Sherlock Holmes Complete Works 2

Chapter 50 Return 26
Our work in [-] was written in three thick manuscripts.In these manuscripts, you can see the abhorrent incident of the red leech and the tragic death of the banker Rossby; the tragedy of Adelton and the strange burials in the British tomb; and the famous Smith-Morty The wheat succession case.During this year, Holmes received a letter of thanks from the President of France and a French medal personally awarded by the President for tracking down and arresting the murderer Herriet in Rue de Blois.But all in all, I don't think these things compare to the events at Yorksley House, which has many exciting episodes, including the tragic death of the young Willoughby Smith, and is mixed with many ups and downs. .

It happened one late night at the end of November. I sat with Holmes, and he used a magnifying glass to identify the remaining writing on a piece of paper.I approached the window and looked out at the deserted street.A one-horse cab was approaching the building from the end of Oxford Street.

After putting down his magnifying glass, Holmes rolled up the piece of paper and said, "Watson, it is a good thing that we did not go out tonight. I have done a lot of things just now. Hello! Hello! What is that noise?"

There was a clatter of hooves amidst the howling wind, and then the cab stopped right in front of our door.

A man got out of the carriage, and I said to Holmes: "What is he going to do?" "He wants to find us. But we still need to prepare coats, scarves, overshoes and other things for bad weather. Wait, the carriage is gone." Yes, that suits me! If he wishes to ask us out, he will leave the carriage behind. Go downstairs, Watson, and open the door."

As soon as the guest came under the hall light, I recognized him at once as the young Stanley Hopkins, a promising detective whose work Holmes was very interested in.

"My dear friend," said Holmes jokingly to Hopkins, "come up, and I hope you have no ill intentions against us on a night like this."

Hopkins went up the stairs, and with my help he took off his raincoat, while Holmes stoked the fire in the fireplace.

"My dear Hopkins," said Holmes, "you must have some important business to come so late."

"You're quite right. I've been very busy this afternoon. Have you seen the Yorksley incident in the papers?"

"No."

"It's just a short paragraph in the newspaper, and it doesn't match the facts, so it doesn't make any difference whether you read it or not. I received the call at [-]:[-] in the afternoon, and I arrived at the Yorksley House at [-]:[-] to conduct an investigation on the scene. investigated and came to you for help."

"Surely you haven't figured out the case until now?"

"Yes, the cause of the matter has not been clear to me. I think the matter is as vague as it was before the investigation, but when it first began, it seemed too simple to be mistaken. What troubles me is that I can't find the purpose of the murder. .”

"Then give me the details of the matter," said Holmes.

The young policeman said: "After investigation, it turns out that this is the old Yoxley House, a country mansion, which was bought by an elderly professor named Coreys a few years ago. Because of his illness, he always lay in bed for half the day, and walked around the house with a cane for the other half, or sat in a wheelchair, and the gardener pushed him around the garden. He has a housekeeper, Mrs. Marco, and a maid named Susan Tarleton. Since he came here, these two women have been serving him. It is said that these two women have a good reputation. Professor He is working on a monograph, and a year ago, he needed to hire a secretary. Although he has invited two, they are not suitable. The third, Mr. Willoughby Smith, is a young man who has just graduated from college, and the professor I am very satisfied with him. The secretary's job is to record the professor's dictation in the morning, and consult the materials and books related to the next day's work in the evening. His certificate proves that he has always been of good character and gentle personality, and he is also a very good person at work. A person who worked hard. But such a young man was killed in the professor's study this morning."

Hopkins went on: "The professor's family is almost the most isolated family in England. For weeks, no one in his family has stepped out of the gate of the garden. The professor is absorbed in his work and does not care about other things. Regardless, the servants lived the same life as his master. There was no need for the two women to go out of the garden. The gardener who pushed the wheelchair was named Mortimer. He received a pension from the army and was also a Good fellow. There are only four of these people who live in the house. But the distance between the garden gate and the main road from Casham to London is only a hundred yards. There is a deadbolt on the door, so that anyone can come in.

"I will now give the testimony of Susan Tarleton, the only one who can explain the situation. It happened between eleven and twelve o'clock in the morning. She was upstairs at that time, and the professor She was not yet up, and the housekeeper was busy at work behind the house. Though she did not see him, she was familiar with Willoughby's swift, firm footsteps. She did not hear the sound of the study door being shut, But after a while, a terrible cry came from downstairs. The cry was hoarse and desperate, and at the same time, the sound was strange and unnatural, so it was impossible to tell whether it was a man or a woman. At the same time, heavy footsteps The sound made the old house shake, and then everything was quiet again. She was stunned, and it took her a while to have the courage to go downstairs to have a look. She saw the door of the study closed, and when she opened it, she suddenly Willoughby was found lying on the floor. When she lifted him up, she saw the blood running down his neck. There was a small but deep gash in the neck, the carotid artery was severed, the killer used It was the ivory knife with a hard back, used for sealing documents, on the desk. It was one of the utensils on the professor's desk.

"At first the maid thought he was dead, and when she poured water from the cold water bottle on his forehead, he opened his eyes for a moment and whispered, 'Professor, it's her.' He was still trying to think of something to say, He once raised his right hand, but immediately put it down and died.

