The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes

Chapter 19 Four Signatures (3)
We followed the Indian in, through a common, untidy, dimly lit, and poorly furnished passage, until we came to a door on the right.He pushed the door open, and there was a yellow light in the room. Under the light stood a tall man with a pointed head. His head was bald and looked very bright, and there was a circle of red hair around him, like a maple. Like a bare hilltop emerging from the bushes.He stood there rubbing his hands.His expression was uncertain, smiling for a while, frowning for a while, and he was never calm for a while.Born with drooping lips, yellow and irregular teeth are exposed from inside. Although he often uses his hands to cover the lower part of his face, it may not be able to hide his ugliness.Although he is bald, he looks very young, but in fact he is only just over 30 years old.

"I am at your service, Miss Morstan," he repeated aloud. "I am at your service, gentlemen. Come into my little room. It is small, madam, but it is Furnished just the way I like it. It's a little cultural oasis in the middle of the desert in the wild south of London."

We were all amazed at the sight of this room.The house was so incongruously built and furnished that it seemed the finest diamond set in a brass stand.The curtains and tapestries were rich and elegant, with exquisite picture mirrors and oriental vases peeping out of them.The thick and soft amber and black carpet is as comfortable to walk on as if walking on green grass.Two large tiger skins were spread across it.On the mat in the corner of the room is a large Indian hookah, which shows the oriental magnificence even more.There is a golden thread faintly in the middle of the roof, and a silver dove-style hanging lamp is hung.When the lamps were burning, the air was filled with a fragrant smell.

The little man was still slightly anxious, and he introduced himself with a smile: "My name is Thaddeus Sholto. Of course you are Miss Morstan, these two gentlemen..." "This is Mr Sherlock Holmes, this is Dr Watson."

He exclaimed excitedly, "Ah, a doctor? Did you bring your stethoscope? May I ask you—would you listen to me? Excuse me, there may be something wrong with my mitral valve." .My aorta is fine, but for my mitral valve, I want to hear your valuable opinion."

I listened to his heart, and found nothing wrong with him except that his whole body was trembling with fear.I replied: "The heart is normal, don't worry, you can rest assured."

He said easily: "Miss Morstan, please forgive me for my anxiety. I often feel uncomfortable and always suspect that my heart is not good. Since it is normal, I am of course happy. Miss Morstan, if your father can restrain himself, he will not hurt you." To his heart, he may still be alive."

I couldn't help being so angry that I really wanted to punch him in the face.How can such words, which should be prudent, be said so bluntly?Miss Morstan sat down, pale."I knew in my heart that my father was dead," she said.

He continued: "I will try to tell you everything, and I will do justice. No matter what my brother Bartholomew has to say, I will also do justice. I am glad that you and your two friends are here today." Great, these two are not just your protectors, they can testify to what I have said and what I will do. We can work together against my brother Bartholomew. But we want no outsiders--no police or officials. We can solve our own problems satisfactorily without the intervention of outsiders. If the matter is made public, my brother Bartholomew will never agree." He sat on the low armchair, crying Barking blue eyes looked at us, expecting our answer.

Holmes said: "I can personally guarantee that no matter what you say, I will not tell others."

I also nodded in agreement.

He said: "That would be great! Really good! Miss Morstan, may I offer you a glass of Chianti or Aromatic Hungarian wine? I don't have any other wine here. Shall I open a bottle? No." Drink? Well, I don't think you will object to me smoking this soft oriental flavored cigarette. I am a little nervous, and I think my hookah is the best tranquilizer." He lit the big hookah and smoked from the smoke. The rose water in the pot slowly emerged.The three of us sat in a semicircle, with our heads forward and our chins resting on our hands.This strange and excited little man, with his bald head, sat between us, smoking awkwardly.

He said: "When I decided to contact you, I wanted to tell you my address, but I was afraid that you would bring inappropriate people, so I made this arrangement. I asked my servant to meet you first , I still have great confidence in his ability to adapt to changing situations. I told him that if the situation is not right, don't bring you with me. I hope to get your understanding because I don't want to interact with people, and I can even be said to be a A haughty man, I think there is nothing more unrefined than a policeman or something. My nature dislikes anyone who is vulgar, and I seldom come into contact with them. My life, you can see, is full of An elegant atmosphere. I call myself a connoisseur of art, this is my hobby. The landscape painting is indeed an authentic work of Gorot. Some connoisseurs may doubt the authenticity of the work of Salvatore Rosa, but that A Bouguereau painting is indeed genuine. I am particularly fond of the French school now."

