The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes

Chapter 144 Uncanny Valley (6)
"Mr. Holmes, I don't see what's so strange about it." After a moment's pause, he continued, "The candle light is very dim, and my first thought was to brighten the room. It just so happens that there is an oil lamp on the table." , I lit it up."

"Did you blow out the candle?"

"Yes."

Holmes asked no further questions.Buck unhurriedly glanced at us one by one, turned and walked out.It seemed to me that there was some antagonism in his eyes.

Inspector MacDonald sent Mrs. Douglas a note, presumably to say that he would visit her in the bedroom, but she replied that she would meet us in the dining room.Now she came in, a tall, well-looking woman in her thirties.She was taciturn, calm and composed, not at all the distraught and distraught I had imagined.But it can be seen that her face is pale and thin, and she has indeed just experienced a huge blow.Her demeanor is calm and composed, and her delicate hands are resting on the table, just like my hands, there is no trace of tremor.Her plaintive, sad eyes scanned us with an uncharacteristically inquiring glance, which turned into unexpected words.

"Did you find anything?"

Is it my illusion?Rather than saying that there was hope in her tone, it was better to say that it was fear.

"Mrs. Douglas, we have taken all possible measures," said Macdonald, "you may rest assured that we will not miss any doubt."

"Please don't worry about the money," she said calmly, with no expression on her face. "I ask you to do everything in your power to find out the truth."

"Perhaps you can tell us something that will help to clear up the case."

"I'm afraid I don't know much, but as long as I know, I will tell you without reservation."

"I heard Mr. Cecil Barker say that you didn't actually see it, that is to say, you didn't go to the house after the tragedy, did you?"

"Yes, Buck stopped me and begged me to go back to the bedroom."

"That's true. You came downstairs as soon as you heard the gunshot?"

"I put on my dressing gown and went downstairs."

"How long was it between when you heard the gunshot and when Mr. Barker stopped you downstairs?"

"About a few minutes, it is difficult for me to estimate the exact time under the circumstances. Mr. Buck begged me not to go in, and he assured me there was nothing I could do. Then Mrs. Allen, the housekeeper, helped me up the stairs. It was like a nightmare."

"Can you estimate how long it took your husband to come down the stairs when the gunshots rang out?"

"No, I can't tell. He came downstairs from the dressing room, and I didn't hear him go out. He was always worried about the fire, so he walked around the manor every night. I only know that the fire is the only thing." Something that scares him."

"Mrs. Douglas, that's exactly what I want to ask you. You and your husband met in England, didn't you?"

"Yes, we have been married for five years."

"Did you ever hear him talk about some of the things that happened in America? I mean things that put him in danger."

Mrs. Douglas thought carefully for a while, and replied: "Yes, I always feel that there is a danger that threatens him at all times, but he will not talk to me about it. It's not that he doesn't trust me. In fact, we I have always been very loving and trusting, because he didn't want me to be scared. He felt that if I knew everything, I would be terrified, so he never mentioned it."

"Then how do you know this?"

A smile flashed across Mrs. Douglas's face, and she said: "The secret that the husband has kept all his life, can't the woman who loves him notice it at all? I can notice it a lot of times. He has some fragments of his life in America. Some of the precautions he took, some of the words he slipped out of his mouth, and the wary eyes he gave when he met some uninvited guests reminded me that he was facing a huge threat. He knew that they were Tracking him, so he was always on the lookout. I was so sure of that, that over the years, whenever he came back later than expected, I got nervous."

"May I ask?" said Holmes, "what of his remarks attracted your attention?"

"The Uncanny Valley," Mrs. Douglas replied. "That's the word he used when I pressed him. He said: 'I've been in the 'uncanny valley' and I can't get out of it.' 'Aren't we going to get out of it forever?' When I saw the look on his face I asked him this when I was nervous. He replied: 'Sometimes, I think, I'm afraid I can't get rid of it in this life.'”

"You must have asked him what 'uncanny valley' means?"

"I asked, and immediately he grimaced, shook his head and said, 'It's such a misfortune that one of us will be doomed. May God help you that it won't happen to you.' This valley must be real, he lived there, and some terrible things happened to him. I'm sure of it, but that's all I know."

"Didn't he mention some names?"

"I mentioned it by accident. It was three years ago. He had an accident when he went hunting. Later, when he had a high fever, he kept repeating a name. When he mentioned this name, he seemed very angry and a little scared. He managed The man's name was McGinty--Body McGinty. After he recovered from his illness, I asked him whose body McGinty was, and he blurted out, 'Thank God, he's not mine.' That's what I learned from him. I learned everything there. I think there must be some kind of connection between McGinty and Uncanny Valley."

"One more thing," said Inspector MacDonald, "you and Mr. Douglas met in a flat in London and were engaged to him, didn't you? Was there any romance or secret about your marriage? "

"There's always been romance, but there's no secret either."

