Sherlock Holmes.

Chapter 78 Memoirs (12)
Holmes said with a smile: "Now it's a little puzzling. A thief, especially an experienced thief, will know that someone is awake when he sees the light, but he broke in. Isn't it strange?"

"He's probably a very calm veteran."

"Of course," said Mr. Alec, "if it hadn't been queer, we wouldn't have consulted you. But I find it absurd that you think the burglars got into the house before William. For the house was not disturbed, Nothing was lost."

But Holmes said: "I'm afraid it depends on what it is. Don't forget that this thief is different, and he has a precise goal in his crimes. Just think about the strange things he stole from Acton's house. Balls of thread, a paperweight, and other little things we don't notice."

Old Cunningham said: "Well, Mr. Holmes, since we have entrusted everything to you, we will follow your arrangement with the police officer."

"First of all," said Holmes, "I would like to ask you to put up a bounty for the arrest of the murderer. It will take a long time to get the official approval and release of this money, and it will not be done immediately. I have already Make a draft, and if you agree, please sign it, and I think fifty pounds will be enough."

The magistrate took the pen and paper from Holmes and said, "I would like to offer five hundred pounds. But there is something wrong here, isn't it?"

He looked at the manuscript carefully.

"Oh, I wrote in a hurry."

"You look at the beginning: 'Given there was an attempted robbery at [-]:[-] on Tuesday morning...' Wait, it actually happened at [-]:[-]."

I am saddened to see this oversight.For I knew that Holmes would be embarrassed by the lapse.Getting things right is his specialty.But recently, the disease has tortured him very confusedly, and this small incident can show that his body has not fully recovered.Obviously, he was embarrassed.The officer frowned, but Alec laughed.The old gentleman corrected the mistake with a pen and returned the paper to Holmes.

Old Cunningham said, "Take it and make a copy, I think you're doing it very well."

Holmes carefully folded up the papers and clipped them in the notebook.

He said: "Now, let's do a good inspection of the house together to see if this weird thief has stolen anything."

On entering, Holmes carefully examined the broken door.Apparently something like a chisel or a stiff knife had been inserted into the keyhole to pry it open.We can clearly see the marks left by the sharp weapon.

"You never use the latch?" asked Holmes.

"We don't see the need to do that."

"Do you have a dog?"

"Yes, but they're chained to the other side of the house."

"What time do the servants go to bed?"

"Around ten o'clock."

"I heard that William usually sleeps at this time."

"good."

"It is very strange that he was up on the night of the accident. Now, I would be glad to have a look inside the house, Mr. Cunningham."

We walked down the flagstone hallway next to the kitchen, up the wooden stairs to the second floor, and then up the landing.Opposite it was a staircase, richly decorated, leading to the vestibule.From here passed the drawing-room and the bedrooms, among them that of old Mr. Cunningham and his son.Holmes walked slowly, observing the appearance of the house carefully.I could see that he seemed to be following a clue, but couldn't guess what it was.

Old Mr. Cunningham said impatiently: "Sir, I don't think it's necessary. My bedroom is at the top of the stairs, and my son's next door. You must judge, if a thief came upstairs, we would never be unaware of it." .”

Old Cunningham's son laughed jokingly and said, "I think you should search the outside world, I'm afraid there will be new clues."

"Please bear with me a little longer, for I want to know what I can see from here. Is this your son's bedroom?"

Holmes opened the door, passed through the bedroom, and opened the door of the other room.While observing, he said, "This is the dressing room! Where does its window face?"

"You must be satisfied now?" said old Mr. Cunningham bitterly.

"Thank you very much, I have read everything I want to see now."

"If you think it is necessary, you can also go to my room and have a look."

"If you will!"

The sheriff shrugged and led us to his bedroom.The furniture and furnishings inside are simple and plain, it is a very ordinary room.When we came to the window, Holmes slackened his pace, and we both fell behind.

