The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes

Chapter 46 Four Signatures (30)
He said, "No. It's a client. A very emotional young lady who has come to see me especially in a hurry. Now she's waiting in the living room. You see, if a young girl goes out early in the morning, Even at the expense of waking others up, I concluded that she must have something urgent. I think this case will be very interesting, then, you must not miss it, so I came to wake you up and give you this chance. "

"My friend, I do not wish to lose this opportunity under any circumstances."

I think there is nothing more entertaining than Sherlock Holmes.His detective skills are very sharp and logical, and he solves many problems with this.I got dressed quickly, and a few minutes later, he and I were downstairs in the living room.I saw a lady sitting at the window, she was dressed in black and covered with a veil.When we entered the room, she stood up.

Holmes smiled and said: "Good morning, miss. I am Sherlock Holmes. This is my friend and partner, Dr. Watson. In front of him, you can talk with confidence, just like in front of me. Haha Well, I'm glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has fired up the fire. Please sit nearer to the fire, and I'll order you a cup of hot coffee, and I see you shivering."

The woman changed her seat as Holmes had said, and whispered, "I am not shivering from the cold."

"Then why?"

"Mr. Holmes, it is because I am frightened," she said, lifting the veil, and we could see that she was indeed frightened.She was pale and despondent, and her eyes were full of terror.Looking at her appearance, she is about 30 years old, but there are a few strands of silver in her hair, and her expression is haggard.

Holmes surveyed her quickly.He gently patted her arm forward, comforting her and said: "Don't be afraid, we will definitely deal with this matter as soon as possible, I know you came by train this morning."

She said, "Did you see me?"

"No, I saw half a return ticket in your left glove. You must have got up very early, and before you got to the station, you passed by in a one-horse cart on the muddy road."

The woman was surprised and looked at Holmes suspiciously.

Holmes laughed and said, "My dear lady, there are seven or eight spots of mud splashed on your left sleeve, and all of them are newly splashed. Except for a one-horse carriage, no other carriage will have such splashes of mud, and you only have Sit to the left of the coachman to get splashed."

She said: "You are quite right. I left the house before six o'clock, arrived at Leatherhead at six-twenty, and came here by the first train for Waterloo. Sir, I cannot Put up with it, and if it goes on I shall go mad, for there is no one to help me, and there is one man who loves me, but there is nothing he can do. Mr. Holmes, I heard of you from Mrs. Farintoch, and you I saved her when she was in danger. That's why I know the address of sir. Oh, sir, I think you can help me and rescue me from the dark abyss. Although I can't pay you now, but a month Or I will be married in a month and a half, and then I will be able to freely use my income, and you will find that I am not an ungrateful person."

Holmes turned and went to his desk, opened a drawer, and took out a small case book to look through.

He said: "Yes, Farintoche, there is an opal case. I think it was before we met, Watson. As for the payment, my investigation is its own payment." , However, you can just pay some of the expenses I paid for this matter when you are suitable. Then, please tell us everything related to this matter now. "

She said: "Alas, my fears are very vague, and my doubts are caused by small things. These things may be insignificant to others. Of all people, I have the most power to guide and help me. Even some people thought it was just the whims of a nervous woman. He didn't say anything, but I could see from his eyes and tone that he thought so. Mr. Holmes, I heard that you can read people's minds. Mind, please tell me how I should deal with the danger around me."

"I am listening to you, miss," said Holmes.

She said: "My name is Helen Stoner and I live with my stepfather. He is the last surviving member of the Roylotts, one of the oldest families in England."

Holmes nodded, "I am familiar with that name."

She went on to say: "This family used to be one of the wealthiest families in the UK. Its property has spread beyond the borders of the county, from Berkshire in the north to Hampshire in the west. But in the last century, even out of The descendants of four generations of idlers, they spent money and used up almost all their property, leaving only a few acres of land and a 200-year-old house, and the things in the old house were almost mortgaged. The last grandson Lived a miserable life there, but his only son, my stepfather, felt that he must re-develop and not sit still. He got a medical degree with the help of a relative and went abroad to practice medicine in Calcutta. There, he With his medical skills and strong character, he did a good job in business. But later, the family encountered thieves several times and stole a lot of property. In a fit of anger, my stepfather beat the servant to death, so he was almost sentenced to death. That's it , he was imprisoned for many years. When he later returned to England, he had become a violent and depressed person.

