The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes

Chapter 164 The Last Greeting (7)
"'This is what happened: Our May Day was out sailing for seven days. A large barrel on the ship came loose, causing a beam to come out of joint, and we had to be in port for twelve hours. I disembarked and headed home. I walked in the direction of my house, thinking that this would surprise my wife, and hoping that she might be happy to see me come back so quickly. Thinking this way, I walked into the street where I lived. At this time, a car The carriage passed by, and the person in the carriage was my wife, who was sitting talking and laughing with Fabayrne, not paying attention to me, who was standing on the sidewalk watching them.

"'I tell you, please believe me, from that moment on, I couldn't control myself anymore. Looking back on it now, it's like a nightmare. I've been drinking a lot lately. The whole thing put together exhausted me physically and mentally. Now, there was always something beating in my head, like a sailor's hammer, but that morning, it seemed like the whole of Niagara was roaring in my ears.

"'I followed the carriage stealthily, with a heavy oak cane in my hand, and fire in my eyes. I learned to be wise as I ran after them, and kept a little distance behind them, so that I could see them but they couldn't see me and they got to the train station not long after. The ticket office was crowded and bustling so I was very close to them and they didn't see me. They bought tickets to New Brighton , I bought it too. My seat was behind them, three cars away. When they arrived, they walked along the parade ground, and I was never more than a hundred yards from them. Finally, I saw them rent a boat, Going to go boating. It was a hot day and they must have found the water cooler.

"'It looked like I was going to catch 'em. It was a bit foggy and I couldn't see anyone for a few hundred yards. I hired a boat too and paddled after them. I could just see their boat. , but their boat was about as fast as mine, and if I didn't catch up, they'd be a mile out of shore. The fog hung over us like a curtain, and there were only three of us in it. God, I never would Forget the look on their faces when they saw who was in the boat that was paddling towards them. She screamed and he cursed and hit me with the oars because he must have seen I dodged his oars and hit him back with my cane, and his head broke like an egg. Although I was mad, I could still let her go, but she kept hugging her. I yelled at him and called him "Alik". I gave her another blow and she fell beside him. At that moment, I was like a wild beast, and I swear to God, if Sarah was there, She couldn't get away either. I pulled out the knife and... oh well, forget it, I said enough is enough. When I think about how Sarah will feel when she sees something like this from her meddling, I There will be a thrill of revenge. Finally, I tied their bodies in the boat, pierced a plank, and I didn't leave until the boat sank. I know the owner of the boat will think they Lost and rowed out to sea. I straightened my clothes and went ashore and back to the steamer without a trace, and no one would suspect that something was wrong. I packed my things that night and left the Bell the next day. Fast sent it to Sarah Cousins.

"'You know everything. You can hang me, you can do with me, but you can't make me close my eyes. I've had enough of this. When I close my eyes, those two pictures will appear. Staring at my face, the way they stared at me when my boat caught them through the fog. I killed them so cleanly, but they tortured me slowly to death. If Give me one more night like that, and I'll either be mad or dead before dawn. You won't lock me up in a cell alone, sir? Please have pity on me, don't do it, I hope you treat me now Just as you were treated in the days of your pain.'

"Why is this, Watson?" Holmes put down his confession and said with a serious expression. "What is the purpose of this series of pain, violence, and fear? It must be for some purpose, otherwise, our universe was created by accident." Dominated, that would be unthinkable. What, then, is the purpose? This is a great question that is far from being answered by human intellect and will remain forever."

Red Circle

"Oh, Mrs. Warren, I really don't understand that there is any particular reason for your uneasiness; nor do I understand that my time is so precious that I should be able to intervene in this matter. I really have other things to do. ' said Sherlock Holmes, turning to his thick scrap-book.He pasted and indexed some recent information.

But the landlady was very stubborn, and she didn't give in at all.She also has feminine ingenuity.

"Last year you solved a problem for one of my lodgers," said she. "He was Mr. Feder Hobbs."

"Oh, yes. A little thing."

"But he is always nagging in my ear, saying that you will be willing to help, sir, that you can find out things that have no clue. When I encounter difficulties and have no clue, I think of his words Here it comes. I know you can, if you want to."

Holmes' heart softened whenever he was flattered, and when he was treated with sincerity, he did his best to help him.These two reasons made him agree with a sigh, and he put down the glue brush and dragged the chair away.

"Well, well, Mrs. Warren, tell us then. You don't mind if I have a cigarette? Thank you, Watson, Match! I understand that your new lodger is in the room all day. Well, you can't see him, and you worry about it, so what? God bless you, Mrs. Warren, if I were your lodger, you wouldn't see me for weeks."

"That's true, sir, but this time the situation is different. It frightens me, Mr. Holmes. I can't sleep all day with fear. Every day I can only hear his hurried steps from early morning to early morning. I can't stand walking around late at night and not seeing his people. My husband is just as nervous about it as I am, but he's out at work all day and me, I can't avoid it at all On. What is he trying to hide? What has he done? It's just me and him in the house, except for a little girl. I'm going out of my mind!"

