嚇人的驚呼聲：“天哪，是南希！”巴剋利夫人面色變得死人一樣慘白。如果不是那個面容可怕的人扶住她，她就跌倒在地了。我打算去叫，可是出我意料之外，巴剋利夫人對這個人說話十分客氣。
“‘巴剋利夫人顫聲說道：“這三十年來，我以為你已經死了，亨利。”
“‘“我是已經死了，”這個人說道。他說話的這種聲調，聽起來令人驚悸。他的臉色陰鬱、可怕，他那時的眼神，我現在還常常夢見。他的頭髮和鬍子已經灰白，面頰也皺縮得象幹枯的蘋果。
“‘“請你先走幾步，親愛的，我要和這個人說說話，用不着害怕，”她竭力說得輕鬆些，可是她面色依然死人似的蒼白，雙唇顫抖得幾乎說不出話來。
“‘我按照她的要求先走了，他們一起談了幾分鐘。後來她雙眼冒火地來到街上，我看到那個可憐的殘廢人正站在路燈桿旁，嚮空中揮舞着握緊的拳頭，氣瘋了似的。一路上她一言不發，直到我傢門口，她纔拉住我的手，求我不要把路上發生的事告訴任何人。
“‘“這是我的一個老相識，現在落魄了。”她說道。我答應她什麽也不說，她便親了親我，從那時起，我便再也沒有見到她。我現在已經把全部實情告訴了你。我以前所以不肯告訴，是因為我並不知道我親愛的朋友所處地位的危險。我現在知道，把一切事情全說出來，衹能對她有利。’“這就是莫裏森小姐告訴我的話，華生。你可以想象，這對我來說，就象在黑夜中見到了一綫光明。以前毫不相關的每一件事，立即恢復了它們的本來面貌。我對這個案件的全部過程，已經隱約看出些眉目了。我下一步顯然是去找那個給巴剋利夫人留下如此不平常印象的人。如果此人仍在奧爾德肖特，這就不是一件難辦的事。這地方居民並不多，而一個殘廢人勢必會引人註意的。我花了一天時間去找他，到了傍晚時分，也就是今天傍晚，華生，我把他找到了。這個人名叫亨利·伍德，寄居在那兩個女人遇見他的那條街上。他到這個地方剛剛五天。我以登記人員的資格和女房東談得非常投機。這個人是一個變戲法的，每天黃昏以後就到私人經營的各個士兵俱樂部去跑一圈，在每個俱樂部都表演幾個節目。他經常隨身帶着一隻動物，裝在那個小箱子裏。女房東似乎很怕這東西，因為她從未見過這樣的動物。據女房東說，他經常用這衹動物來耍幾套把戲。女房東所能告訴我的，就是這麽多。她還補充說，奇怪的是象他這樣一個備受折磨的人，竟能活下來，有時這個人說一些奇怪的話，而最近兩天夜晚，女房東聽到他在臥室裏哭泣。至於錢，他並不缺少，不過，他在付押金時，交給女房東的卻是一枚象弗羅林［銀幣名，十九世紀末葉英國的兩先令銀幣。——譯者註］的銀幣。華生，她給我看了，這是一枚印度盧比。
“我親愛的朋友，現在你可以完全看出：我為什麽要來找你了。很清楚，那兩個女人與這個人分手後，他便遠遠地尾隨着她們，他從窗外看到那對夫婦間的爭吵，便闖了進去，而他用小木箱裝着的那個東西卻溜了出來。這一切是完全可以肯定的。不過究竟那間屋中發生了什麽事情，世界上衹有他一個人能夠告訴我們了。”
“那麽你打算去問他嗎？”
“當然了，不過需要有一個見證人在場。”
“那麽你是讓我做見證人嗎？”
“如果你願意的話，那自然了。倘若他能把事情說個明白，那是最好的了。假如他不說，那麽，我們沒有別的辦法，衹有提請逮捕他。”
“可是你怎麽知道，我們回到那裏時，他還在那裏呢？
“你可以相信，我已經采取了一些措施，我把我在貝剋街雇用的一個孩子派去看守他，無論這個人走到哪裏，他也甩不掉這孩子的。明天我們會在赫德森街找到他，華生。假如我再耽誤你，去安寢，那麽，我就是犯罪了。”
中午時分，我們趕到慘案發生地點，由我的朋友引導，立即前往赫德森街。儘管福爾摩斯善於隱藏他的感情，我也能一眼看出，他是在竭力抑製他的興奮情緒。我自己一半覺得好奇，一半覺得好玩，也異常興奮激動，這是我每次和他在調查案件時都體驗到的。
“這就是那條街，”當我們拐進一條兩旁都是二層磚瓦樓房的短街時，福爾摩斯說道，“啊，辛普森來報告了。”
“他正在裏面，福爾摩斯先生，”一個小個兒街頭流浪兒嚮我們跑過來，大聲喊道。
“很好，辛普森！”福爾摩斯拍了拍流浪兒的頭，說道，“快來，華生。就是這間房子。”福爾摩斯遞進一張名片，聲言有要事前來。過了一會，我們就和我們要訪問的人見面了。
儘管天氣很熱，這個人卻仍蜷縮在火爐旁，而這間小屋子竟熱得象烘箱一樣。這個人彎腰駝背，在椅中把身體縮成一團，在某種程度上給人一種難以形容的醜惡印象。可是當他嚮我們轉過臉來時，這張臉雖然枯瘦而黝黑，但從前一定是相當漂亮的。他那雙發黃的眼睛懷疑地怒視着我們，他既不說話，也不站起來，衹指指兩把椅子讓我們坐下。
“我想，你就是從前在印度的亨利·伍德吧，”福爾摩斯和顔悅色地說道，“我們是為了巴剋利上校之死這件小事，順便來訪的。”
“我怎能知道這件事呢？”
“這就是我所要查清的了。我想，你知道，如果不把這件事弄清楚，你的一個老朋友巴剋利夫人很可能因謀殺罪受審。”
這個人猛地一驚。
“我不知道你是誰，”他大聲喊道，“也不知道你是怎麽知道這件事的，但你敢發誓，你對我所說的是真的麽？”
“當然是真的了，他們衹等她恢復知覺以後，就要逮捕她了。”
“我的天啊！你也是署的嗎？”
“不是。”
“那麽，這件事與你有什麽關係呢？”
“伸張正義，人人義不容辭。”
“你可以相信我的話，她是無辜的。”
“那麽犯罪的是你？”
“不，不是我。”
“那麽，是誰殺害了詹姆斯·巴剋利上校呢？”
“這是天理難容，他纔死於非命。不過，請你記住，如果我如願以償，把他的腦袋打開了花，那麽，他死在我的手下，也不過是罪有應得。假如不是由於他問心有愧，自己摔死了，我敢發誓說，我勢必也要殺死他。你要我講一講這件事。好，我沒有必要隱瞞，因為我對這件事是問心無愧的。
