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Adventure II.
The Yellow Face
[In publishing these short sketches based
upon the numerous cases in which my
companion's singular gifts have made us the
listeners to, and eventually the actors in,
some strange drama, it is only natural that
I should dwell rather upon his successes
than upon his failures.
And this not so much for the sake of his
reputation--for, indeed, it was when he was
at his wits' end that his energy and his
versatility were most admirable--but
because where he failed it happened too
often that no one else succeeded, and that
the tale was left forever without a
conclusion.
Now and again, however, it chanced that
even when he erred, the truth was still
discovered.
I have noted of some half-dozen cases of
the kind; the Adventure of the Musgrave
Ritual and that which I am about to recount
are the two which present the strongest
features of interest.]
Sherlock Holmes was a man who seldom took
exercise for exercise's sake.
Few men were capable of greater muscular
effort, and he was undoubtedly one of the
finest boxers of his weight that I have
ever seen; but he looked upon aimless
bodily exertion as a waste of energy, and
he seldom bestirred himself save when there
was some professional object to be served.
Then he was absolutely untiring and
indefatigable.
That he should have kept himself in
training under such circumstances is
remarkable, but his diet was usually of the
sparest, and his habits were simple to the
verge of austerity.
Save for the occasional use of ***, he
had no vices, and he only turned to the
drug as a protest against the monotony of
existence when cases were scanty and the
papers uninteresting.
One day in early spring he had so far
relaxed as to go for a walk with me in the
Park, where the first faint shoots of green
were breaking out upon the elms, and the
sticky spear-heads of the chestnuts were
just beginning to burst into their five-
fold leaves.
For two hours we rambled about together, in
silence for the most part, as befits two
men who know each other intimately.
It was nearly five before we were back in
Baker Street once more.
"Beg pardon, sir," said our page-boy, as he
opened the door.
"There's been a gentleman here asking for
you, sir."
Holmes glanced reproachfully at me.
"So much for afternoon walks!" said he.
"Has this gentleman gone, then?"
"Yes, sir."
"Didn't you ask him in?"
"Yes, sir; he came in."
"How long did he wait?"
"Half an hour, sir.
He was a very restless gentleman, sir, a-
walkin' and a-stampin' all the time he was
here.
I was waitin' outside the door, sir, and I
could hear him.
At last he outs into the passage, and he
cries, 'Is that man never goin' to come?'
Those were his very words, sir.
'You'll only need to wait a little longer,'
says I.
'Then I'll wait in the open air, for I feel
half choked,' says he.
'I'll be back before long.'
And with that he ups and he outs, and all I
could say wouldn't hold him back."
"Well, well, you did your best," said
Holmes, as we walked into our room.
"It's very annoying, though, Watson.
I was badly in need of a case, and this
looks, from the man's impatience, as if it
were of importance.
Hullo!
That's not your pipe on the table.
He must have left his behind him.
A nice old brier with a good long stem of
what the tobacconists call amber.
I wonder how many real amber mouthpieces
there are in London?
Some people think that a fly in it is a
sign.
Well, he must have been disturbed in his
mind to leave a pipe behind him which he
evidently values highly."
"How do you know that he values it highly?"
I asked.
"Well, I should put the original cost of
the pipe at seven and sixpence.
Now it has, you see, been twice mended,
once in the wooden stem and once in the
amber.
Each of these mends, done, as you observe,
with silver bands, must have cost more than
the pipe did originally.
The man must value the pipe highly when he
prefers to patch it up rather than buy a
new one with the same money."
"Anything else?"
I asked, for Holmes was turning the pipe
about in his hand, and staring at it in his
peculiar pensive way.
He held it up and tapped on it with his
long, thin fore-finger, as a professor
might who was lecturing on a bone.
"Pipes are occasionally of extraordinary
interest," said he.
"Nothing has more individuality, save
perhaps watches and bootlaces.
The indications here, however, are neither
very marked nor very important.
The owner is obviously a muscular man,
left-handed, with an excellent set of
teeth, careless in his habits, and with no
need to practise economy."
My friend threw out the information in a
very offhand way, but I saw that he cocked
his eye at me to see if I had followed his
reasoning.
"You think a man must be well-to-do if he
smokes a seven-shilling pipe," said I.
"This is Grosvenor mixture at eightpence an
ounce," Holmes answered, knocking a little
out on his palm.
"As he might get an excellent smoke for
half the price, he has no need to practise
economy."
"And the other points?"