Holmes leaned forward a little, and tapped the landlady on the shoulder with his slender fingers.He has an almost hypnotic power to soothe the soul whenever he needs it.Her flustered gaze settled down, and the tense expression on her face eased a lot, returning to her usual state.She sat down in the chair Holmes pointed out.

"If I'm going to have a hand in this, I have to know every detail about it," he said, "take it easy, take your time. The tiniest detail can be the most important clue. You say, this man They moved here ten days ago and paid for your two weeks' accommodation and food?"

"He asked how much I wanted. I said fifty shillings a week, sir. A small sitting-room and bedroom, all furnished, on the top floor."

"What else?"

"He said: 'I pay five pounds a week if I can do what I want.' I am a poor man, sir, and Mr. Warren earns little, and money is very important to me. He took out a Handed me a ten-pound note. 'If you agree to my request, you'll get the same amount every fortnight for a long time to come.' He said, 'Otherwise, I'll have to leave you alone.' "

"What conditions?"

"Well, sir, the requirement is that he have the key to the house. That's all right, the tenants usually want the key. And another requirement is that he be completely free and not to be disturbed for any reason."

"There's nothing weird about it, is there?"

"It should be nothing. But it's unreasonable. He's been here for ten days. Mr. Warren, I, and the little girl haven't seen him once. In the morning, at night, I heard his hurried steps walking up and down Go. He hasn't been out of the room except the first night."

"Oh, he went out on the first night?"

"Yes, sir, came back very late, and we were all in bed. He told me when he came in that he came back late and told me not to lock the door. It was past midnight when I heard him come back." .”

"Where is he eating?"

"He specifically told us not to put his food on a chair outside the door until he rang the bell. Then ring the bell when he had finished eating, and we would collect it from the same chair. If he wanted Anything else, just write it down on a piece of paper in printed letters."

"Printed words?"

"Yes, sir, printed in pencil, nothing but a word. I have brought one to show you--soap. Here is another--matches. Here is He left it the morning before—the Daily Telegraph. I put it there with breakfast every morning."

"Good heavens, Watson," said Holmes, looking with astonishment at the scraps of paper handed him by the landlady, "this is indeed a bit odd. I can understand the reclusiveness, but why print? Print is no trouble." Well, why not just write about it? What does that mean, Watson?"

"It means he wants to conceal his handwriting."

"Why? What harm does it do him if the landlady sees what he wrote? It may be what you said. Then, why is the note written so simply?"

"I can't figure it out."

"It's something to think about. The writing pen is very special, purple, with a thick tip. You see, after writing, the paper is torn from here, so part of the 'S' in the word 'soap' is torn off .does that mean something, doesn't it, Watson?"

"Does it mean to be careful?"

"That's right. There will obviously be signs, fingerprints and other things that will give clues as to who it is. Mrs. Warren, you say the man is of medium build, dark, with a beard. How old is he?" ?”

"Pretty young, sir, not over thirty."

"Well, is there more to it?"

"He can speak English fluently, sir, but from his accent he must be a foreigner."

"Is it well-dressed?"

"Pretty, sir, and a gentleman. It's black, and I don't see anything special about it."

"He didn't tell you his name?"

"No, sir."

"Has he had any letters, has anyone come to him?"

"No."

"You, or the little girl, must have been in his room some morning?"

"Haven't gone in, sir, he took care of everything by himself."

"Oh? That's strange. Where's the luggage?"

"He was carrying a big brown handbag and nothing else."

"Well, it seems that there is not much information that can help us. You mean that nothing was taken out of his room? Nothing at all?"

The landlady took an envelope from her purse, and from it took two lighted matches and a cigarette butt, and laid them on the table.

"He had these on his plate this morning. I'll show you, because I hear you can see big problems in little things."

Holmes shrugged his shoulders.

"These are common things," said he, "of course matches are used to light cigarettes, for there is only so little of a matchstick left; a cigarette or a cigar is half burnt. But, alas , this cigarette butt is very strange. You said, this gentleman has a beard on his lips and chin?"

"Yes, sir."

"I don't understand that. It seems to me that only a clean-shaven man would smoke like that. Why, Watson, even a little beard on your mouth would be burned."

"Is it smoked with a cigarette holder?" I put forward my opinion.

"No, no. The butt is broken. I don't think there's another person in the room, Mrs. Warren?"

"Impossible, sir. There is so little to eat, and I am worried whether he can survive on such a little."

"Well, I reckon we'll have to wait for a little more clue. Anyway, you don't have to complain. You've got the rent, and he's not a troublesome tenant, though he's a little eccentric. He pays generously, If he wants to hide something, it has nothing to do with you directly. We have no reason to interfere with other people's privacy, unless we have reason to believe that this matter is about crime. Now that I have taken over this matter, I will not let it go. What's new Please keep me informed; if you need it, I will help you."

