“I really beg your pardon!” said my companion,who had ruffled the little man’s temper by bursting into an explosion of laughter. “You certainly have the credit of being the first of us to find this out, and, as you say, it bears every mark of having been written by the other participant in last night’s mystery. I have not had time to examine this room yet, but with your permission I shall do so now.”
As he spoke, he whipped a tape measure and a large round magnifying glass from his pocket. With these two implements he trotted noiselessly about the room, sometimes stopping, occasionally kneeling, and once lying flat upon his face. So engrossed was he with his occupation that he appeared to have forgotten our presence, for he chattered away to himself under his breath the whole time, keeping up a running fire of exclamations, groans, whistles, and little cries suggestive of encouragement and of hope. As I watched him I was irresistibly reminded of a pure-blooded well-trained foxhound as it dashes backwards and forwards through the covert, whining in its eagerness, until it comes across the lost scent. For twenty minutes or more he continued his researches, measuring with the most exact care the distance between marks which were entirely invisible to me, and occasionally applying his tape to the walls in an equally incomprehensible manner. In one place he gathered up very carefully a little pile of grey dust from the floor, and packed it away in an envelope. Finally, he examined with his glass the word upon the wall, going over every letter of it with the most minute exactness. This done, he appeared to be satisfied, for he replaced his tape and his glass in his pocket.
“They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains,” he remarked with a smile. “It’s a very bad definition,but it does apply to detective work.”
Gregson and Lestrade had watched the manœuvres of their amateur companion with considerable curiosity and some contempt. They evidently failed to appreciate the fact, which I had begun to realize, that Sherlock Holmes’ smallest actions were all directed towards some definite and practical end.
“What do you think of it, sir?” they both asked.
“It would be robbing you of the credit of the case if I was to presume to help you,” remarked my friend. “You are doing so well now that it would be a pity for anyone to interfere.” There was a world of sarcasm in his voice as he spoke. “If you will let me know how your investigations go,” he continued, “I shall be happy to give you any help I can. In the meantime I should like to speak to the constable who found the body. Can you give me his name and address?”
Lestrade glanced at his note-book. “John Rance,” he said. “He is off duty now. You will find him at 46,Audley Court, Kennington Park Gate.”
Holmes took a note of the address.
“Come along, Doctor,” he said;“we shall go and look him up.I’ll tell you one thing which may help you in the case,” he continued, turning to the two detectives.“There has been murder done,and the murderer was a man.He was more than six feet high,was in the prime of life,had small feet for his height, wore coarse,square-toed boots and smoked a Trichinopoly cigar.He came here with his victim in a four-wheeled cab,which was drawn by a horse with three old shoes and one new one on his off fore leg. In all probability the murderer had a florid face, and the finger-nails of his right hand were remarkably long. These are only a few indications, but they may assist you.”
Lestrade and Gregson glanced at each other with an incredulous smile.
“If this man was murdered, how was it done?” asked the former.
“Poison,” said Sherlock Holmes curtly, and strode off.“One other thing, Lestrade,” he added,turning round at the door: “‘Rache,’ is the German for ‘revenge’;so don’t lose your time looking for Miss Rachel.”
With which Parthian shot he walked away,leaving the two rivals open-mouthed behind him.
CHAPTER IV. WHAT JOHN RANCE HAD TO TELL.
It was one o’clock when we left No. 3,Lauriston Gardens. Sherlock Holmes led me to the nearest telegraph office,whence he dispatched a long telegram.He then hailed a cab,and ordered the driver to take us to the address given us by Lestrade.
“There is nothing like first hand evidence,” he remarked; “as a matter of fact,my mind is entirely made up upon the case,but still we may as well learn all that is to be learned. ”
“You amaze me, Holmes,” said I.“Surely you are not as sure as you pretend to be of all those particulars which you gave.”
“There’s no room for a mistake,” he answered.“The very first thing which I observed on arriving there was that a cab had made two ruts with its wheels close to the curb. Now, up to last night, we have had no rain for a week, so that those wheels which left such a deep impression must have been there during the night. There were the marks of the horse’s hoofs, too, the outline of one of which was far more clearly cut than that of the other three, showing that that was a new shoe. Since the cab was there after the rain began, and was not there at any time during the morning—I have Gregson’s word for that—it follows that it must have been there during the night, and, therefore, that it brought those two individuals to the house.”
“That seems simple enough,” said I;“but how about the other man’s height?”
“Why, the height of a man, in nine cases out of ten,can be told from the length of his stride.It is a simple calculation enough,though there is no use my boring you with figures.I had this fellow’s stride both on the clay outside and on the dust within.Then I had a way of checking my calculation.When a man writes on a wall,his instinct leads him to write about the level of his own eyes.Now that writing was just over six feet from the ground.It was child’s play.”
“And his age?” I asked.