There is a plate of oranges and a bottle of water beside the bed.Holmes leaned forward and purposely knocked the things over as he passed.The glass bottle was smashed and the fruit rolled everywhere, we were stunned!
"What's the matter? Watson, you've soiled the carpet," cried Holmes.

I bent down in a hurry and picked the fruit on the ground.I understand that my friend blamed me for a reason.Others were also busy picking fruits and helping the table.

Suddenly the officer yelled, "Oops! Where has he gone?"

Holmes is gone.

Alec said, "Just a minute, everybody, I think there's something wrong with this guy's head. Come here, Dad, and we'll go find him."

They went out, leaving only the Colonel, the Inspector, and myself in the room.

The officer said: "I agree with the owner that he may be really sick, but it seems to me that..."

He was interrupted by a scream in the middle of his speech. "Help! Help me! Kill me!"

I recognized my friend's voice and immediately stood on end.I ran frantically to the landing.Now the cry for help was getting quieter and more indistinct, and I could make out that it was coming from the room into which we had first entered.I strode in and headed straight for the locker room.Cunningham and his son were knocking Holmes down to the ground, young Cunningham was pinching Holmes' neck with both hands, and old Cunningham was holding one of his hands.The three of us immediately pulled them apart and helped Holmes up.Holmes stood staggering, pale and evidently exhausted.

Breathing heavily, Holmes said loudly, "Sergeant, arrest these two men at once."

"What crime?"

"Deliberate murder of William the coachman."

The Inspector stared blankly at Holmes.

"Well, Mr. Holmes," said the inspector at last, "I think you are joking..."

Holmes shouted: "Sir, please look at their faces, and you will understand!"

Indeed, I have never seen such an expression of confession.The old man stayed there like a log, with a sad and angry expression on his face.His son, on the other hand, changed from normal, like a desperate beast, with aggressive eyes and a rough and angry expression.The police officer walked towards the door silently, then blew the siren, and two policemen came after hearing the sound.

The officer said, "I have to, Mr. Cunningham. I'd rather believe it was a misunderstanding, but, you can see... what are you going to do? Put your hands down!" pistol hit the ground.

Holmes put his hand on the pistol with ease, and said: "Don't act rashly, it will be useful in interrogation, and this is what we need." He picked up a small ball of paper as he spoke.

The police officer yelled, "That slip of paper that was snatched!"

"Not bad at all."

"Where did you find it?"

"At the place I expected. I will tell you the details later. Colonel, you and Watson can go back now, and I will see you in an hour. I have to interrogate the criminal with the police. I will be back at lunch time." .”

An hour later, Holmes returned to the Colonel's smoking-room on time.A little gentleman came with him.Holmes introduces us to him as Mr. Acton, whose home the first burglary is taking place.

"I hope that Mr. Acton will listen to the details of the case when I describe it to you, and I believe he will be very interested in the details of the case. Oh, my dear Colonel, you have entertained such a troublesome man, I miss you Must be very disappointed."

The colonel said enthusiastically: "On the contrary, it is my greatest honor to have such a good opportunity to learn detective skills from you. I must admit that this was completely beyond my expectation, and I have not figured out how it happened until now." Nothing, no clue."

"I am afraid that my explanation may not be satisfactory to you. But I have always been unreserved in my method of scouting, whether it is my friend Watson or other people who are interested in my work. However, I declare that just now I've had such a hard time with that attack that I need some brandy to pick me up. Colonel, I've been really exhausted just now."

"I trust that your neuralgia will not suddenly recur again."

Holmes laughed loudly and said: "We will talk about this matter in a moment. Now I will talk about the case first, and tell you a few moments that prompted me to judge. If there is anything that I don't understand, feel free to interrupt me.

"Among many detective skills, the most important thing is to be able to find out the key issues from many facts, otherwise, you will not be able to concentrate and make breakthroughs. Therefore, at the beginning, I thought that the note in the dead man's hand was key to this case.

