Sherlock Holmes Complete Works 2

Chapter 11 Memoirs 11
I must confess that my friend Sherlock Holmes has a somewhat peculiar character, and that is what offends me most.Don't look at him as a quick-witted person with an extraordinary way of thinking, methodical when doing things, and very neat and simple clothes, but what annoys the people who interact with him most is his irregular living habits.Of course, I'm not much better at it myself.

In some unexpected places, you can always find a large number of chemicals and relics of criminals.And if I just see these things in a butter dish, I feel really ordinary.But Holmes was unwilling to destroy the documents related to his past cases.So every one or two years, when he became famous for his outstanding achievements, he had the leisure to organize his files.Besides, when he was at home, he either stayed motionless on the sofa or table, or spent all day with his violin and books.Therefore, every corner of the house is filled with bundles of manuscripts that he is never willing to burn, and he does not even allow others to touch them.

One winter evening, we were sitting around the fire, and I had the audacity to ask him to copy important excerpts from the manuscript in a memorandum, so as to free up more space in the room and make the living room more comfortable. Son.He reluctantly walked into the bedroom.After a while, he came out dragging a big tin box.And when he opened the box, I found that many small bundles of papers tied with red tape had filled up one-third of the box.

Holmes looked at me mischievously and said, "Watson, look at these documents that record the case. I dare say that if you know what these cases are about, you will not have time to take them out, so don't go into them." Installed."

I asked, "Are these files from your early cases? Ha, I've always wanted to see this stuff!"

Holmes gently, steadily and lovingly took out bundles of documents, and said to me: "These records are all cases I worked on before I became famous, and there are many interesting things. These cases include the Tarleton murder case, The case of the Vamari wine merchant, the adventures of the old Russian woman, the strange case of the aluminum cane, and the case of the crippled Rickolit and his abominable wife. But this is the novelty."

He reached into the box and took out a small box from the bottom of the box, which was a bit like a children's toy box, and the lid could be moved freely.Then Holmes took from the box an old-fashioned brass key, a wooden peg with a ball of thread wrapped around it, three old rusty metal plates, and a piece of crumpled paper.

Holmes asked with a smile on his face: "Watson, can you guess what these little things mean?"

"In my opinion, they are, at best, eccentric collectibles."

"It's true that they are very strange in themselves, but compared with the stories about them, these are nothing."

"So, what kind of story is this?"

"Not only does the case have a history, but even these things themselves are history."

Holmes took these things out one by one, arranged them in a row along the edge of the table, and sat down in his chair with an air of satisfaction to examine them.

"These are mementos from the Musgrave case," he said.

Although he mentioned this case several times, he never made it clear.So I said, "Then please tell me quickly."

Holmes said mischievously: "Then you are not going to tidy up those manuscripts. It's too bad I haven't fulfilled your desire for tidiness. But you will be very happy to add this rare case to your list." In the record, because of this, the record of my detective career is more complete.

"When I first arrived in London, I lived in Montague Street near the British Museum and read books in various disciplines for my own development. At that time, only some acquaintances of my old classmates heard about my way of thinking. Come ask me to solve a case, and my third case is the Musgrave Rite case.

"Reginald Musgrave and I were at the same school, and I had met him once before. But I always thought he was actually trying to hide his natural shyness by showing pride. He had a Very typical appearance of aristocratic children, thin figure, high nose, big eyes, slow-moving, gentle and elegant. In fact, he is indeed a descendant of the oldest noble family in the British Empire. But in the [-]th century, their family This branch (the descendants of the second child) split off from the Musgrave family in the north and settled in West Sussex. Helstone Manor is perhaps the oldest still inhabited in this area. Once or twice we struck up a conversation without knowing it, and I remember him saying several times that he was interested in my methods of observation and reasoning.

"We had not seen each other for four years, until he came to see me in Montague Street one morning. He had not changed much, and still retained his peculiar quiet demeanor.

"'Are you all right, Musgrave,' I asked, after a warm handshake.

"'You have probably heard that my poor father is dead,' said Musgrave, 'and I have had Helstone Park since two years ago. Busy. Holmes, I hear you are putting your astonishing talents to practical use?"