"Dr. Roylott married my mother when he was in India. My mother was originally married to Major General Stoner, but when Stoner died of illness, she remarried to my stepfather. My sister Julia and I We were twin sisters, and we were two years old when my mother remarried. My mother was very rich, with an income of no less than a thousand pounds a year. When we lived with Dr. The property was left to my stepfather. But there is a condition, that is, after we got married, my stepfather must give us a certain amount of money every year. Eight years ago, shortly after we returned to England, my mother died in a train accident. So Dr. Roy Lott gave up his idea of ​​starting a new business in London and took us back to live in the old house in Stoke Moran. My mother left us enough money to live comfortably and happily However, my stepfather has changed horribly during this time. At first, the neighbors were very happy to know that the descendants of Roylott came back to live here, but my stepfather never interacted with other people and closed the door to himself. Not to mention, occasionally go out and often quarrel with people viciously. This kind of mad temper is inherited in the family, and I think it is because my stepfather has lived in a tropical place for a long time, so this temper is even more violent The disgraceful thing is that he often quarreled with other people, and two of them lasted until he was caught by the police. Therefore, he became a terrible person who was avoided by everyone. People ran away when they saw him approach Open, because he has great strength, and he can't control it when he gets angry.

"Last week he threw a local blacksmith into the creek over the railing, and I paid a lot of money to keep him from making a fool of himself again. He has no friends and only likes to associate with wandering gypsies. He allows them Camped on the few acres of clearing that marked his family status. He often went to receive their hospitality in their tents, and sometimes wandered with them for weeks at a time. He was very fond of the animals of India. The animals It was sent to him by a reporter. Currently, he has a cheetah and a baboon that run around his land uninhibited and the villagers are as afraid of them as they are of their owners. By the circumstances I speak , you can see that my poor sister Julia and I really have no joy in life. No one wants to be with us for a long time. For a long time, we did all the housework by ourselves. My sister died. 30 years old, but her temples are already gray, just like me now."

"Is your sister dead?"

"She died two years ago. I came here to look for you because of her death. As you can imagine, we live in this situation, and we hardly see people of the same age and status as us. But We are sometimes allowed to visit our aunt, Miss Holora Westfall, who lives near Harrow. Julia visited her at Christmas two years ago, and was there with a The Major of the Marine Corps met, and they were engaged shortly thereafter. My sister came back and told my stepfather about it, and he didn't object to it. But less than two weeks before Julia's wedding, the dreadful It happened, and I have since lost my only partner."

While she was speaking, Holmes leaned back, with his head resting on the cushion, and listened with closed eyes.But at this moment, he opened his eyes and glanced at the woman, and said, "Please explain in more detail."

She said: "It was easy because anything that happened in that terrible time, I will always remember. As I said, the house we live in is very old, only half of the room can be lived in, and the rest is empty. Our bedroom is in the same room. The living room is in the middle of the house. The doors of the bedrooms all face the same corridor, the first being Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and I in the third. Although these rooms are connected, But it doesn't connect. Did I make it clear?"

"very clear."

"The windows of all three bedrooms looked onto the lawn. On the night of the misfortune Dr. Roylott was in his room early, but we know he was not asleep because my sister smelled the Indian cigars again. The smell, she was so uncomfortable with the smell, she left her bedroom and sat in my room for a long time, talking to me about her marriage. At eleven o'clock, she got up to say goodbye to me, but when she walked to the door She stopped and turned and looked at me and said, 'Helen, tell me, have you ever heard something like a whistle in the dead of night?' I said, 'I've never heard it.' She said: 'I don't think you can make that noise while you're asleep?' I said, 'Of course not. Why do you ask that?' She said, 'Because the other night, it was about three o'clock in the morning , I hear this sound often. I was not a deep sleeper, so I was woken up. I can't tell where it came from, it may be from the next room, or it may be from the lawn. I I thought, I'm going to ask you if you heard it.' I said, 'No, I didn't hear it, maybe it was from the gypsies on the lawn.' She said, 'It's possible. But I find it strange that If it came from the lawn, why didn't you hear it?' I said, 'Maybe it's because of my heavy sleep.' She said, 'Well, it doesn't matter anyway.' I smiled and closed my door. After a while, I heard her lock the door."

"Why lock the door? Are you in the habit of locking your doors at night?" asked Holmes.

She said yes."

"why?"

"I think I told you my stepfather had a cheetah and a baboon. We had to lock the door to sleep safely."

"Yes. Please go on."