"He has been in the habit of lighting his
pipe at lamps and gas-jets.
You can see that it is quite charred all
down one side.
Of course a match could not have done that.
Why should a man hold a match to the side
of his pipe?
But you cannot light it at a lamp without
getting the bowl charred.
And it is all on the right side of the
pipe.
From that I gather that he is a left-handed
man.
You hold your own pipe to the lamp, and see
how naturally you, being right-handed, hold
the left side to the flame.
You might do it once the other way, but not
as a constancy.
This has always been held so.
Then he has bitten through his amber.
It takes a muscular, energetic fellow, and
one with a good set of teeth, to do that.
But if I am not mistaken I hear him upon
the stair, so we shall have something more
interesting than his pipe to study."
An instant later our door opened, and a
tall young man entered the room.
He was well but quietly dressed in a dark-
gray suit, and carried a brown wide-awake
in his hand.
I should have put him at about thirty,
though he was really some years older.
"I beg your pardon," said he, with some
embarrassment; "I suppose I should have
knocked.
Yes, of course I should have knocked.
The fact is that I am a little upset, and
you must put it all down to that."
He passed his hand over his forehead like a
man who is half dazed, and then fell rather
than sat down upon a chair.
"I can see that you have not slept for a
night or two," said Holmes, in his easy,
genial way.
"That tries a man's nerves more than work,
and more even than pleasure.
May I ask how I can help you?"
"I wanted your advice, sir.
I don't know what to do and my whole life
seems to have gone to pieces."
"You wish to employ me as a consulting
detective?"
"Not that only.
I want your opinion as a judicious man--as
a man of the world.
I want to know what I ought to do next.
I hope to God you'll be able to tell me."
He spoke in little, sharp, jerky outbursts,
and it seemed to me that to speak at all
was very painful to him, and that his will
all through was overriding his
inclinations.
"It's a very delicate thing," said he.
"One does not like to speak of one's
domestic affairs to strangers.
It seems dreadful to discuss the conduct of
one's wife with two men whom I have never
seen before.
It's horrible to have to do it.
But I've got to the end of my tether, and I
must have advice."
"My dear Mr. Grant Munro--" began Holmes.
Our visitor sprang from his chair.
"What!" he cried, "you know my name?"
"If you wish to preserve your incognito,"
said Holmes, smiling, "I would suggest that
you cease to write your name upon the
lining of your hat, or else that you turn
the crown towards the person whom you are
addressing.
I was about to say that my friend and I
have listened to a good many strange
secrets in this room, and that we have had
the good fortune to bring peace to many
troubled souls.
I trust that we may do as much for you.
Might I beg you, as time may prove to be of
importance, to furnish me with the facts of
your case without further delay?"
Our visitor again passed his hand over his
forehead, as if he found it bitterly hard.
From every gesture and expression I could
see that he was a reserved, self-contained
man, with a dash of pride in his nature,
more likely to hide his wounds than to
expose them.
Then suddenly, with a fierce gesture of his
closed hand, like one who throws reserve to
the winds, he began.
"The facts are these, Mr. Holmes," said he.
"I am a married man, and have been so for
three years.
During that time my wife and I have loved
each other as fondly and lived as happily
as any two that ever were joined.
We have not had a difference, not one, in
thought or word or deed.
And now, since last Monday, there has
suddenly sprung up a barrier between us,
and I find that there is something in her
life and in her thought of which I know as
little as if she were the woman who brushes
by me in the street.
We are estranged, and I want to know why.
"Now there is one thing that I want to
impress upon you before I go any further,
Mr. Holmes.
Effie loves me.
Don't let there be any mistake about that.
She loves me with her whole heart and soul,
and never more than now.
I know it.
I feel it.
I don't want to argue about that.
A man can tell easily enough when a woman
loves him.
But there's this secret between us, and we
can never be the same until it is cleared."
"Kindly let me have the facts, Mr. Munro,"
said Holmes, with some impatience.
"I'll tell you what I know about Effie's
history.
She was a widow when I met her first,
though quite young--only twenty-five.
Her name then was Mrs. Hebron.
She went out to America when she was young,
and lived in the town of Atlanta, where she
married this Hebron, who was a lawyer with
a good practice.
They had one child, but the yellow fever
broke out badly in the place, and both
husband and child died of it.
I have seen his death certificate.
This sickened her of America, and she came
back to live with a maiden aunt at Pinner,
in Middlesex.
I may mention that her husband had left her
comfortably off, and that she had a capital
of about four thousand five hundred pounds,
which had been so well invested by him that
it returned an average of seven per cent.