“事情是這樣的，先生。你看我現在後背象駱駝，肋骨也歪歪扭扭，但在當年，下士亨利·伍德在一一七步兵團是一個最漂亮的人。那時我們駐紮在印度的一個兵營裏，我們把那地方叫做布爾蒂。幾天前死去的巴剋利和我一樣，是同一個連的軍士，而那時團裏有一個美女，是陸戰隊上士的女兒南希·德沃伊。那時有兩個人愛她，而她衹愛其中的一個，你們看到蜷縮在火爐前的這個可憐的東西，再聽到我說那時正因為我長得英俊她纔愛我時，你們一定會忍俊不禁。
“啊，雖然我贏得了她的愛情，可是她父親卻把她許給了巴剋利。我那時是個冒失鬼，不顧一切的少年，巴剋利是一個受過教育的人，已經要提升軍官了。可是那姑娘仍然對我很忠誠，那時如果不是發生了印度叛亂，全國都騷亂起來，我似乎可以把她娶到手。
“我們都被睏在布爾蒂，我們那個團，半個炮兵連，一個錫剋教連，還有許多平民和婦女。這時有一萬叛軍包圍了我們，他們竟象一群兇猛的獵狗圍在一隻鼠籠周圍。被圍困的第二個星期，我們的飲水用光了。那時尼爾將軍的縱隊正往內地移動，所以産生了一個問題：我們是否能和他們取得聯繫，而這是我們的唯一出路，因為我們不能指望攜帶所有的婦女和兒童衝殺出去。於是我便自告奮勇突圍去嚮尼爾將軍求援。我的請求被批準了，我就和巴剋利中士商量。他比其他任何人都熟悉地形，便畫了一張路綫圖給我，以便我按圖穿過叛軍防綫。這天夜裏十點鐘，我便開始走上徵途。這時有一千條生命在等待救援，可是我在那天夜晚從城墻上爬下去的時候，心裏衹挂念着一個人。
“我要經過一條幹涸的河道，我們本指望它可以掩護我避過敵軍的崗哨，可是當我剛匍匐行進到河道拐角處，正好闖進了六個敵軍的埋伏之中，他們正蹲在黑暗中等候我。頃刻之間我被打暈過去，手足都被縛住。可是我真正的創傷是在心裏，而不是在頭上，因為當我醒來時聽到他們的談話，雖然我衹懂一點他們的語言，我也足以明白，原來我的夥伴，也就是給我安排了路綫的那個人，通過一個土著的僕人，把我出賣給敵人了。
“啊，我不需要詳細講述這一部分了。你們現在已經知道詹姆斯·巴剋利善於做出什麽事了。第二天布爾蒂由尼爾將軍前來解了圍，可是叛軍在撤退時，把我隨他們一起帶走了，多年來我再也見不到一個白人。我備受折磨，便設法逃走，又被捉回，重新遭受折磨。你們可以親眼看見，他們把我弄成現在這副模樣了。那時他們有些人帶着我一同跑到尼泊爾，後來又轉到大吉嶺。那裏的山民把帶我的那幾個叛軍殺死了，於是在我逃脫前，我又一度成了他們的奴隸。不過我逃走時沒有嚮南逃，而不得不嚮北逃，一直逃到阿富汗。我在那裏遊蕩了幾年，最後又回到旁遮普。我在那裏多半時間住在土人中，學會了變戲法，用以維持生活。象我這樣一個可憐的跛子，又何必再回到英國，讓我的一些老同事知道我這種情況呢？即使我渴望復仇，我也不願回去。我寧願南希和我的老夥伴們認為亨利·伍德已經直挺挺地死了，也不願讓他們看到他活着，象一隻黑猩猩一樣拄着一根拐杖躑躅而行。他們深信我已經死了，我也願意他們這樣想。我聽說巴剋利已經娶了南希，並且在團裏升得很快，可是即便如此，我也不願說出。
“不過人到了晚年，思鄉之念，油然而生。幾年來，我夢想着看到英國緑油油的大地和田園。後來我終於决定在我未死之前再看一看我的故鄉。我積蓄了回鄉的路費，便來到駐軍的地方，因為我瞭解士兵的生活，知道怎樣使他們快樂，並藉此維持生活。”
“你講的故事是非常動人的，”歇洛剋·福爾摩斯說道，“我已經聽說你遇到了巴剋利夫人，你們彼此都認出來了。我想，後來你尾隨她回傢去，從窗外看到她和她丈夫爭吵起來，當時巴剋利夫人很可能當面斥責了他對你的行為。你情不自禁地奔過了草坪，衝着他們闖了進去。”
“我正是這樣，先生，可是他一看到我，臉色就變了，我以前還從未見過這樣難看的臉色。接着他嚮後摔倒，一頭撞到爐子護板上。其實他在摔倒以前就已經死了。我從他臉上覺察到他已經死了，這就象我會讀壁爐上放着的課本那樣一清二楚的。他一看見我，就象一顆子彈射中了他的心，那顆做了虧心事的心。”
“後來呢？”
“後來南希暈倒了，我趕忙從她手中拿起了開門的鑰匙，打算開門呼救。可是這時我覺得不如不管它走了算了，因為這件事看來對我很不利，如果我被抓住，我的秘密就全暴露出來了。我急忙把鑰匙塞進衣袋裏，丟下我的手杖去捕捉爬上了窗簾的特笛。我把它捉住放回箱子裏，便盡快地逃離了這間屋子。”
“誰是特笛呢？”福爾摩斯問道。
這個人俯身嚮前，拉開屋角一隻籠子的門，轉瞬間籠子裏溜出來一隻漂亮的紅褐色小動物。它的身子瘦小而柔軟，長着鼬鼠似的腿，一個細長的鼻子，一雙很美的紅眼睛，我還從未見過別的動物有這樣美麗的眼睛呢。
“這是一隻貓鼬，”我喊道。
“對，有些人這樣叫它，也有人把它叫做獴。”那個人說道，“我把它叫做捕蛇鼬，特笛捕捉眼鏡蛇快得驚人。我這裏有一條去掉了毒牙的蛇，特笛每晚就在士兵俱樂部裏表演捕蛇，給士兵們取樂。
“還有別的問題嗎？先生。”
“好，如果巴剋利夫人遭到大的不幸，我們再來找你。”
“當然，要是那樣的話，我會自己來的。”
“如果不是那樣，那也不必把死者過去所做的醜事重新翻騰出來。你現在既然已經知道，三十年來，他因為過去做了壞事一直受到良心的責備，至少也該滿意了。啊，墨菲少校走到街那邊了。再見，伍德。我想瞭解一下昨天以來又發生什麽事沒有。”
少校還沒走到街拐角處，我們就及時趕上了他。
“啊，福爾摩斯，”少校說道，“我想你已經聽說這件事完全是庸人自擾了吧。”
“那麽，是怎麽回事呢？”