"I couldn't sleep that night, and I was restless, as if something bad was going to happen. You know that my sister and I are twin sisters, and we have always been connected. It was a stormy night, the wind roared, and the raindrops were crackling. window. Suddenly, there was a woman's terrified cry amidst the sound of wind and rain, and I recognized it was my sister's voice. I immediately jumped out of bed, put on my scarf and rushed out. When I opened the door, I seemed Heard a soft whistle, like my sister said, followed by a bang, like a metal crash. I ran over and saw my sister's bedroom door was open, and I panicked I was at a loss, staring at my eyes, afraid that something terrible would come out of the door. Through the light in the corridor, I saw my sister appearing at the door of the room. Shaking from side to side like a drunk. I ran to hug her when she lost her strength and fell to the ground. Her limbs twitched horribly, as if in severe pain. At first I thought she didn't recognize her It was me, but when I was about to bend down to hug her, she suddenly cried out sadly: 'Ah! Helen! My God! It's a tape! A speckled tape!' Forgot. She seemed to want to say something more, pointing to the doctor's room, but she had another convulsion, and could no longer speak. I ran out and shouted to my stepfather, who was in his pajamas, and came out of his room in a hurry When he came to my sister, she was unconscious. Although he gave her some more brandy, and called the doctor to rescue her, it was in vain, because she was dying at the time, and was about to die. Until she Before she died, she never woke up again. Such is the tragic fate of my dear sister."

"Are you sure you heard the whistle and the crash of metal?" said Holmes.

"The coroner asked me that question too and I did hear it and I was very impressed with it," she said. "But it was very windy and windy that night and the old house creaked and I might have heard it wrong."

"Is your sister wearing daytime clothes?"

"No, she was wearing pajamas. She was holding a charred matchstick in her right hand and a matchbox in her left hand."

Holmes said: "It shows that she woke up from a dream and wanted to see something by the light of the fire, which is very important. What did the coroner say?"

She said: "The coroner looked very carefully but could not find the cause of my sister's death. The door was locked from the inside and the windows were barred with shutters which were closed tightly every night. The walls are solid and the floors have not been inspected. The chimney, though wide, is fastened with four large lock rings. Apparently my sister was alone in the room when her misfortune happened, and she had no any scars."

"Could it be poison?" said Holmes.

"The doctor also checked, but couldn't find out."

"So, how do you think your sister died?"

"I believe she died of shock, of excessive fear. However, I can't imagine what it was that frightened her."

"Were there gypsies on the lawn at that time?"

"Yes, there are always gypsies there."

"Oh, can you imagine why she called out a tape—a speckled tape?"

"I think it might have been her frightened gibberish, or the gypsies because a lot of them had spotted turbans on their heads."

Holmes shook his head, as if disapproving of the statement, and said: "This question is worthy of study. Please go on."

"Two years went by like this, and until recently I felt even lonelier. A good friend I had known for many years proposed to me a month ago. His name was Percy Armitage, and he lived near Reading. My stepfather No objection to the marriage, we agreed to get married in the spring. Two days ago, my stepfather was going to do some repairs to the west side of the old house, and my bedroom wall was going to be repaired, so I moved into the room where my sister used to live , sleeping in her bed. Last night, I lay on the bed and couldn’t fall asleep, thinking about her terrible experience. In the dead of night, I suddenly heard the whistle that heralded my sister’s death. I was so frightened that I immediately I jumped up and turned on the light, but there was nothing in the room, but I was so frightened that I didn’t dare to sleep anymore. I got dressed, and I quietly came out at dawn, opposite the old house The Crown Hotel hired a cab, drove to Leatherhead, and from there took the train to come here to ask you."

"You are doing very well," said Holmes, "but have you said everything?"

"Yes, I said it all."

"Miss Stoner, you didn't tell me everything, you are covering up your stepfather."

"What? What do you mean?"

Holmes made no answer, but turned up the woman's black lace cuffs, and saw five fingermarks on her fair wrist."You have been abused," said Holmes.

The woman's face was flushed, and she covered her injured wrist and said, "My stepfather is very strong and often hurts others, but he doesn't realize it."

Then no one spoke, and Holmes rested his chin on his hand and gazed at the fire.After a while he said: "This is a complicated case. I hope all the details will be cleared up before we decide what course of action to take, but time is running out. If we get to Stoke Moran today Go, can I check your bedroom without your stepfather knowing?"

"He just said he'd be in town today on errands, and he might be away all day, so it wouldn't be an inconvenience. Now we have a housekeeper, but she's old and stupid, and it's easy to get her out of the way. "

"Very well," said Holmes. "Watson, come with me."

I said: "Of course."

Holmes asked the woman again: "Then, do you have anything else to do yourself?"

She said: "I have a thing or two to do in town, but I'll take the twelve o'clock train home and wait for you."

"You have a long time to prepare," said Holmes, "and I have some small business matters to attend to. Won't you have your breakfast here before you go?"

"No, I have to go. I've told you my troubles, and I feel a lot easier in my heart. I look forward to seeing you again this afternoon." After she finished speaking, she put on her veil again and bowed left the room.

Holmes leaned back in his armchair and said, "What do you think of the matter, Watson?"

"In my opinion, this is a very sinister conspiracy."

"Yes, very sinister."

"If, as the woman said, the floor and walls are solid, and the doors, windows, and chimneys are impossible for anyone to enter, then there is no doubt that there was no one else in the house when her sister died strangely."

(End of this chapter)