“It seemed to me that my sudden appearance might shake his nerves and lead him to say something unguarded. The Boots volunteered to show me the room: it was on the second floor, and there was a small corridor leading up to it. The Boots pointed out the door to me, and was about to go downstairs again when I saw something that made me feel sickish, in spite of my twenty years’ experience. From under the door there curled a little red ribbon of blood, which had meandered across the passage and formed a little pool along the skirting at the other side. I gave a cry, which brought the Boots back. He nearly fainted when he saw it. The door was locked on the inside, but we put our shoulders to it, and knocked it in. The window of the room was open, and beside the window, all huddled up, lay the body of a man in his nightdress. He was quite dead, and had been for some time, for his limbs were rigid and cold. When we turned him over, the Boots recognized him at once as being the same gentleman who had engaged the room under the name of Joseph Stangerson. The cause of death was a deep stab in the left side, which must have penetrated the heart. And now comes the strangest part of the affair. What do you suppose was above the murdered man?”
I felt a creeping of the flesh,and a presentiment of coming horror,even before Sherlock Holmes answered.
“The word RACHE, written in letters of blood,” he said.
“That was it,” said Lestrade, in an awe-struck voice;and we were all silent for a while.
There was something so methodical and so incomprehensible about the deeds of this unknown assassin, that it imparted a fresh ghastliness to his crimes. My nerves, which were steady enough on the field of battle tingled as I thought of it.
“The man was seen,” continued Lestrade. “A milk boy,passing on his way to the dairy,happened to walk down the lane which leads from the mews at the back of the hotel. He noticed that a ladder, which usually lay there, was raised against one of the windows of the second floor, which was wide open. After passing, he looked back and saw a man descend the ladder. He came down so quietly and openly that the boy imagined him to be some carpenter or joiner at work in the hotel. He took no particular notice of him, beyond thinking in his own mind that it was early for him to be at work. He has an impression that the man was tall, had a reddish face, and was dressed in a long, brownish coat. He must have stayed in the room some little time after the murder, for we found blood-stained water in the basin, where he had washed his hands, and marks on the sheets where he had deliberately wiped his knife.”
I glanced at Holmes on hearing the description of the murderer,which tallied so exactly with his own. There was,however, no trace of exultation or satisfaction upon his face.
“Did you find nothing in the room which could furnish a clue to the murderer?” he asked.
“Nothing. Stangerson had Drebber’s purse in his pocket,but it seems that this was usual,as he did all the paying.There was eighty odd pounds in it,but nothing had been taken.Whatever the motives of these extraordinary crimes,robbery is certainly not one of them.There were no papers or memoranda in the murdered man’s pocket,except a single telegram,dated from Cleveland about a month ago,and containing the words, ‘J. H. is in Europe.’ There was no name appended to this message.”
“And there was nothing else?” Holmes asked.
“Nothing of any importance. The man’s novel,with which he had read himself to sleep was lying upon the bed,and his pipe was on a chair beside him.There was a glass of water on the table,and on the window-sill a small chip ointment box containing a couple of pills. ”
Sherlock Holmes sprang from his chair with an exclamation of delight.
“The last link,” he cried, exultantly.“My case is complete.”
The two detectives stared at him in amazement.
“I have now in my hands,” my companion said,confidently, “all the threads which have formed such a tangle.There are, of course, details to be filled in,but I am as certain of all the main facts,from the time that Drebber parted from Stangerson at the station,up to the discovery of the body of the latter,as if I had seen them with my own eyes.I will give you a proof of my knowledge.Could you lay your hand upon those pills?”
“I have them,” said Lestrade,producing a small white box;“I took them and the purse and the telegram,intending to have them put in a place of safety at the Police Station.It was the merest chance my taking these pills,for I am bound to say that I do not attach any importance to them. ”
“Give them here,” said Holmes. “Now, Doctor,” turning to me, “are those ordinary pills?”
They certainly were not.They were of a pearly grey colour, small, round,and almost transparent against the light.“From their lightness and transparency,I should imagine that they are soluble in water, ” I remarked.
“Precisely so,” answered Holmes.“Now would you mind going down and fetching that poor little devil of a terrier which has been bad so long, and which the landlady wanted you to put out of its pain yesterday.”
I went downstairs and carried the dog upstairs in my arms.Its laboured breathing and glazing eye showed that it was not far from its end.Indeed, its snow-white muzzle proclaimed that it had already exceeded the usual term of canine existence. I placed it upon a cushion on the rug.
“I will now cut one of these pills in two,” said Holmes,and drawing his penknife he suited the action to the word.“One half we return into the box for future purposes.The other half I will place in this wine glass,in which is a teaspoonful of water.You perceive that our friend, the Doctor, is right,and that it readily dissolves.”
“This may be very interesting,” said Lestrade,in the injured tone of one who suspects that he is being laughed at,“I cannot see, however,what it has to do with the death of Mr. Joseph Stangerson.”
“Patience, my friend, patience!You will find in time that it has everything to do with it.I shall now add a little milk to make the mixture palatable,and on presenting it to the dog we find that he laps it up readily enough. ”
As he spoke he turned the contents of the wine glass into a saucer and placed it in front of the terrier, who speedily licked it dry. Sherlock Holmes’ earnest demeanour had so far convinced us that we all sat in silence, watching the animal intently, and expecting some startling effect. None such appeared, however. The dog continued to lie stretched upon the cushion, breathing in a laboured way, but apparently neither the better nor the worse for its draught.
Holmes had taken out his watch,and as minute followed minute without result,an expression of the utmost chagrin and disappointment appeared upon his features. He gnawed his lip, drummed his fingers upon the table, and showed every other symptom of acute impatience. So great was his emotion, that I felt sincerely sorry for him, while the two detectives smiled derisively, by no means displeased at this check which he had met.
“It can’t be a coincidence,” he cried,at last springing from his chair and pacing wildly up and down the room;“it is impossible that it should be a mere coincidence.The very pills which I suspected in the case of Drebber are actually found after the death of Stangerson. And yet they are inert. What can it mean?Surely my whole chain of reasoning cannot have been false. It is impossible!And yet this wretched dog is none the worse. Ah, I have it!I have it!” With a perfect shriek of delight he rushed to the box,cut the other pill in two, dissolved it, added milk,and presented it to the terrier.The unfortunate creature’s tongue seemed hardly to have been moistened in it before it gave a convulsive shiver in every limb, and lay as rigid and lifeless as if it had been struck by lightning.