“剛剛驗完屍體。醫生證明，上校的死是由中風引起的。
你看，這不過是一件十分簡單的案子。”
“啊，不可能再簡單了，”福爾摩斯笑容可掬地說道，“華生，走吧，我想奧爾德肖特這裏已經沒有我們的事了。”
“還有一件事，”我們來到車站時，我說道，“如果說她丈夫的名字叫詹姆斯，而另一個人叫亨利，她為什麽提到大衛呢？”
“我親愛的華生，如果我真是你所喜歡描述的那種理想的推理傢，那麽，從這一個詞我就應該推想出這全部故事。這顯然是一個斥責的字眼。”
“斥責的字眼？”
“是啊，你知道，大衛有一次也象詹姆斯·巴剋利中士一樣偶然做了錯事。你可記得烏利亞和拔示巴［大衛和烏利亞以及拔示巴：《聖經》中記載，以色列王大衛為了攫取以色列軍隊中赫梯人將領烏利亞之妻拔示巴為妻，把烏利亞派到前方，烏利亞遇伏被害。——譯者註］這個小故事嗎？我恐怕我對《聖經》的知識有一點遺忘了。但是你可以在《聖經》的《撒母耳記》第一或第二章去找，便可以得到這個故事了。”
I looked at the clock. It was a quarter to twelve. This could not be a visitor at so late an hour. A patient, evidently, and possibly an all-night sitting. With a wry face I went out into the hall and opened the door. To my astonishment it was Sherlock Holmes who stood upon my step.
"Ah, Watson," said he, "I hoped that I might not be too late to catch you."
"My dear fellow, pray come in."
"You look surprised, and no wonder! Relieved, too, I fancy! Hum! You still smoke the Arcadia mixture of your bachelor days then! There's no mistaking that fluffy ash upon your coat. It's easy to tell that you have been accustomed to wear a uniform, Watson. You'll never pass as a pure-bred civilian as long as you keep that habit of carrying your handkerchief in your sleeve. Could you put me up to-night?"
"With pleasure."
"You told me that you had bachelor quarters for one, and I see that you have no gentleman visitor at present. Your hat-stand proclaims as much."
"I shall be delighted if you will stay."
"Thank you. I'll fill the vacant peg then. Sorry to see that you've had the British workman in the house. He's a token of evil. Not the drains, I hope?"
"No, the gas."
"Ah! He has left two nail-marks from his boot upon your linoleum just where the light strikes it. No, thank you, I had some supper at Waterloo, but I'll smoke a pipe with you with pleasure."
I handed him my pouch, and he seated himself opposite to me and smoked for some time in silence. I was well aware that nothing but business of importance would have brought him to me at such an hour, so I waited patiently until he should come round to it.
"I see that you are professionally rather busy just now," said he, glancing very keenly across at me.
"Yes, I've had a busy day," I answered. "It may seem very foolish in your eyes," I added, "but really I don't know how you deduced it."
Holmes chuckled to himself.