She had only been six months at Pinner when
I met her; we fell in love with each other,
and we married a few weeks afterwards.
"I am a hop merchant myself, and as I have
an income of seven or eight hundred, we
found ourselves comfortably off, and took a
nice eighty-pound-a-year villa at Norbury.
Our little place was very countrified,
considering that it is so close to town.
We had an inn and two houses a little above
us, and a single cottage at the other side
of the field which faces us, and except
those there were no houses until you got
half way to the station.
My business took me into town at certain
seasons, but in summer I had less to do,
and then in our country home my wife and I
were just as happy as could be wished.
I tell you that there never was a shadow
between us until this accursed affair
began.
"There's one thing I ought to tell you
before I go further.
When we married, my wife made over all her
property to me--rather against my will, for
I saw how awkward it would be if my
business affairs went wrong.
However, she would have it so, and it was
done.
Well, about six weeks ago she came to me.
"'Jack,' said she, 'when you took my money
you said that if ever I wanted any I was to
ask you for it.'
"'Certainly,' said I.
'It's all your own.'
"'Well,' said she, 'I want a hundred
pounds.'
"I was a bit staggered at this, for I had
imagined it was simply a new dress or
something of the kind that she was after.
"'What on earth for?'
I asked.
"'Oh,' said she, in her playful way, 'you
said that you were only my banker, and
bankers never ask questions, you know.'
"'If you really mean it, of course you
shall have the money,' said I.
"'Oh, yes, I really mean it.'
"'And you won't tell me what you want it
for?'
"'Some day, perhaps, but not just at
present, Jack.'
"So I had to be content with that, though
it was the first time that there had ever
been any secret between us.
I gave her a check, and I never thought any
more of the matter.
It may have nothing to do with what came
afterwards, but I thought it only right to
mention it.
"Well, I told you just now that there is a
cottage not far from our house.
There is just a field between us, but to
reach it you have to go along the road and
then turn down a lane.
Just beyond it is a nice little grove of
Scotch firs, and I used to be very fond of
strolling down there, for trees are always
a neighborly kind of things.
The cottage had been standing empty this
eight months, and it was a pity, for it was
a pretty two-storied place, with an old-
fashioned porch and honeysuckle about it.
I have stood many a time and thought what a
neat little homestead it would make.
"Well, last Monday evening I was taking a
stroll down that way, when I met an empty
van coming up the lane, and saw a pile of
carpets and things lying about on the
grass-plot beside the porch.
It was clear that the cottage had at last
been let.
I walked past it, and wondered what sort of
folk they were who had come to live so near
us.
And as I looked I suddenly became aware
that a face was watching me out of one of
the upper windows.
"I don't know what there was about that
face, Mr. Holmes, but it seemed to send a
chill right down my back.
I was some little way off, so that I could
not make out the features, but there was
something unnatural and inhuman about the
face.
That was the impression that I had, and I
moved quickly forwards to get a nearer view
of the person who was watching me.
But as I did so the face suddenly
disappeared, so suddenly that it seemed to
have been plucked away into the darkness of
the room.
I stood for five minutes thinking the
business over, and trying to analyze my
impressions.
I could not tell if the face were that of a
man or a woman.
It had been too far from me for that.
But its color was what had impressed me
most.
It was of a livid chalky white, and with
something set and rigid about it which was
shockingly unnatural.
So disturbed was I that I determined to see
a little more of the new inmates of the
cottage.
I approached and knocked at the door, which
was instantly opened by a tall, gaunt woman
with a harsh, forbidding face.
"'What may you be wantin'?' she asked, in a
Northern accent.
"'I am your neighbor over yonder,' said I,
nodding towards my house.
'I see that you have only just moved in, so
I thought that if I could be of any help to
you in any--'
"'Ay, we'll just ask ye when we want ye,'
said she, and shut the door in my face.
Annoyed at the churlish rebuff, I turned my
back and walked home.
All evening, though I tried to think of
other things, my mind would still turn to
the apparition at the window and the
rudeness of the woman.
I determined to say nothing about the
former to my wife, for she is a nervous,
highly strung woman, and I had no wish that
she would share the unpleasant impression
which had been produced upon myself.
I remarked to her, however, before I fell
asleep, that the cottage was now occupied,
to which she returned no reply.
"I am usually an extremely sound sleeper.
It has been a standing jest in the family
that nothing could ever wake me during the
night.
