Sherlock Holmes Complete Works 1

Chapter 9 Research on Scarlet Characters 9
"The lady turned pale with fright when she heard the question. It was a moment before she replied, 'It's the last time.' But she spoke unnaturally, and her voice was a little out of tune.

"There was another silence, and the girl spoke, calmly and clearly.

"She said: 'Mama, let's just tell the truth. Then we saw Mr. Draper again.'

"'May God forgive you!' exclaimed Mrs. Chaming, throwing her hands forward, and leaning back in her chair. 'Now, you've done your brother a disservice!'

"'Arthur would like us to tell the truth, too,' said the girl firmly.

"'Just tell me the truth, and tell me what happened without hampering. And you don't know how much I know now,' I said.

"'It's all your fault, Alice!' said her mother, reproaching her, turning to me. 'I'll tell you the truth, sir. Don't think I'm in such a hurry because my son has anything to do with the case, he's totally Innocent, I'm afraid you take him as a suspect. His character, his career, everything in his past proves that he is a good man."

"I said: 'You'd better tell it all. Trust me, if your son is innocent, nothing will happen to him. We don't wrong good people.'"

"'Alice, you'd better go out and let us talk about this,' and her daughter went out. Then she went on: 'Well, sir, I wasn't going to tell any of this. You, but now that my poor daughter has spoken, there is nothing else I can do. Now that I have resolved to tell the truth, I will tell you all about it.'

"'You are wise,' I said.

"The lady, much calmer, said to me in a low voice: 'Mr. Draper has been staying with me for about three weeks. He and his secretary, Mr. Stuart Jackson, have been traveling on the Continent. I saw They all have Copenhagen stickers on their boxes, obviously they've just come from there. Stuart Jason is mild-tempered and not very talkative, but I'm sorry to say that his employer is the exact opposite. The man behaves rough and loose He was almost like a hooligan. He was so drunk on the first night he lived in that he didn't wake up until after twelve o'clock at noon the next day. His attitude towards the maid was also extremely presumptuous and frivolous. Disgusting. Worst of all, he treats my daughter Alice with the same flirtatious attitude he did to his maid, often saying obscene things to her. Luckily my daughter is innocent and doesn't understand what he says .Once, he actually grabbed my daughter and held her in his arms - even his secretary blamed him for this vile behavior and called him inhuman.'

"Mrs. Charpentier was flushed by my questioning. She said, 'I wish I had turned him down in the first place! But the rent they are offering is very attractive. They pay a pound a day each-- Fourteen pounds a week, and it's the low season. I'm a widow, and my son's naval service is costly. I don't want to lose that income, so I'll just bear it. It got so bad that I had to chase him away. That's why he left.'

"'and after?'

"'I was much relieved to see him go away in the carriage. My son happened to be home on leave, and as he was very ill-tempered and very fond of his sister, I didn't tell him about it. I closed the door when they were gone. Well, there was such a relief in my heart. But God, within an hour, the doorbell rang, and the Draper was back. He was very excited and smelled of alcohol. My daughter and I were sitting in the house, and he He barged in and said incoherently that he hadn't caught the train. Then he turned to Alice and actually tried to persuade her to elope with him in my presence. He said: 'You're an adult and you don't need anyone to watch over you.' I've got plenty of money, don't mind the old woman. Come with me now. I'll make you live like a princess." Poor Alice was terrified and couldn't dodge, but he grabbed her by the wrist, Pulled her towards the door. I screamed and my son Arthur came in. I don't know what happened after that. I was stunned. All I heard was yelling and scuffling. I was too scared to look. Then it calmed down. When I looked up, I saw Arthur standing in the doorway laughing, holding a stick in his hand. He said: 'I don't think the bastard Will come again. I'll see what he's up to.' He took his hat and ran down the street. We heard the news of Mr. Draper's murder the next morning.'

"That's what Madame Charpentier said herself. Although she spoke in such a low voice that I could hardly hear her, and often gasped for breath. However, I have all her words written down in shorthand, so there can be no mistake."

Holmes yawned. "That's very interesting. What happened next?"

"After Mrs. Charpentier had finished," Gregson went on, "I found out the crux of the case. I fixed her with the eyes that work so well on women, and asked her when her son was coming home.

"'I don't know,' she replied.

"'have no idea?'

"'Yes. He has the key himself, and can enter the door.'

"'Were you asleep when he came back?'

"'yes.'

"'What time did you go to bed?'

"'About eleven o'clock.'

"'Then your son was out for at least two hours, eh?'

"'yes.'

"'Is it possible to go out for four or five hours?'

"'It's possible.'

"'So, what has he been doing all this time?'

"'How should I know, sir,' she turned pale as she answered.

"At this point, there is no need to say anything more. We found Lieutenant Xia Mingjie and arrested him. When he was arrested, he was still very rampant and said nonchalantly: 'You arrested me because you thought I killed Germany. Reb.' You see, it's a no-brainer, and he said it himself first, so I think it's all the more suspicious."

"Suspicious indeed," said Holmes.

"He still had in his hand the club with which he had beaten Draper, which was a very strong oak."

"So, what do you think?"

"According to my speculation, he chased Draper to Brixton Road, and the two had another dispute. He was beaten to death without leaving any scars on his body. That night, it rained heavily and there was no one on the street, so Xia Mingjie dragged his body to an empty house. Those bloodstains, blood letters, rings, candles, It's just a trick of the murderer trying to lead us astray."

Holmes praised him and said: "You are really capable, Mr. Gregson. I think you will have a bright future."

After hearing this, Gregson said proudly: "I'm not bragging. This matter went smoothly and was handled relatively satisfactorily. However, Lieutenant Xia Mingjie said: He chased for a while and was discovered by Draper, so Hired a carriage and fled. He had to go home, and on the way he met an old colleague with whom he had been walking for a long time. When we asked him where the old colleague lived, he said No. That's more telling. I think the case fits better. Poor Raymond, he's been led astray, and I'm afraid nothing has been found yet. Hey, just talking about him, and here he is. "

The person who came in was indeed Remy Red.He comes up as we speak.I saw that he was disheveled, sad and listless, and completely lost his usual self-satisfied and confident demeanor.It seemed that he had asked Holmes for help, because he was very disturbed when he saw Gregson, and he didn't know what to do.He stood in the middle of the room, fiddling with his hat, saying: "This case is indeed difficult, it is almost impossible to imagine."

Seeing this, Gregson said very happily: "Do you really think so, Mr. Remired? I have expected this kind of result a long time ago. Have you found that Ster Jason?"

Remy Read said with a heavy heart: "That man named Ster Jason was murdered at the Holliday Hotel at about six o'clock this morning."

(End of this chapter)