"'Yes,' said I, 'and I already earn my living by this little cleverness!'

"'I am glad to hear you say that, and your advice is now invaluable to me. I have encountered many strange things in Helstone that the police have not been able to figure out. It is indeed a wonderful thing. Strange case of the imagination.'

"'Give me the details, please,' I said aloud.

"Reginald Musgrave sat down and lit the cigarette I handed him.

"He said: 'You know, I'm single, but I still have quite a number of servants. A butler, a cook, two valets and a footman plus eight maids. Of course there's another team in the garden and Waiting in the stables.

"'Brenton the steward was the longest serving of the servants. My father hired him when he was an incompetent schoolteacher. He had been in my family for twenty years and was not yet forty. He had a moderate He is of good stature and fine features. He has many merits and extraordinary talents (for he can speak several foreign languages ​​and play most musical instruments), and it is incomprehensible that he is content with his long service position. Visited my house Everyone can recognize the butler.

"'But there's something wrong with the man: he's a little loose. You can imagine that it's easy for a man like him to play a slut in the backcountry. He was all right when he first married, and then We had a lot of trouble with him when his wife died. He had been engaged to Rachel Howells, the Second Maid a few months before, but he had thrown Rachel aside, and got married to The gamekeeper's daughter, Janet Tregerie, was hanging out. Apart from her Welsh excitability, Rachel was a nice girl. She just had a bout of meningitis, which lasted until yesterday. She was almost a black-eyed ghost compared to what she used to be. This was the first drama that happened to us at Helstone. The fall from grace and dismissal of the butler Brenton caused the second drama .

"'It goes like this: the man is very clever, but he seems too curious about things that don't concern him. It wasn't until a purely accidental incident that I realized that curiosity had sunk him so deeply that I paid attention to it. over this matter.

"'This used to be a messy manor house. Last Thursday night, after dinner, I couldn't sleep for a long time because I drank a cup of strong coffee. I got up and lit the candles, intending to continue reading. A novel of mine. So I went to fetch the book that had been left in the billiard room.

"'I had to go down a flight of stairs and down a corridor to the billiards room, which led to the library and warehouse at the end. As I looked down the corridor, there was a sudden gleam of light from the open hall of the library. Creampie. I had turned off the lights when I closed the library door before going to bed. There must be a burglar. Subconsciously I thought of this first. I learned from the many ancient Picking up a tomahawk from among the trophies of weapons, he dropped the candle and tiptoed down the corridor, peering in the door.

"'It was Brenton the steward who was in the library. He was sitting in an easy-chair, his forehead resting in his hands, brooding. On his lap lay a sheet of paper, which seemed to be a map. I spied on him in the dark, astonished. He saw a candle next to the table, and he suddenly stood up from the chair and walked to a writing desk over there, unlocked it, opened a drawer, took out a document from the drawer, laid it next to the candle, and concentrated on it I couldn't help being furious, and stepped forward. Because I saw him checking the papers of my house with great calm. At this time, Brenton saw me standing in the doorway, his face was blue with fright, and he hurriedly took the The map-like document he was looking at was stuffed into his pocket.

"'I said, 'Great! You're leaving tomorrow. Is this how you repay our trust in you?'"

"'He bowed listlessly before slipping past me without a word. By candlelight I noticed exactly what papers Brenton had removed from the desk. But quite unexpectedly, he took It turned out to be a copy of the question and answer of a strange ceremony called the "Musgrave Ritual" that is unique to our family. In the past few centuries, whenever someone from our family arrived As adults, we have to perform this ritual that is insignificant to outsiders but has great significance to us. This ritual is no less important to us than the heraldic records of various families are to archaeologists.

"I said: 'I think it would be better to talk about that document later.'

"Musgrave replied hesitantly: 'If you think it will help, then I will go on. When I locked the desk with the key that Brenton had left, I turned to leave. But I suddenly saw a person standing in front of me. I looked closely and it was the housekeeper.