"Before discussing this matter, I would like to remind everyone that if what Alec said is true, that is, the murderer fled immediately after killing William, then the murderer would have no time to grab the paper from the deceased's hand. But if the murderer hadn't snatched it, it must have been done by Alec himself. For old Cunningham had several servants on the scene before he went downstairs. It is easy to reason, but the police officer ignored it. It. Because from the beginning he concluded that these squires had nothing to do with the case. But I decided not to prejudice anyone and just follow the direction that the case itself led me. So, at the beginning of the investigation, I suspected that Aya Rick, and has been analyzing his role in this matter.

"I carefully studied the note that the police officer gave me, and immediately found that this is a clue that deserves attention. This is the note. Can you find some places that expose the problem?"

"The lettering is extremely irregular," said the colonel.

Holmes said loudly: "Dear sir, one thing is for sure, that is, this note was written by two people. You only need to pay attention to the two 't' in 'at' and 'to', they are so vigorous and powerful. ; but the 't' in 'quarter' and 'twelve' is so weak, this is the flaw. By analyzing and comparing these words, it can be said with certainty that 'learn' and 'maybe' are written by vigorous and powerful 'what' was written by someone with a weak pen."

The colonel exclaimed, "My God! That's true. But why are these two men writing this letter in this way?"

"Obviously, it wasn't a good thing. They didn't seem to trust each other, so they agreed that no matter what they did, they would decide together, and it could be concluded that the person who wrote 'at' and 'to' was the mastermind."

"What is the basis of your judgment?"

"By comparing the handwriting of the two men. However, we have a better reason. If you look at the note carefully, you will judge that it was the person with the strong handwriting who wrote the main content first, and left a lot of blank space. The other person writes. The space is not enough. It can be seen that the 'quarter' written by the second person between 'at' and 'to' is very crowded, which means that 'at' and 'to' are written in advance Yes. The person who wrote the main content first must be the mastermind of this matter."

Mr. Acton praised loudly: "It's wonderful!"

Holmes went on to say: "This is superficial. What we are going to talk about now is more crucial. Perhaps you do not understand, handwriting experts can usually infer a person's age from his handwriting, and have reached a fairly accurate level. In general, the up and down error will not exceed ten years. Of course, there are special circumstances, that is, when the person is unhealthy or weak, such as a young man suffering from illness, then his handwriting will show the characteristics of an old man. In this paper On the note, one person's handwriting is vigorous and strong, and the other's handwriting is weak but clear, but the 't' he wrote is missing a stroke. Judging from this, one of them is a young man, and the other, although not very Old, but also of a certain age."

Acton exclaimed again: "Great!"

"There is another point, which is also interesting. There are similarities in the handwriting of the two men, which shows that they are related by blood. The most obvious is the 'e', ​​which is written like the Greek letter 'ε'. I also noticed that In some very subtle places, the same problem has been proved. I am sure that the two people can also be judged to be a family from the writing style. Of course, the above information is all I got from the note. In addition, There are twenty or thirty inferences, perhaps of interest only to specialists. But all this strengthens my supposition that the letter was co-authored by the Cunninghams.

"Now that the conclusion has been drawn, the next thing to do is to investigate the details of the crime to see if they will help me. I went to their residence with the police officer, and it was exactly what I wanted to see. I can conclude that : The wound on the dead man was the result of a gunshot fired at a distance of four yards, for no residue of gunpowder remained on the dead man's clothes. Therefore, Alec is obviously lying when he says that the murderer fired during the struggle. Also Yes, both father and son told how the murderer fled to the main road. However, it happened that there was a wide ditch in this place, and the bottom of the ditch was very wet, but I didn't find any footprints near the ditch, so I believe that The Cunninghams are lying. It's safe to say that no one has ever been here.

"In the end, all I have to think about is their motives. To understand that, it is necessary to understand the reasons for the burglary at Mr. Acton's house. The colonel said that Mr. Acton was fighting with the Cunninghams. Lawsuit. So I speculate that they broke into your house to steal important documents related to the case."