And yet somehow on that particular night,
whether it may have been the slight
excitement produced by my little adventure
or not I know not, but I slept much more
lightly than usual.
Half in my dreams I was dimly conscious
that something was going on in the room,
and gradually became aware that my wife had
dressed herself and was slipping on her
mantle and her bonnet.
My lips were parted to murmur out some
sleepy words of surprise or remonstrance at
this untimely preparation, when suddenly my
half-opened eyes fell upon her face,
illuminated by the candle-light, and
astonishment held me dumb.
She wore an expression such as I had never
seen before--such as I should have thought
her incapable of assuming.
She was deadly pale and breathing fast,
glancing furtively towards the bed as she
fastened her mantle, to see if she had
disturbed me.
Then, thinking that I was still asleep, she
slipped noiselessly from the room, and an
instant later I heard a sharp creaking
which could only come from the hinges of
the front door.
I sat up in bed and rapped my knuckles
against the rail to make certain that I was
truly awake.
Then I took my watch from under the pillow.
It was three in the morning.
What on this earth could my wife be doing
out on the country road at three in the
morning?
"I had sat for about twenty minutes turning
the thing over in my mind and trying to
find some possible explanation.
The more I thought, the more extraordinary
and inexplicable did it appear.
I was still puzzling over it when I heard
the door gently close again, and her
footsteps coming up the stairs.
"'Where in the world have you been, Effie?'
I asked as she entered.
"She gave a violent start and a kind of
gasping cry when I spoke, and that cry and
start troubled me more than all the rest,
for there was something indescribably
guilty about them.
My wife had always been a woman of a frank,
open nature, and it gave me a chill to see
her slinking into her own room, and crying
out and wincing when her own husband spoke
to her.
"'You awake, Jack!' she cried, with a
nervous laugh.
'Why, I thought that nothing could awake
"'Where have you been?'
I asked, more sternly.
"'I don't wonder that you are surprised,'
said she, and I could see that her fingers
were trembling as she undid the fastenings
of her mantle.
'Why, I never remember having done such a
thing in my life before.
The fact is that I felt as though I were
choking, and had a perfect longing for a
breath of fresh air.
I really think that I should have fainted
if I had not gone out.
I stood at the door for a few minutes, and
now I am quite myself again.'
"All the time that she was telling me this
story she never once looked in my
direction, and her voice was quite unlike
her usual tones.
It was evident to me that she was saying
what was false.
I said nothing in reply, but turned my face
to the wall, sick at heart, with my mind
filled with a thousand venomous doubts and
suspicions.
What was it that my wife was concealing
from me?
Where had she been during that strange
expedition?
I felt that I should have no peace until I
knew, and yet I shrank from asking her
again after once she had told me what was
false.
All the rest of the night I tossed and
tumbled, framing theory after theory, each
more unlikely than the last.
"I should have gone to the City that day,
but I was too disturbed in my mind to be
able to pay attention to business matters.
My wife seemed to be as upset as myself,
and I could see from the little questioning
glances which she kept shooting at me that
she understood that I disbelieved her
statement, and that she was at her wits'
end what to do.
We hardly exchanged a word during
breakfast, and immediately afterwards I
went out for a walk, that I might think the
matter out in the fresh morning air.
"I went as far as the Crystal Palace, spent
an hour in the grounds, and was back in
Norbury by one o'clock.
It happened that my way took me past the
cottage, and I stopped for an instant to
look at the windows, and to see if I could
catch a glimpse of the strange face which
had looked out at me on the day before.
As I stood there, imagine my surprise, Mr.
Holmes, when the door suddenly opened and
my wife walked out.
"I was struck dumb with astonishment at the
sight of her; but my emotions were nothing
to those which showed themselves upon her
face when our eyes met.
She seemed for an instant to wish to shrink
back inside the house again; and then,
seeing how useless all concealment must be,
she came forward, with a very white face
and frightened eyes which belied the smile
upon her lips.
"'Ah, Jack,' she said, 'I have just been in
to see if I can be of any assistance to our
new neighbors.
Why do you look at me like that, Jack?
You are not angry with me?'
"'So,' said I, 'this is where you went
during the night.'
"'What do you mean?' she cried.
"'You came here.
I am sure of it.
Who are these people, that you should visit
them at such an hour?'
"'I have not been here before.'
"'How can you tell me what you know is
false?'
I cried.
'Your very voice changes as you speak.
When have I ever had a secret from you?
I shall enter that cottage, and I shall
probe the matter to the bottom.'