"I have the advantage of knowing your habits, my dear Watson," said he. "When your round is a short one you walk, and when it is a long one you use a hansom. As I perceive that your boots, although used, are by no means dirty, I cannot doubt that you are at present busy enough to justify the hansom."
"Excellent!" I cried.
"Elementary," said he. "It is one of those instances where the reasoner can produce an effect which seems remarkable to his neighbor, because the latter has missed the one little point which is the basis of the deduction. The same may be said, my dear fellow, for the effect of some of these little sketches of yours, which is entirely meretricious, depending as it does upon your retaining in your own hands some factors in the problem which are never imparted to the reader. Now, at present I am in the position of these same readers, for I hold in this hand several threads of one of the strangest cases which ever perplexed a man's brain, and yet I lack the one or two which are needful to complete my theory. But I'll have them, Watson, I'll have them!" His eyes kindled and a slight flush sprang into his thin cheeks. For an instant only. When I glanced again his face had resumed that red-Indian composure which had made so many regard him as a machine rather than a man.
"The problem presents features of interest," said he. "I may even say exceptional features of interest. I have already looked into the matter, and have come, as I think, within sight of my solution. If you could accompany me in that last step you might be of considerable service to me."
"I should be delighted."
"Could you go as far as Aldershot to-morrow?"
"I have no doubt Jackson would take my practice."
"Very good. I want to start by the 11.10 from Waterloo."
"That would give me time."
"Then, if you are not too sleepy, I will give you a sketch of what has happened, and of what remains to be done."
"I was sleepy before you came. I am quite wakeful now."
"I will compress the story as far as may be done without omitting anything vital to the case. It is conceivable that you may even have read some account of the matter. It is the supposed murder of Colonel Barclay, of the Royal Munsters, at Aldershot, which I am investigating."
"I have heard nothing of it."
"It has not excited much attention yet, except locally. The facts are only two days old. Briefly they are these:
"The Royal Munsters is, as you know, one of the most famous Irish regiments in the British army. It did wonders both in the Crimea and the Mutiny, and has since that time distinguished itself upon every possible occasion. It was commanded up to Monday night by James Barclay, a gallant veteran, who started as a full private, was raised to commissioned rank for his bravery at the time of the Mutiny, and so lived to command the regiment in which he had once carried a musket.
"Colonel Barclay had married at the time when he was a sergeant, and his wife, whose maiden name was Miss Nancy Devoy, was the daughter of a former color-sergeant in the same corps. There was, therefore, as can be imagined, some little social friction when the young couple (for they were still young) found themselves in their new surroundings. They appear, however, to have quickly adapted themselves, and Mrs. Barclay has always, I understand, been as popular with the ladies of the regiment as her husband was with his brother officers. I may add that she was a woman of great beauty, and that even now, when she has been married for upwards of thirty years, she is still of a striking and queenly appearance.
"Colonel Barclay's family life appears to have been a uniformly happy one. Major Murphy, to whom I owe most of my facts, assures me that he has never heard of any misunderstanding between the pair. On the whole, he thinks that Barclay's devotion to his wife was greater than his wife's to Barclay. He was acutely uneasy if he were absent from her for a day. She, on the other hand, though devoted and faithful, was less obtrusively affectionate. But they were regarded in the regiment as the very model of a middle-aged couple. There was absolutely nothing in their mutual relations to prepare people for the tragedy which was to follow.
"Colonel Barclay himself seems to have had some singular traits in his character. He was a dashing, jovial old soldier in his usual mood, but there were occasions on which he seemed to show himself capable of considerable violence and vindictiveness. This side of his nature, however, appears never to have been turned towards his wife. Another fact, which had struck Major Murphy and three out of five of the other officers with whom I conversed, was the singular sort of depression which came upon him at times. As the major expressed it, the smile had often been struck from his mouth, as if by some invisible hand, when he has been joining the gayeties and chaff of the mess-table. For days on end, when the mood was on him, he has been sunk in the deepest gloom. This and a certain tinge of superstition were the only unusual traits in his character which his brother officers had observed. The latter peculiarity took the form of a dislike to being left alone, especially after dark. This puerile feature in a nature which was conspicuously manly had often given rise to comment and conjecture.
"The first battalion of the Royal Munsters (which is the old 117th) has been stationed at Aldershot for some years. The married officers live out of barracks, and the Colonel has during all this time occupied a villa called Lachine, about half a mile from the north camp. The house stands in its own grounds, but the west side of it is not more than thirty yards from the high-road. A coachman and two maids form the staff of servants. These with their master and mistress were the sole occupants of Lachine, for the Barclays had no children, nor was it usual for them to have resident visitors.
"Now for the events at Lachine between nine and ten on the evening of last Monday."
"Mrs. Barclay was, it appears, a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and had interested herself very much in the establishment of the Guild of St. George, which was formed in connection with the Watt Street Chapel for the purpose of supplying the poor with cast-off clothing. A meeting of the Guild had been held that evening at eight, and Mrs. Barclay had hurried over her dinner in order to be present at it. When leaving the house she was heard by the coachman to make some commonplace remark to her husband, and to assure him that she would be back before very long. She then called for Miss Morrison, a young lady who lives in the next villa, and the two went off together to their meeting. It lasted forty minutes, and at a quarter-past nine Mrs. Barclay returned home, having left Miss Morrison at her door as she passed.
"There is a room which is used as a morning-room at Lachine. This faces the road and opens by a large glass folding-door on to the lawn. The lawn is thirty yards across, and is only divided from the highway by a low wall with an iron rail above it. It was into this room that Mrs. Barclay went upon her return. The blinds were not down, for the room was seldom used in the evening, but Mrs. Barclay herself lit the lamp and then rang the bell, asking Jane Stewart, the house-maid, to bring her a cup of tea, which was quite contrary to her usual habits. The Colonel had been sitting in the dining-room, but hearing that his wife had returned he joined her in the morning-room. The coachman saw him cross the hall and enter it. He was never seen again alive.