"There are a few points of interest here, Watson," said he, after the landlady had left us; "perhaps a trifle, of course, and a purely personal eccentricity, but it may be more complicated than it appears. My first thought was the obvious possibility that the people renting the house and the people living in it might not be the same people."

"Why do you think so?"

"Well, apart from the cigarette butts, doesn't that mean that the tenant went out once, and only once, immediately after he rented the room? When he came back, or someone came back, no one saw him .We have no proof that the person who came back is the same person who went out. Also, the person who rented the room spoke good English, but wrote the word that should be written as 'matches' as 'match'. I can imagine that this The words are taken from a dictionary. The dictionaries only give singular nouns, not the plural. This brevity may be a way of concealing a lack of English. Yes, Watson, there is every reason to suspect that someone has taken the place of our lodger. "

"What might be the purpose?"

"Ah, here is the problem! There is a very simple and clear method of investigation." He took down a notebook, which contained the missing person advertisements in various London newspapers that he usually kept. "For heaven's sake!" he said, leafing through the pages, "what a chorus of moans and shouts and nonsense! A hodgepodge of anecdotes! But surely this is the most precious hunting ground for an extraordinary scholar! The man is all alone In fact, writing to him would inevitably involve giving away secrets. How did the news and correspondence get to him from the outside world? Obviously, through advertisements in the newspapers. There seemed to be no other way. Luckily all I have to look at is one paper. Here's an excerpt from the last two weeks in The Daily Telegraph: 'The lady in the black feather boa at the Prince's Skating Club'--never mind that.'Jimmy Of course it won't break his mother's heart' - it's none of our business. 'If this lady passed out on the bus in Brixton' - her, I'm not interested either.' My heart goes out every day Desire'--nonsense, Watson, all nonsense! Ah, this passage is possible. You listen: 'Be patient. Will find a secure means of communication. Until then, use this column. G.' This is Published two days after Mrs. Warren's tenant moved in. Kind of like that? The mystery tenant probably understands English, though he can't write. See if you can find any other information. There, this one, three days later .' Arrangements are being made. Patience and caution, the clouds will clear. G.' Nothing for a week after that. This is clear: 'The way is cleared. Will signal when opportunity arises, remember what was said Code—one is A, the other is B, and so on. You'll get the news soon. G.' This was in yesterday's paper. There's nothing in today's paper. These fit Mrs. Warren's The case of the lodger. If we wait a little longer, Watson, I trust the matter will become clearer."

Everything is as Holmes thought.In the morning, I found my friend standing on the hearth rug with his back to the fire, with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Look at this, Watson. What do you think?" he asked, picking up the newspaper from the table. "'Red tall house, white stone facade. Third floor. Second window on the left. After dark. G.' That is quite clear. I think we must call on Mrs. Warren's neighbor after breakfast. Oh, Mrs. Warren! What good news did you bring us this morning?"

Our client came rushing in, this time telling us that there had been a major new development.

"I've got to go to the police, Mr. Holmes!" she cried. "I can't take it any longer! Let him go with his things. I should have spoken to him directly and told him to go, but I I think it's better to listen to your suggestions first. But I have endured to the extreme, the old man was beaten, and at this time..."

"Mr. Warren was beaten?"

"It was rough with him anyway."

"Who was rough on him?"

"Oh, I would like to know too! It happened this morning. Mr. Warren is the timekeeper at Morton & Wiley & Co., Tottenham Court Road, and he was due to leave before seven o'clock. This morning he As soon as he walked out of the door, two men rushed out from behind, covered his head with a piece of clothing, tied him up, and pushed him into a carriage by the side of the road. They ran with him for an hour, and then opened the door, He was dragged out of the car. He was lying on the road, scared out of his wits. He didn't see the carriage. When he got up slowly, he realized that he was in Hampstead Heath. He came home by bus and is still lying On the couch. I'll be right over to you and tell you about it."

"It is really strange," said Holmes. "Has he seen the faces of those two men, and heard their conversation?"

"No, he was terrified. All he knew was that he was being lifted up and thrown down, and it was all like a magic trick. There were at least two people, maybe three."

"You connect this attack with your eccentric lodger?"

"Well, we've lived here for 15 years and nothing like this has ever happened. Please leave him, money is nothing. Get him out of my house before dark."

"Wait, Mrs. Warren. Don't be impulsive. I realize that this matter may be much more serious than I first saw. It is clear that your lodger is threatened by some kind of danger. Another clear thing is, His enemies were waiting for him near your house. The dim light of the morning made them misread your husband for him, and then they found out that they were mistaken, and let your husband go. If it is not the wrong person, So what are they going to do? We can only speculate."

"Then what shall I do, Mr. Holmes?"

"I should like to see your lodger, Mrs. Warren."

(End of this chapter)