"'No, no, Jack, for God's sake!' she
gasped, in uncontrollable emotion.
Then, as I approached the door, she seized
my sleeve and pulled me back with
convulsive strength.
"'I implore you not to do this, Jack,' she
cried.
'I swear that I will tell you everything
some day, but nothing but misery can come
of it if you enter that cottage.'
Then, as I tried to shake her off, she
clung to me in a frenzy of entreaty.
"'Trust me, Jack!' she cried.
'Trust me only this once.
You will never have cause to regret it.
You know that I would not have a secret
from you if it were not for your own sake.
Our whole lives are at stake in this.
If you come home with me, all will be well.
If you force your way into that cottage,
all is over between us.'
"There was such earnestness, such despair,
in her manner that her words arrested me,
and I stood irresolute before the door.
"'I will trust you on one condition, and on
one condition only,' said I at last.
'It is that this mystery comes to an end
from now.
You are at liberty to preserve your secret,
but you must promise me that there shall be
no more nightly visits, no more doings
which are kept from my knowledge.
I am willing to forget those which are
passed if you will promise that there shall
be no more in the future.'
"'I was sure that you would trust me,' she
cried, with a great sigh of relief.
'It shall be just as you wish.
Come away--oh, come away up to the house.'
"Still pulling at my sleeve, she led me
away from the cottage.
As we went I glanced back, and there was
that yellow livid face watching us out of
the upper window.
What link could there be between that
creature and my wife?
Or how could the coarse, rough woman whom I
had seen the day before be connected with
her?
It was a strange puzzle, and yet I knew
that my mind could never know ease again
until I had solved it.
"For two days after this I stayed at home,
and my wife appeared to abide loyally by
our engagement, for, as far as I know, she
never stirred out of the house.
On the third day, however, I had ample
evidence that her solemn promise was not
enough to hold her back from this secret
influence which drew her away from her
husband and her duty.
"I had gone into town on that day, but I
returned by the 2.40 instead of the 3.36,
which is my usual train.
As I entered the house the maid ran into
the hall with a startled face.
"'Where is your mistress?'
I asked.
"'I think that she has gone out for a
walk,' she answered.
"My mind was instantly filled with
suspicion.
I rushed upstairs to make sure that she was
not in the house.
As I did so I happened to glance out of one
of the upper windows, and saw the maid with
whom I had just been speaking running
across the field in the direction of the
Then of course I saw exactly what it all
meant.
My wife had gone over there, and had asked
the servant to call her if I should return.
Tingling with anger, I rushed down and
hurried across, determined to end the
matter once and forever.
I saw my wife and the maid hurrying back
along the lane, but I did not stop to speak
with them.
In the cottage lay the secret which was
casting a shadow over my life.
I vowed that, come what might, it should be
a secret no longer.
I did not even knock when I reached it, but
turned the handle and rushed into the
passage.
"It was all still and quiet upon the ground
floor.
In the kitchen a kettle was singing on the
fire, and a large black cat lay coiled up
in the basket; but there was no sign of the
woman whom I had seen before.
I ran into the other room, but it was
equally deserted.
Then I rushed up the stairs, only to find
two other rooms empty and deserted at the
top.
There was no one at all in the whole house.
The furniture and pictures were of the most
common and vulgar description, save in the
one chamber at the window of which I had
seen the strange face.
That was comfortable and elegant, and all
my suspicions rose into a fierce bitter
flame when I saw that on the mantelpiece
stood a copy of a full-length photograph of
my wife, which had been taken at my request
only three months ago.
"I stayed long enough to make certain that
the house was absolutely empty.
Then I left it, feeling a weight at my
heart such as I had never had before.
My wife came out into the hall as I entered
my house; but I was too hurt and angry to
speak with her, and pushing past her, I
made my way into my study.
She followed me, however, before I could
close the door.
"'I am sorry that I broke my promise,
Jack,' said she; 'but if you knew all the
circumstances I am sure that you would
forgive me.'
"'Tell me everything, then,' said I.
"'I cannot, Jack, I cannot,' she cried.
"'Until you tell me who it is that has been
living in that cottage, and who it is to
whom you have given that photograph, there
can never be any confidence between us,'
said I, and breaking away from her, I left
the house.
That was yesterday, Mr. Holmes, and I have
not seen her since, nor do I know anything
more about this strange business.
It is the first shadow that has come
between us, and it has so shaken me that I
do not know what I should do for the best.