"Has he not met a rival in love?"

"No, I didn't have a boyfriend at all at that time."

"You know, his wedding ring was taken away, what does that have to do with you? Assuming that the enemies in his past life tracked down here to seek revenge on him, then why did this person take it away?" Where's his wedding ring?"

For a moment, I clearly saw a smile appearing on the corner of Mrs. Douglas's mouth.

"I can't explain it," she replied. "It's a strange thing."

"Okay, then we won't delay your rest. I'm sorry to disturb you at such a time." MacDonald said, "Of course, there will still be some other problems, and we will visit you again at that time."

She stood up and gave us a quick look.Just like before, I felt suspicion in her eyes again, as if asking: "What do you think of my testimony?" skirt, and walked out of the room.

"She's such a beautiful woman—very beautiful!" said Macdonald, after she had shut the door. "That fellow Buck must be in here a lot. He must be a lady-pleaser. He admits the dead man was a jealous man." Man, perhaps he himself knows best why Douglas is so jealous. And the wedding ring, you can't help but think about it. What do you think, Mr. Holmes, of the man who took the wedding ring from the dead man?"

My friend sat there, chin in his hands, lost in thought.Then he stood up and rang the bell.

"Ames," said Holmes, when the butler entered, "where is Mr. Cecil Barker?"

"I'll go and see, sir."

Ames came back after a while, and told us Mr Barker was in the garden.

"Ames, do you remember what kind of shoes Mr. Barker was wearing on his feet when you were in the study last night?"

"Remember, Mr. Holmes, a pair of slippers he usually wears in his bedroom. I handed him the boots just before he went to the police."

"Where are those slippers now?"

"Just under the chair in the lobby."

"Very well, Ames. It is very important, you know, that we must find out which are Mr. Barker's footprints and which are those of outsiders."

"Yes, sir. I must say, I noticed that the slippers were stained with blood, and my shoes too."

"From the state of the room at the time, it was quite normal. Very well, Ames. I will ring again if I need your help."

A few minutes later we were back in the study.Holmes had brought the slippers from the hall.Sure enough, as Ames said, the soles of both shoes were stained with black blood.

"Strange!" Standing in front of the window, Holmes said to himself after examining the imprint carefully in the sunlight. "It's really strange!"

Suddenly, Holmes bowed quickly like a cat, and put a slipper on the bloodstain on the windowsill, and the two matched perfectly.He silently looked up and smiled at us.

MacDonald was too excited to care about his image.Babbling in his regional accent like a club hitting a railing. "My man, there's no doubt about it! Buck himself made the print on the window sill, and it's much wider than the other soles. I remember you saying he was figure-footed, and that's the answer. But he What kind of trick is this? Mr. Holmes, what kind of trick is this?"

"Yes, what's the trick?" my friend mused, repeating MacDonald's words.

White Mason pursed his lips and smiled. Out of a professional habit, he rubbed his fat hands again and said loudly with satisfaction: "I said this is a strange case, it's true!"

six ray of light

The three detectives had many details to investigate, so I returned alone to our lodgings at the country inn.Before leaving, I took a walk in this antique garden for a while. The garden is on the side of the manor, surrounded by rows of ancient yew trees, which are very strangely trimmed.There is a large undulating lawn in the garden, and an ancient sundial is placed in the middle.The scenery in the whole garden is elegant and pleasant, which relieved my tense nerves and made me feel refreshed.Being in such an elegant and quiet environment, he naturally forgot about the gloomy study room and the blood-stained corpse on the floor, and only regarded it as a nightmare.However, just as I was strolling in the garden, fully immersed in the fragrance of birds and flowers, I suddenly encountered a strange thing, which reminded me of the tragedy again, and I felt vaguely shrouded in an ominous shadow.

I have said that the garden was surrounded by rows of yew trees.At the farthest end from the manor rooms the trees thickened to form a continuous hedge.Behind the hedge was a stone bench, and as I approached it I heard conversation, first a man's voice, then a woman's soft laughter.In a little while I was behind the hedge, and there was Mrs. Douglas and Buck, a big man, who took no notice of me.Her appearance surprised me: in the dining room she was so demure and reserved, but now all the pretended sadness was gone, her eyes were shining with happiness, and the smile of her companion's amused face remained. laugh lines.Buck sat there, leaning forward, his hands clasped, his elbows on his knees, and his handsome face smiled at her.Upon seeing me, they both resumed their serious pretense—only it was too late.They exchanged a few quick words, then Buck got up and came over to me.

"Excuse me, sir," said he, "but you are Dr. Watson."

I nodded to him with a cold face. I dare say that my appearance clearly revealed my inner attitude towards them.

"I think we are not mistaken, Dr. Watson. Your friendship with Mr. Sherlock Holmes is well known. Would you like to come and chat with Mrs. Douglas?"