Miss Morstan said, "Forgive me, Mr. Sholto. I was called because you had something to say, and it is getting late, and I hope our conversation will be as brief as possible."

He replied: "That will take up some time at least, as we shall go together to Upper Norwood to my brother Bartholomew. We shall all go, and I hope we shall outwit him. I think it is reasonable and He didn't appreciate the steps he took, so he was very dissatisfied with me. I had a long argument with him last night, and you can't imagine what a difficult person he is when he is angry."

I couldn't help urging: "If we still need to go to Norwood, we'd better start at once."

He laughed until his ears turned red, and said, "That's not appropriate. If I go with you rashly, I don't know what he will say. No, I must be prepared to talk about our mutual situation first." Talk. The first thing I want to tell you is that there are several questions in this story that even I don't understand. I can only tell you what I know.

"My father, as you will guess, was Major John Sholto, who used to be in the Indian Garrison. He retired about eleven years ago before coming to Sakuramoor House in Upper Norwood. He was in India He made a fortune, brought a lot of money and a batch of valuable antiques, and several Indian servants. With these good conditions, he bought a house and lived a very rich life. Basso and I Luo Miu is a twin brother, and my father only has us two children.

"I still well remember the commotion caused by the disappearance of Captain Morstan, the details of which we learned from the newspapers. Since we knew he was a friend of my father's, we used to discuss the matter freely in his presence. He sometimes speculates with us how it happened, and we never suspect that the whole secret is kept only in his heart-only he knows the end of Arthur Morstan .

"But we do know that there are secrets—some horrors—that have always been in my father's mind. He doesn't usually go out alone, and he employs two boxers to guard the gate of Sakuranuma Villa. William, who drove your car today One of them, he used to be the British lightweight boxing champion. My father never told us what he was afraid of, he was especially wary of people with wooden legs. He shot a gun once The man with the wooden leg, who turned out to be an ordinary peddler who came to solicit business, we paid a large sum of money to settle. My brother and I thought it was just my father's whim, but after a lot of Things that make us change our minds.

"In the spring of [-] my father received a letter from India which was a great blow to him. He nearly fainted after reading it at the breakfast table, and from that day on He fell ill, and died. What the letter contained, we never know, but as he held it, I saw from the side that it was short and illegible. He had been suffering from He had an enlarged spleen, which soon became more serious. At the end of April, the doctor concluded that he was hopeless and called us to come and listen to his will.

"When we entered the room, he was leaning on the high pillow short of breath. He told us to lock the door and let us come to either side of the bed. He squeezed our hands, painfully and emotionally, and then broke He told us a shocking event. I will try to repeat to you what he said at that time.

"He said: 'On my deathbed, there is only one thing that weighs like a stone on my heart, and that is that it is a pity that I have treated the orphan of Morstan. Because of the unforgivable greed of my life, Keeping her from these treasures--half of which belonged to her at least. But I never took advantage of them--greed is a very stupid act. As long as I know that treasures are hidden with me, I will be satisfied and never I can't bear to give it to others. Look at the necklace of beads next to the cinnamon cream. Although I found it for her, I can't part with it. My children , you ought to give her a fair share of the treasure of Agra. But never before my death--not even the necklace, for even a man as ill as I am may still Healed.'

"He continued: 'I'm going to tell you how Morstan died. He had a weak heart many years ago, but he never told anyone, only me. Surprising incident, a large number of treasures were obtained. I took these treasures back to England. On the evening of Morstan's arrival in London, he immediately came to me to ask for his share. He walked from the station to Here, the loyal old servant Lal Jorda, who is now dead, opened the door and invited me in. Morstan and I had a disagreement because of the equal share of the treasure, and our faces were flushed. Morstan jumped out of his chair in a rage, and then Suddenly he put his hands on his chest, his face darkened, and he fell backwards, hitting his head on the corner of the treasure chest. When I bent down to help him, to my horror, he was dead.'

"'I sat in a chair for a long time, confused, not knowing what to do. At first I naturally thought that I should report to the police, but I thought I could not avoid being accused of the murder. He was in We argued that he should die, and the wound on his head is even more unfavorable to me. In addition, the source of the treasure will inevitably be asked in court, which is something I have to keep a secret. He told me that no one People knew he was here, so there seemed no need to let others know about it.'