"The tea which had been ordered was brought up at the end of ten minutes; but the maid, as she approached the door, was surprised to hear the voices of her master and mistress in furious altercation. She knocked without receiving any answer, and even turned the handle, but only to find that the door was locked upon the inside. Naturally enough she ran down to tell the cook, and the two women with the coachman came up into the hall and listened to the dispute which was still raging. They all agreed that only two voices were to be heard, those of Barclay and of his wife. Barclay's remarks were subdued and abrupt, so that none of them were audible to the listeners. The lady's, on the other hand, were most bitter, and when she raised her voice could be plainly heard. 'You coward!' she repeated over and over again. 'What can be done now? What can be done now? Give me back my life. I will never so much as breathe the same air with you again! You coward! You coward!' Those were scraps of her conversation, ending in a sudden dreadful cry in the man's voice, with a crash, and a piercing scream from the woman. Convinced that some tragedy had occurred, the coachman rushed to the door and strove to force it, while scream after scream issued from within. He was unable, however, to make his way in, and the maids were too distracted with fear to be of any assistance to him. A sudden thought struck him, however, and he ran through the hall door and round to the lawn upon which the long French windows open. One side of the window was open, which I understand was quite usual in the summer-time, and he passed without difficulty into the room. His mistress had ceased to scream and was stretched insensible upon a couch, while with his feet tilted over the side of an arm-chair, and his head upon the ground near the corner of the fender, was lying the unfortunate soldier stone dead in a pool of his own blood.
"Naturally, the coachman's first thought, on finding that he could do nothing for his master, was to open the door. But here an unexpected and singular difficulty presented itself. The key was not in the inner side of the door, nor could he find it anywhere in the room. He went out again, therefore, through the window, and having obtained the help of a policeman and of a medical man, he returned. The lady, against whom naturally the strongest suspicion rested, was removed to her room, still in a state of insensibility. The Colonel's body was then placed upon the sofa, and a careful examination made of the scene of the tragedy.
"The injury from which the unfortunate veteran was suffering was found to be a jagged cut some two inches long at the back part of his head, which had evidently been caused by a violent blow from a blunt weapon. Nor was it difficult to guess what that weapon may have been. Upon the floor, close to the body, was lying a singular club of hard carved wood with a bone handle. The Colonel possessed a varied collection of weapons brought from the different countries in which he had fought, and it is conjectured by the police that his club was among his trophies. The servants deny having seen it before, but among the numerous curiosities in the house it is possible that it may have been overlooked. Nothing else of importance was discovered in the room by the police, save the inexplicable fact that neither upon Mrs. Barclay's person nor upon that of the victim nor in any part of the room was the missing key to be found. The door had eventually to be opened by a locksmith from Aldershot.
"That was the state of things, Watson, when upon the Tuesday morning I, at the request of Major Murphy, went down to Aldershot to supplement the efforts of the police. I think that you will acknowledge that the problem was already one of interest, but my observations soon made me realize that it was in truth much more extraordinary than would at first sight appear.
"Before examining the room I cross-questioned the servants, but only succeeded in eliciting the facts which I have already stated. One other detail of interest was remembered by Jane Stewart, the housemaid. You will remember that on hearing the sound of the quarrel she descended and returned with the other servants. On that first occasion, when she was alone, she says that the voices of her master and mistress were sunk so low that she could hear hardly anything, and judged by their tones rather than their words that they had fallen out. On my pressing her, however, she remembered that she heard the word David uttered twice by the lady. The point is of the utmost importance as guiding us towards the reason of the sudden quarrel. The Colonel's name, you remember, was James.
"There was one thing in the case which had made the deepest impression both upon the servants and the police. This was the contortion of the Colonel's face. It had set, according to their account, into the most dreadful expression of fear and horror which a human countenance is capable of assuming. More than one person fainted at the mere sight of him, so terrible was the effect. It was quite certain that he had foreseen his fate, and that it had caused him the utmost horror. This, of course, fitted in well enough with the police theory, if the Colonel could have seen his wife making a murderous attack upon him. Nor was the fact of the wound being on the back of his head a fatal objection to this, as he might have turned to avoid the blow. No information could be got from the lady herself, who was temporarily insane from an acute attack of brain-fever.
"From the police I learned that Miss Morrison, who you remember went out that evening with Mrs. Barclay, denied having any knowledge of what it was which had caused the ill-humor in which her companion had returned.
"Having gathered these facts, Watson, I smoked several pipes over them, trying to separate those which were crucial from others which were merely incidental. There could be no question that the most distinctive and suggestive point in the case was the singular disappearance of the door-key. A most careful search had failed to discover it in the room. Therefore it must have been taken from it. But neither the Colonel nor the Colonel's wife could have taken it. That was perfectly clear. Therefore a third person must have entered the room. And that third person could only have come in through the window. It seemed to me that a careful examination of the room and the lawn might possibly reveal some traces of this mysterious individual. You know my methods, Watson. There was not one of them which I did not apply to the inquiry. And it ended by my discovering traces, but very different ones from those which I had expected. There had been a man in the room, and he had crossed the lawn coming from the road. I was able to obtain five very clear impressions of his foot-marks: one in the roadway itself, at the point where he had climbed the low wall, two on the lawn, and two very faint ones upon the stained boards near the window where he had entered. He had apparently rushed across the lawn, for his toe-marks were much deeper than his heels. But it was not the man who surprised me. It was his companion."