I followed him with a gloomy face, and the corpse lying on the floor with its head almost shattered clearly appeared in my mind again.Only a few hours after the tragedy, his wife had a happy conversation with his former friend in the yew forest in the garden.I greeted the woman nonchalantly.In the dining room, I had felt deeply for her misfortune, and now her beseeching eyes were not worth mentioning to me.

"I'm afraid you think me a hard, hard-hearted woman?" said Mrs. Douglas.

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "What does this have to do with me?"

"Maybe one day you'll treat me fairly, if you understand..."

"It doesn't matter if Dr. Watson doesn't understand," Buck interrupted hastily, "Didn't he just say that this matter has nothing to do with him?"

"That's right," I said, "I'll take my leave, then, and I'll go on for a walk."

"Wait a moment, Dr. Watson," cried the woman, in a pleading voice. "There is a question which you have a greater right to answer than any man in the world, and which answer is of the utmost importance to me. You know Sherlock Holmes best." Sir, and his relationship with the police. If someone tells him a secret, must he also tell the police?"

"Yes, this is the crux of the problem," Buck said earnestly, "will he deal with the problem alone, or will he solve it with the police?"

"I really don't know if I should talk about such an issue."

"Help me, I beg you to tell me, Dr. Watson, I believe you must be able to help me, as long as you give us some pointers, it will be of great help to me."

Her voice was so sincere, it made me forget her frivolous behavior just now, and I was so moved that I could only agree to her request.

"Mr. Holmes is an independent detective," I said. "All matters are in his own hands, and he will deal with matters according to his own judgment. Of course, he will be frank with those police officers who are working with him. If there is anything that will help the police solve the case as quickly as possible, he will never hide it from them. I can only tell you this, and if you want to know more details, you'd better talk to him directly."

After I finished speaking, I raised my hat politely, and went away, and they were still sitting behind the hedge.When I came to the bend at the end of the hedge, I looked back and saw them still sitting where they were, discussing something enthusiastically—their eyes never left me, and it was obvious that they were still arguing about the conversation they had just had with me.

Holmes and his two colleagues spent the whole afternoon discussing the case at the manor, and they did not return to the lodgings until about five o'clock. I had tea brought to him, which he devoured.

When I told Holmes what had happened in the garden, he said: "I don't want to know their secret. There is no secret at all, Watson. For if we arrest them for complicity and murder." , these two people will be very embarrassed."

"Do you think it will end like this?"

Holmes looked at me with joy and interest, and said humorously: "My dear Watson, when I have destroyed this fourth egg, I will tell you all the progress of the case so far. I dare not say that the case has been solved." It's - it's far from being solved. However, when we tracked down the missing dumbbell..."

"That dumbbell?"

"Well, Watson, don't you see that the whole case lies in the missing dumbbell? Well, you needn't be downcast, because--this is just a private conversation--I think even that Mike Neither Sergeant Downer, nor the shrewd local detective, noticed the special importance of this trifle. Only one dumb-bell! Think, Watson, of holding only one dumb-bell. As a result, very soon, he will be in danger of bending his spine. Abnormal, Watson, very abnormal!"

He sat there, munching on the bread, with a playful look in his eyes, looking at me in a state of embarrassment.

The fact that Holmes has a strong appetite has already shown that he is confident, because I still remember his days and nights when he didn't think about food or food.Whenever he was fretted and brooded by a problem, his thin, wistful face grew thinner with the preoccupation of an ascetic.

At last Holmes lit his pipe, sat by the fire of the small country inn, and began to talk of the case in a leisurely and casual manner, more soliloquy than a deliberate analysis. remember.

"It's a lie, Watson, a brilliant, grotesque, out-and-out whopper, which we came upon at the outset as our starting point. Buck was lying entirely, but he made it up. Mrs. Douglas's story was further corroborated by Mrs. Douglas. So Mrs. Douglas was his accomplice, and the two of them partnered in fabricating the deception. Therefore, our problem now is very clear, which is to find out what the purpose of their lying is, And the truth they are trying to hide! Watson, let's try to see if we can expose this lie and find the truth behind it.

"How did I know they were lying? Because they made it up so outrageously that it didn't fit the facts. Just imagine: According to them, the murderer had less than a minute to take a piece of paper from the dead man's hand. a ring, take that wedding ring away, and put this ring back in its place - there's no way this could happen, and with a strange card next to the dead, it's impossible of.

"Watson, from what I know of you, you will not say that the ring may have been taken off before he was murdered. Yes, because the fact that the candle has only burned a little is enough to prove that the dead and the murderer There was no long conversation. Would such a bold man as Douglas give up his wedding ring easily because of a few bluffing words? Or can we imagine what this is like? No Impossible, Watson. But there is no doubt that the murderer and the dead man were alone for some time after the light was turned on.

(End of this chapter)