"' He cried out in a very hoarse voice with great emotion: "Mr Musgrave, you know, though I'm only a servant, I have a great deal of respect.Sir, if you really want to fire me, then please let me submit my resignation to you.I'd rather lose my job than be kicked out because of embarrassment in front of everyone. "

"'I replied: 'Brenton, you have done nothing worthy of my sympathy for your meanness.But if you have worked in my house for many years, I promise you, but you must find an excuse to leave within a week. "

"' He cried out in despair: "Sir, no, one week is not enough, please give me one more week!"

"'I repeated: 'Your week is the result of my great indulgence, don't you dream!'

"'He walked away in a listless, despairing noise. I also put out the light and went to my room.

"'During the next two days, Brenton did a very good job. I was very curious to see how he kept his face, and I pretended to be silent. But on the third morning, very unexpectedly. Unexpectedly, he didn't come to take my instructions for his day's work after breakfast, as he usually does, so I walked out of the restaurant and met Rachel Howells head-on.

"'I said: 'You'd better stay in bed for a while these days, and start working again when you're better. "

"'After hearing this, she had a strange expression on her face, which made me really wonder if her brain disease had struck again.

"' She said: 'Mr Musgrave, I am now fully recovered. "

"'I replied: "But the doctor said that you must rest during this period to recover your strength.Now you go downstairs and fetch Brenton. "

"' She answered: 'The steward has gone. "

"' I asked, "Where did it go?"

"' She leaned back against the wall, laughing wildly in high-pitched bursts, and said: 'Yes, he's gone, he's not in his room anymore, he's gone. "I was really frightened by her hysteria, and hurriedly rang the bell to ask the servants to take her back to the room. Later, when I asked her about Brenton again, she was still screaming and screaming." From the tears, it can be seen that Brenton really left. He left in slippers, for his boots were still there, along with his watch, his clothes, and his money. People were very sorry for that. Surprised where the butler Brenton has been all night, and worried about his current situation.

"'There was no sign of him from basement to attic throughout the estate, and we searched even the ancient wings of the labyrinthine old mansion, but found no clue. As far as I know of Brenton, he It is unlikely that he would throw away all his belongings and go away empty-handed, but where else could he go! With the help of the police, I still found nothing, even the grassy path after the rain the night before. But what happened afterwards diverted our attention.

"'Because Rachel Howells was delirious by turns and hysterical by turns, I hired a nurse just for her. On the third day after Brenton's disappearance, the nurse beat Howells while she was asleep. She took a nap, but who knows that when she woke up, she found Howells jumped over the wall through the wide open window. I immediately took two servants and followed the woman's footprints easily across the lawn to the By the small lake. Her footprints disappeared by the lake, and the lake was at least 8 feet deep. I was terrified that she would commit suicide by jumping into the lake.

"'Of course, I immediately sent for her body to be salvaged, and instead of the body, something came out of the bottom of the lake. It was a linen bag with a pile of old, rusty, tarnished Metal items and some dull crystal and glass items. That's it, we still can't find the whereabouts of Rachel Howells and Richard Brenton. Our police there can't do anything, you are me now The only hope left.'

"I couldn't wait to connect these strange events and find the common thread running through them. I considered all the useful factors at the time: the butler disappeared, followed by the maid, this irascible Welsh maid There were twenty times as many reasons to hate the steward she had loved before. And when the steward disappeared, she became so agitated that she threw the bag of strange things into the lake. None of these factors fully touched The essence of the problem is revealed, making it difficult for me to see the starting point and destination of the problem.

"I said: 'Musgrave, I'm very interested in that document which your butler risked his dismissal to see, will you please show me?'

"Musgrave replied: 'Although the family ceremony left by the ancients is indeed absurd, there must be something to learn from. I have a copy of the question and answer of the ceremony here. You can read it first.'

"What he handed me, Watson, is the document I now hold in my hand, a question-and-answer manual of strange doctrines to which every grown-up member of the Musgrave family is bound, in the original text:

"'Whose is it?'

"'It belonged to the man who went away.'

"'Who deserves it?'

"'The one who is coming soon.'

"'Where is the sun?'

"'On top of the oak tree.'

(End of this chapter)