"His companion!"
Holmes pulled a large sheet of tissue-paper out of his pocket and carefully unfolded it upon his knee.
"What do you make of that?" he asked.
The paper was covered with he tracings of the foot-marks of some small animal. It had five well-marked foot-pads, an indication of long nails, and the whole print might be nearly as large as a dessert-spoon.
"It's a dog," said I.
"Did you ever hear of a dog running up a curtain? I found distinct traces that this creature had done so."
"A monkey, then?"
"But it is not the print of a monkey."
"What can it be, then?"
"Neither dog nor cat nor monkey nor any creature that we are familiar with. I have tried to reconstruct it from the measurements. Here are four prints where the beast has been standing motionless. You see that it is no less than fifteen inches from fore-foot to hind. Add to that the length of neck and head, and you get a creature not much less than two feet long--probably more if there is any tail. But now observe this other measurement. The animal has been moving, and we have the length of its stride. In each case it is only about three inches. You have an indication, you see, of a long body with very short legs attached to it. It has not been considerate enough to leave any of its hair behind it. But its general shape must be what I have indicated, and it can run up a curtain, and it is carnivorous."
"How do you deduce that?"
"Because it ran up the curtain. A canary's cage was hanging in the window, and its aim seems to have been to get at the bird."
"Then what was the beast?"
"Ah, if I could give it a name it might go a long way towards solving the case. On the whole, it was probably some creature of the weasel and stoat tribe--and yet it is larger than any of these that I have seen."
"But what had it to do with the crime?"
"That, also, is still obscure. But we have learned a good deal, you perceive. We know that a man stood in the road looking at the quarrel between the Barclays--the blinds were up and the room lighted. We know, also, that he ran across the lawn, entered the room, accompanied by a strange animal, and that he either struck the Colonel or, as is equally possible, that the Colonel fell down from sheer fright at the sight of him, and cut his head on the corner of the fender. Finally, we have the curious fact that the intruder carried away the key with him when he left."
"Your discoveries seem to have left the business more obscure that it was before," said I.
"Quite so. They undoubtedly showed that the affair was much deeper than was at first conjectured. I thought the matter over, and I came to the conclusion that I must approach the case from another aspect. But really, Watson, I am keeping you up, and I might just as well tell you all this on our way to Aldershot to-morrow."
"Thank you, you have gone rather too far to stop."
"It is quite certain that when Mrs. Barclay left the house at half-past seven she was on good terms with her husband. She was never, as I think I have said, ostentatiously affectionate, but she was heard by the coachman chatting with the Colonel in a friendly fashion. Now, it was equally certain that, immediately on her return, she had gone to the room in which she was least likely to see her husband, had flown to tea as an agitated woman will, and finally, on his coming in to her, had broken into violent recriminations. Therefore something had occurred between seven-thirty and nine o'clock which had completely altered her feelings towards him. But Miss Morrison had been with her during the whole of that hour and a half. It was absolutely certain, therefore, in spite of her denial, that she must know something of the matter.
"My first conjecture was, that possibly there had been some passages between this young lady and the old soldier, which the former had now confessed to the wife. That would account for the angry return, and also for the girl's denial that anything had occurred. Nor would it be entirely incompatible with most of the words overhead. But there was the reference to David, and there was the known affection of the Colonel for his wife, to weigh against it, to say nothing of the tragic intrusion of this other man, which might, of course, be entirely disconnected with what had gone before. It was not easy to pick one's steps, but, on the whole, I was inclined to dismiss the idea that there had been anything between the Colonel and Miss Morrison, but more than ever convinced that the young lady held the clue as to what it was which had turned Mrs. Barclay to hatred of her husband. I took the obvious course, therefore, of calling upon Miss M., of explaining to her that I was perfectly certain that she held the facts in her possession, and of assuring her that her friend, Mrs. Barclay, might find herself in the dock upon a capital charge unless the matter were cleared up.
"Miss Morrison is a little ethereal slip of a girl, with timid eyes and blond hair, but I found her by no means wanting in shrewdness and common-sense. She sat thinking for some time after I had spoken, and then, turning to me with a brisk air of resolution, she broke into a remarkable statement which I will condense for your benefit.
"'I promised my friend that I would say nothing of the matter, and a promise is a promise,' said she; 'but if I can really help her when so serious a charge is laid against her, and when her own mouth, poor darling, is closed by illness, then I think I am absolved from my promise. I will tell you exactly what happened upon Monday evening.
"'We were returning from the Watt Street Mission about a quarter to nine o'clock. On our way we had to pass through Hudson Street, which is a very quiet thoroughfare. There is only one lamp in it, upon the left-hand side, and as we approached this lamp I saw a man coming towards us with his back very bent, and something like a box slung over one of his shoulders. He appeared to be deformed, for he carried his head low and walked with his knees bent. We were passing him when he raised his face to look at us in the circle of light thrown by the lamp, and as he did so he stopped and screamed out in a dreadful voice, "My God, it's Nancy!" Mrs. Barclay turned as white as death, and would have fallen down had the dreadful-looking creature not caught hold of her. I was going to call for the police, but she, to my surprise, spoke quite civilly to the fellow.
"'"I thought you had been dead this thirty years, Henry," said she, in a shaking voice.
"'"So I have," said he, and it was awful to hear the tones that he said it in. He had a very dark, fearsome face, and a gleam in his eyes that comes back to me in my dreams. His hair and whiskers were shot with gray, and his face was all crinkled and puckered like a withered apple.