Acton said: "Yeah, sure, that's what they're after, because I'm justifiably claiming half of what they have now. But if they find and steal my evidence, they're going to win. Still. , very fortunately, this piece of evidence has been put in the lawyer's safe by me."

"I don't know what you think of it," said Holmes, laughing. "I think it was a hasty and risky attempt, and that it was Alec who did it. He didn't find what he wanted, so he set up a trap and stole a few. To give the appearance of a general theft. This is clear, but there are many places that are unclear. First, I need to find the half of the paper that was stolen. I think Alec from William snatched it and put it in his pajamas pocket. Otherwise, where else could he have put it? The only thing that is uncertain is whether it is still in the pajamas pocket. It takes effort to find it. Let's go to him The purpose of the family is to find the note.

"You may recall that we met the Cunninghams outside the kitchen door. Of course, it is of the utmost importance not to mention this to them, or they will immediately destroy the evidence. So when the officer mentioned the note, I Hurriedly pretending to be sick to change the topic."

The colonel laughed loudly and said, "Oh, that's how it is. We were worrying about you in vain. Your sudden onset turned out to be a faux pas!"

"Professional-wise, that's a great move," I exclaimed, utterly amazed at the genius that dazzled me.

Holmes said: "It's an art, and it's often used. After I recovered, I played a little trick and got old Cunningham to write 'twelve' (English refers to twelve, because eleven point three in English) The engraving is written as a quarter to twelve. Holmes deliberately wrote a quarter to twelve as a quarter to one, in order to leave behind Cunningham's handwriting.—Translator's Note) the word. In this way, I can make a secret agreement with the 'twelve' on the letter for comparison."

I exclaimed, "Oh, how stupid I am!"

Holmes smiled and said: "I know that you were very anxious to sympathize with my weak body. I am very sorry for that. Later, we went upstairs together. In that room, I saw the nightgown behind the door. So In Old Cunningham's room I purposely overturned the table to get their attention so I could quickly sneak back and check the pajamas. I actually found the note, as I expected, it was in one of their pajamas In the pocket. As soon as I got it, the Cunninghams jumped at me, and if you hadn't come to my rescue in time, they would have killed me on the spot. Alec strangled me hard, old Cunningham Grabbing my hand, trying to snatch back the note in my hand. They knew that I had the whole truth, and found that everything that was safe was suddenly cornered, so they had to risk killing me.

"We later interrogated Cunningham and asked him why he committed the crime. He was honest, but his son was very arrogant. If he had picked up that gun, someone would have been killed, someone else or himself. Old Cunningham knew that the situation was not good for him, so he lost the confidence to deny it and confessed everything. It turned out that when the Cunningham and his son broke into Acton's house that night, William had been following them. When William When they got hold of their secrets, they threatened and blackmailed them. However, Alec was a master of trickery. He suddenly realized that the sensational theft was a good opportunity to kill William, so he abducted William. Then kill him. If they hadn't left the half-note, and dealt with the details of the crime a little more carefully, there would have been no clues left."

"But what about the note?"

Holmes took out the slip of paper which he had snatched away, and put it together before us. (If you come to the East Gate at a quarter to twelve, you will learn a pleasant surprise. It will be good for you and Anne Morrison. Keep it to no one else.)
Holmes said: "This is exactly what we wanted. Obviously, we don't know the relationship between Alec Cunningham, William Kirwan and Anne Morrison. But from the outcome of events, this The bait is really ingenious. I'm sure you'll be happy to see the handwriting traits that are inherited in the family. For example, the 'p' is the same for both of them, and the end of the 'g' is the same. When the old man wrote the 'i', he didn't write it on it. On that point, it is very strange. We have had a very fruitful visit to the country, Watson, and we will be back in Baker Street to-morrow refreshed." Death of the Colonel

(End of this chapter)