"At this time the housekeeper also arrived at the scene, but she was a step too late, and did not hear what Willoughby said before he died. She left Susan to look at the body, and ran upstairs to the professor's bedroom. The professor was sitting On the bed. He knew that something unfortunate had happened. The gardener usually didn't come until twelve o'clock to help the professor dress. The professor said he heard a distant cry, but he didn't know the rest. He didn't know how to explain the young man's dying words, "Professor, it's her". But he thought that this sentence might be the nonsense of the young man when he was insane. He thought it was impossible for Willoughby to have any enemies. I couldn't explain why. He immediately told the gardener Mortimer to call the police. After a while, the local sheriff called me. Before arriving, everything was in the same place, and the sheriff also ordered that no one Approach the house by the lane. Mr. Holmes, everything is in order for you to put your wits to good use in the case."

Holmes said: "Have you got it all? What am I missing? Mr. Hopkins, what do you think of this murder?"

"Sir, please take a look at this sketch first, from which you can roughly see the location of the professor's study and the locations of various relevant places, so that you can easily understand the situation of my investigation."

He opened the sketch and laid it on Holmes' lap.I also drew one.

"This picture is very simple. I only drew a few places that I think are important. We first assume that the murderer walked into the study, but how did he get into this room? Obviously, he must have passed the garden path , came in from the back door. Because this is a shortcut leading directly to the study, and it takes a long detour to go from other places. At the same time, I think the murderer must have returned by the same way, because the other two exits of the study, one is blocked by Su Shan locked it when she went downstairs, and the other led to the professor's bedroom. Since it had rained heavily the last few days and the path was wet, there must have been footprints there.

"During the investigation, I found that the murderer was very cautious and sophisticated, because no footprints could be seen on the trail. But that person definitely walked along the grass on both sides of the trail, and it can be seen from the grass that was trampled there. I think this person It must be a murderer, because neither the gardener nor the others were there yesterday morning."

Holmes said: "Please wait a moment. Where does this path lead?"

"It leads to the road."

"How long is this road?"

"About a hundred yards or so in length."

"That way we must be able to find traces near the gate, right?"

"But the road by the gate is paved."

"So, are there any traces on the road?"

"The main road has been completely trampled into mud."

"Unfortunately, did the footprints in the grass come in or go out?"

"Because it's not very obvious, I can't tell the direction."

Holmes looked very impatient.

He said: "It's raining all the time. It's very difficult to distinguish footprints. I don't think it's so difficult to see that piece of paper. It's independent of people's will. Hopkins, when you feel a little disappointed , how will you work further?"

"But I think I've got something out of it, sir. I'm sure someone has crept into the house from outside, and I've checked the passage, but there's nothing on the cushions. I went from the passage to the study, There is not much furniture in the study, the main thing is a writing desk with a fixed cabinet under it. The drawers are usually open, and there are no valuables inside. There are some important documents in the small cabinet, but it seems that they have not been turned over No. The professor said nothing was missing, and it looked like nothing was missing.

"I walked to the corpse and saw that the deceased had been stabbed on the right side of the neck, pierced forward from behind, which ruled out the possibility of suicide."

"What if he fell on the knife?" said Holmes.

"Yes, I thought so too, but the place where the knife lay was several feet away from the body, so it was impossible. It can also be corroborated by the deceased's words. In addition, in the deceased's right hand was holding a the most important piece of evidence."

Stanley Hopkins took a small paper packet from his pocket.When opened, it contained a pair of gold-rimmed pince-nez with a black ribbon broken in two hanging from one end of the glasses.He said: "Mr Smith's eyes are so good that he doesn't need to wear glasses at all, which he obviously took from the murderer's face or body."

Holmes took the spectacles, put them on his nose, looked through them, went to the window and looked out, and then came under the light again to examine the spectacles carefully.Finally, sitting at the table, picked up a piece of paper, wrote a few lines on it, and threw it to Stanley Hopkins across the way.

"That's all I can do, it might be of some use," he said.

Hopkins read the words aloud:

"Go and find a well-dressed, aristocratic woman. The woman has a broad nose, eyes close to the nose, a wrinkled forehead, a dull face, and perhaps a little sloughing of the shoulders. According to my Observation, she has been to the same optical shop at least twice in recent months. She is nearsighted and there are not many optical shops in this city, it is easy to find this woman."

Both the police officer and I showed very surprised expressions.And Holmes smiled, and continued: "It is easy to draw the above conclusions. This very special pair of glasses can explain the problem. We can infer that this pair of glasses is from the exquisiteness of the glasses and the last words of the deceased. It's a woman's. Why is she an elegant, well-dressed person? Because it seems to me that these glasses don't go with sloppy clothing. Did you notice? The clips on these glasses are very wide , which shows that the base of the woman's nose is very wide, and generally speaking, such a nose is generally short and thick, but there are many exceptions, I do not want to be too arbitrary. It also shows that the woman's The eyes are very close to the nose. The lenses are sunken and the prescription is very deep. A person who always squints to see things must have a series of effects on her psychology, making her external features have the situation I just mentioned."

I said, "But I still don't understand why you think she's been to the same optician twice within a few months."

Holmes took off his spectacles, held them in his hand, and explained while pointing them out.

(End of this chapter)