"'"Just walk on a little way, dear," said Mrs. Barclay; "I want to have a word with this man. There is nothing to be afraid of." She tried to speak boldly, but she was still deadly pale and could hardly get her words out for the trembling of her lips.
"'I did as she asked me, and they talked together for a few minutes. Then she came down the street with her eyes blazing, and I saw the crippled wretch standing by the lamp-post and shaking his clenched fists in the air as if he were mad with rage. She never said a word until we were at the door here, when she took me by the hand and begged me to tell no one what had happened.
"'"It's an old acquaintance of mine who has come down in the world," said she. When I promised her I would say nothing she kissed me, and I have never seen her since. I have told you now the whole truth, and if I withheld it from the police it is because I did not realize then the danger in which my dear friend stood. I know that it can only be to her advantage that everything should be known.'
"There was her statement, Watson, and to me, as you can imagine, it was like a light on a dark night. Everything which had been disconnected before began at once to assume its true place, and I had a shadowy presentiment of the whole sequence of events. My next step obviously was to find the man who had produced such a remarkable impression upon Mrs. Barclay. If he were still in Aldershot it should not be a very difficult matter. There are not such a very great number of civilians, and a deformed man was sure to have attracted attention. I spent a day in the search, and by evening--this very evening, Watson--I had run him down. The man's name is Henry Wood, and he lives in lodgings in this same street in which the ladies met him. He has only been five days in the place. In the character of a registration-agent I had a most interesting gossip with his landlady. The man is by trade a conjurer and performer, going round the canteens after nightfall, and giving a little entertainment at each. He carries some creature about with him in that box; about which the landlady seemed to be in considerable trepidation, for she had never seen an animal like it. He uses it in some of his tricks according to her account. So much the woman was able to tell me, and also that it was a wonder the man lived, seeing how twisted he was, and that he spoke in a strange tongue sometimes, and that for the last two nights she had heard him groaning and weeping in his bedroom. He was all right, as far as money went, but in his deposit he had given her what looked like a bad florin. She showed it to me, Watson, and it was an Indian rupee.
"So now, my dear fellow, you see exactly how we stand and why it is I want you. It is perfectly plain that after the ladies parted from this man he followed them at a distance, that he saw the quarrel between husband and wife through the window, that he rushed in, and that the creature which he carried in his box got loose. That is all very certain. But he is the only person in this world who can tell us exactly what happened in that room."
"And you intend to ask him?"
"Most certainly--but in the presence of a witness."
"And I am the witness?"
"If you will be so good. If he can clear the matter up, well and good. If he refuses, we have no alternative but to apply for a warrant."
"But how do you know he'll be there when we return?"
"You may be sure that I took some precautions. I have one of my Baker Street boys mounting guard over him who would stick to him like a burr, go where he might. We shall find him in Hudson Street to-morrow, Watson, and meanwhile I should be the criminal myself if I kept you out of bed any longer."
It was midday when we found ourselves at the scene of the tragedy, and, under my companion's guidance, we made our way at once to Hudson Street. In spite of his capacity for concealing his emotions, I could easily see that Holmes was in a state of suppressed excitement, while I was myself tingling with that half-sporting, half-intellectual pleasure which I invariably experienced when I associated myself with him in his investigations.
"This is the street," said he, as we turned into a short thoroughfare lined with plain two-storied brick houses. "Ah, here is Simpson to report."
"He's in all right, Mr. Holmes," cried a small street Arab, running up to us.
"Good, Simpson!" said Holmes, patting him on the head. "Come along, Watson. This is the house." He sent in his card with a message that he had come on important business, and a moment later we were face to face with the man whom we had come to see. In spite of the warm weather he was crouching over a fire, and the little room was like an oven. The man sat all twisted and huddled in his chair in a way which gave an indescribably impression of deformity; but the face which he turned towards us, though worn and swarthy, must at some time have been remarkable for its beauty. He looked suspiciously at us now out of yellow-shot, bilious eyes, and, without speaking or rising, he waved towards two chairs.
"Mr. Henry Wood, late of India, I believe," said Holmes, affably. "I've come over this little matter of Colonel Barclay's death."
"What should I know about that?"
"That's what I want to ascertain. You know, I suppose, that unless the matter is cleared up, Mrs. Barclay, who is an old friend of yours, will in all probability be tried for murder."
The man gave a violent start.
"I don't know who you are," he cried, "nor how you come to know what you do know, but will you swear that this is true that you tell me?"
"Why, they are only waiting for her to come to her senses to arrest her."
"My God! Are you in the police yourself?"
"No."
"What business is it of yours, then?"
"It's every man's business to see justice done."
"You can take my word that she is innocent."
"Then you are guilty."
"No, I am not."
"Who killed Colonel James Barclay, then?"
"It was a just providence that killed him. But, mind you this, that if I had knocked his brains out, as it was in my heart to do, he would have had no more than his due from my hands. If his own guilty conscience had not struck him down it is likely enough that I might have had his blood upon my soul. You want me to tell the story. Well, I don't know why I shouldn't, for there's no cause for me to be ashamed of it.
"It was in this way, sir. You see me now with my back like a camel and by ribs all awry, but there was a time when Corporal Henry Wood was the smartest man in the 117th foot. We were in India then, in cantonments, at a place we'll call Bhurtee. Barclay, who died the other day, was sergeant in the same company as myself, and the belle of the regiment, ay, and the finest girl that ever had the breath of life between her lips, was Nancy Devoy, the daughter of the color-sergeant. There were two men that loved her, and one that she loved, and you'll smile when you look at this poor thing huddled before the fire, and hear me say that it was for my good looks that she loved me.