"'While I was still thinking about this, I raised my head and suddenly saw the servant Lal Jorda standing at the door. He came in stealthily, bolted the door softly, and said, "Master, don't be afraid.No one will know you killed him.We hid him, who would know? ’ I said, ‘I didn’t kill him. "Lal Joda shook his head and laughed: "Master, I heard everything, I heard you quarreling, I heard him fall down, but I will definitely keep it a secret."Everyone in the family is asleep.Let's bury him. "So I decided. My own servants can't believe me. Can I hope that twelve stupid businessmen sitting in the jury box will acquit me? Lal Jorda and I put The body was buried, and within a few days, the London newspapers published the mystery of Captain Morstan's disappearance. You can see from my narrative that Morstan's death was not necessarily my fault. My mistake was that besides hiding the body, Hidden treasure, I got the treasure I deserved, and took Morstan's share, so I hope you will return the treasure to his daughter. You put your ears to my mouth. The treasure is hidden in... '

"Before he finished speaking, his face suddenly changed, his eyes were staring outside, his jaw dropped, and he shouted in a voice that I will never forget: 'Get him out of here! Do... Get him out!' Together we looked back at the window he was staring at. A face was staring at us from the darkness. We could see his nose, whitened by the glass. It was a hairy face, with two There are only fierce eyes and a fierce expression. The two brothers rushed to the window, but the man had disappeared. When we turned back to look at our father, we saw that his head had drooped and his pulse had stopped beating. .

"We searched the garden that night, but there was no trace of the intruder except a conspicuous footprint on the flowerbed under the window. Had this been the only indication, we would have suspected that the murderous face had come from our imagination We were soon given more definite proof that there was a secret gang of persons working in our neighborhood. The next morning we found the windows of my father's bedroom wide open, his cupboards and chests searched, and in his There was a torn piece of paper stapled to the box, with 'Four Signatures' scrawled on it. How to understand this sentence, and who it was who sneaked in, we still don't know. What we can conclude It's just that although everything has been turned over, my father's belongings have not been lost. The two of us naturally think that this incident has something to do with his usual fears, but it is still a complete mystery. A clueless case."

The little man lit his hookah again and took a few thoughtful puffs.We sat there, listening intently to his uncanny story.Miss Morstan grew pale at the passage concerning her father's death.To keep her from fainting, I gently poured her a glass of water from a Venetian carafe on a side table, and she recovered.Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes in thought.When I look at him, I can't help thinking that just today he said life is boring.And now this was at least one of the greatest tests of his wits.Mr. Thaddeus Sholto glanced at us, evidently proud that the story he narrated had had such an impact on us.He continued smoking the hookah and talking.

He said: "As you can imagine, my brother and I were very excited to hear about the treasure from my father. For weeks, even months, we dug every corner of the garden and found nothing. Nothing was found. It is maddening to think that the whereabouts of these treasures were left in his dying mouth. We can infer how valuable these lost treasures are from the collar that was taken out. Regarding this necklace, My brother Bartholomew and I have also discussed this. The beads are undoubtedly valuable, and he is a little hard to part with. He has a bit of my father's faults in dealing with friends. He also thought that if the collar Giving it away may cause unnecessary gossip, and may eventually cause trouble for myself. All I can do is persuade my brother to let me find Miss Morstan's address first, and then send her a copy every once in a while. A bead that has been removed, so that at least her life will not be too embarrassing."

My companion said sincerely: "What a kind heart, it is very touching that you did this."

The little man waved his hand indifferently and said: "We are just the custodians of your property, this is my opinion! But my brother's opinion is different from mine. We have a lot of property, and I don't expect to get more. Besides It would be unreasonable to do mean things to this young lady. 'Vulgarity is the root of all evil.' There is truth in the French proverb. As we brothers disagree on this subject, I In the end, I had to separate from him, and I left Sakura Swamp Villa with an Indian servant and William. Yesterday I discovered the most important thing, the treasure has been found. Therefore, I immediately got in touch with Miss Morstan, and now only It leaves us both to go to Upper Norwood to claim our share from him. I have conveyed my opinion to my brother Bartholomew last night that we may not be his welcome guests, but he agrees. Waiting for us there."

When Mr. Thaddeus Sholto had finished speaking, he sat on a low chair, shaking his fingers.We were all silent, our thoughts fixed on the development of this singular event.Holmes was the first to rise.

He said: "Sir, you have done a good job all the way, and maybe we can tell you something you don't know in return. But as Miss Morstan said just now, it is getting late, and we have business to do." Hurry up and do it before it's too late."

(End of this chapter)