"Well, though I had her heart, her father was set upon her marrying Barclay. I was a harum-scarum, reckless lad, and he had had an education, and was already marked for the sword-belt. But the girl held true to me, and it seemed that I would have had her when the Mutiny broke out, and all hell was loose in the country.
"We were shut up in Bhurtee, the regiment of us with half a battery of artillery, a company of Sikhs, and a lot of civilians and women-folk. There were ten thousand rebels round us, and they were as keen as a set of terriers round a rat-cage. About the second week of it our water gave out, and it was a question whether we could communicate with General Neill's column, which was moving up country. It was our only chance, for we could not hope to fight our way out with all the women and children, so I volunteered to go out and to warn General Neill of our danger. My offer was accepted, and I talked it over with Sergeant Barclay, who was supposed to know the ground better than any other man, and who drew up a route by which I might get through the rebel lines. At ten o'clock the same night I started off upon my journey. There were a thousand lives to save, but it was of only one that I was thinking when I dropped over the wall that night.
"My way ran down a dried-up watercourse, which we hoped would screen me from the enemy's sentries; but as I crept round the corner of it I walked right into six of them, who were crouching down in the dark waiting for me. In an instant I was stunned with a blow and bound hand and foot. But the real blow was to my heart and not to my head, for as I came to and listened to as much as I could understand of their talk, I heard enough to tell me that my comrade, the very man who had arranged the way that I was to take, had betrayed me by means of a native servant into the hands of the enemy.
"Well, there's no need for me to dwell on that part of it. You know now what James Barclay was capable of. Bhurtee was relieved by Neill next day, but the rebels took me away with them in their retreat, and it was many a long year before ever I saw a white face again. I was tortured and tried to get away, and was captured and tortured again. You can see for yourselves the state in which I was left. Some of them that fled into Nepaul took me with them, and then afterwards I was up past Darjeeling. The hill-folk up there murdered the rebels who had me, and I became their slave for a time until I escaped; but instead of going south I had to go north, until I found myself among the Afghans. There I wandered about for many a year, and at last came back to the Punjab, where I lived mostly among the natives and picked up a living by the conjuring tricks that I had learned. What use was it for me, a wretched cripple, to go back to England or to make myself known to my old comrades? Even my wish for revenge would not make me do that. I had rather that Nancy and my old pals should think of Harry Wood as having died with a straight back, than see him living and crawling with a stick like a chimpanzee. They never doubted that I was dead, and I meant that they never should. I heard that Barclay had married Nancy, and that he was rising rapidly in the regiment, but even that did not make me speak.
"But when one gets old one has a longing for home. For years I've been dreaming of the bright green fields and the hedges of England. At last I determined to see them before I died. I saved enough to bring me across, and then I came here where the soldiers are, for I know their ways and how to amuse them and so earn enough to keep me."
"Your narrative is most interesting," said Sherlock Holmes. "I have already heard of your meeting with Mrs. Barclay, and your mutual recognition. You then, as I understand, followed her home and saw through the window an altercation between her husband and her, in which she doubtless cast his conduct to you in his teeth. Your own feelings overcame you, and you ran across the lawn and broke in upon them."
"I did, sir, and at the sight of me he looked as I have never seen a man look before, and over he went with his head on the fender. But he was dead before he fell. I read death on his face as plain as I can read that text over the fire. The bare sight of me was like a bullet through his guilty heart."
"And then?"
"Then Nancy fainted, and I caught up the key of the door from her hand, intending to unlock it and get help. But as I was doing it it seemed to me better to leave it alone and get away, for the thing might look black against me, and any way my secret would be out if I were taken. In my haste I thrust the key into my pocket, and dropped my stick while I was chasing Teddy, who had run up the curtain. When I got him into his box, from which he had slipped, I was off as fast as I could run."
"Who's Teddy?" asked Holmes.
The man leaned over and pulled up the front of a kind of hutch in the corner. In an instant out there slipped a beautiful reddish-brown creature, thin and lithe, with the legs of a stoat, a long, thin nose, and a pair of the finest red eyes that ever I saw in an animal's head.
"It's a mongoose," I cried.
"Well, some call them that, and some call them ichneumon," said the man. "Snake-catcher is what I call them, and Teddy is amazing quick on cobras. I have one here without the fangs, and Teddy catches it every night to please the folk in the canteen.
"Any other point, sir?"
"Well, we may have to apply to you again if Mrs. Barclay should prove to be in serious trouble."
"In that case, of course, I'd come forward."
"But if not, there is no object in raking up this scandal against a dead man, foully as he has acted. You have at least the satisfaction of knowing that for thirty years of his life his conscience bitterly reproached him for this wicked deed. Ah, there goes Major Murphy on the other side of the street. Good-by, Wood. I want to learn if anything has happened since yesterday."
We were in time to overtake the major before he reached the corner.
"Ah, Holmes," he said: "I suppose you have heard that all this fuss has come to nothing?"
"What then?"
"The inquest is just over. The medical evidence showed conclusively that death was due to apoplexy. You see it was quite a simple case after all."
"Oh, remarkably superficial," said Holmes, smiling. "Come, Watson, I don't think we shall be wanted in Aldershot any more."
"There's one thing," said I, as we walked down to the station. "If the husband's name was James, and the other was Henry, what was this talk about David?"
"That one word, my dear Watson, should have told me the whole story had I been the ideal reasoner which you are so fond of depicting. It was evidently a term of reproach."
"Of reproach?"
"Yes; David strayed a little occasionally, you know, and on one occasion in the same direction as Sergeant James Barclay. You remember the small affair of Uriah and Bathsheba? My biblical knowledge is a trifle rusty, I fear, but you will find the story in the first or second of Samuel."
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