Suddenly this morning it occurred to me
that you were the man to advise me, so I
have hurried to you now, and I place myself
unreservedly in your hands.
If there is any point which I have not made
clear, pray question me about it.
But, above all, tell me quickly what I am
to do, for this misery is more than I can
bear."
Holmes and I had listened with the utmost
interest to this extraordinary statement,
which had been delivered in the jerky,
broken fashion of a man who is under the
influence of extreme emotions.
My companion sat silent for some time, with
his chin upon his hand, lost in thought.
"Tell me," said he at last, "could you
swear that this was a man's face which you
saw at the window?"
"Each time that I saw it I was some
distance away from it, so that it is
impossible for me to say."
"You appear, however, to have been
disagreeably impressed by it."
"It seemed to be of an unnatural color, and
to have a strange rigidity about the
features.
When I approached, it vanished with a
jerk."
"How long is it since your wife asked you
for a hundred pounds?"
"Nearly two months."
"Have you ever seen a photograph of her
first husband?"
"No; there was a great fire at Atlanta very
shortly after his death, and all her papers
were destroyed."
"And yet she had a certificate of death.
You say that you saw it."
"Yes; she got a duplicate after the fire."
"Did you ever meet any one who knew her in
America?"
"No."
"Did she ever talk of revisiting the
place?"
"No."
"Or get letters from it?"
"No."
"Thank you.
I should like to think over the matter a
little now.
If the cottage is now permanently deserted
we may have some difficulty.
If, on the other hand, as I fancy is more
likely, the inmates were warned of your
coming, and left before you entered
yesterday, then they may be back now, and
we should clear it all up easily.
Let me advise you, then, to return to
Norbury, and to examine the windows of the
cottage again.
If you have reason to believe that it is
inhabited, do not force your way in, but
send a wire to my friend and me.
We shall be with you within an hour of
receiving it, and we shall then very soon
get to the bottom of the business."
"And if it is still empty?"
"In that case I shall come out to-morrow
and talk it over with you.
Good-by; and, above all, do not fret until
you know that you really have a cause for
it."
"I am afraid that this is a bad business,
Watson," said my companion, as he returned
after accompanying Mr. Grant Munro to the
door.
"What do you make of it?"
"It had an ugly sound," I answered.
"Yes. There's blackmail in it, or I am much
mistaken."
"And who is the blackmailer?"
"Well, it must be the creature who lives in
the only comfortable room in the place, and
has her photograph above his fireplace.
Upon my word, Watson, there is something
very attractive about that livid face at
the window, and I would not have missed the
case for worlds."
"You have a theory?"
"Yes, a provisional one.
But I shall be surprised if it does not
turn out to be correct.
This woman's first husband is in that
cottage."
"Why do you think so?"
"How else can we explain her frenzied
anxiety that her second one should not
enter it?
The facts, as I read them, are something
like this: This woman was married in
America.
Her husband developed some hateful
qualities; or shall we say that he
contracted some loathsome disease, and
became a *** or an imbecile?
She flies from him at last, returns to
England, changes her name, and starts her
life, as she thinks, afresh.
She has been married three years, and
believes that her position is quite secure,
having shown her husband the death
certificate of some man whose name she has
assumed, when suddenly her whereabouts is
discovered by her first husband; or, we may
suppose, by some unscrupulous woman who has
attached herself to the invalid.
They write to the wife, and threaten to
come and expose her.
She asks for a hundred pounds, and
endeavors to buy them off.
They come in spite of it, and when the
husband mentions casually to the wife that
there are new-comers in the cottage, she
knows in some way that they are her
pursuers.
She waits until her husband is asleep, and
then she rushes down to endeavor to
persuade them to leave her in peace.
Having no success, she goes again next
morning, and her husband meets her, as he
has told us, as she comes out.
She promises him then not to go there
again, but two days afterwards the hope of
getting rid of those dreadful neighbors was
too strong for her, and she made another
attempt, taking down with her the
photograph which had probably been demanded
from her.
In the midst of this interview the maid
rushed in to say that the master had come
home, on which the wife, knowing that he
would come straight down to the cottage,
hurried the inmates out at the back door,
into the grove of fir-trees, probably,
which was mentioned as standing near.
In this way he found the place deserted.
I shall be very much surprised, however, if
it is still so when he reconnoitres it this
evening.
What do you think of my theory?"
"It is all surmise."
"But at least it covers all the facts.
When new facts come to our knowledge which
cannot be covered by it, it will be time
enough to reconsider it.
We can do nothing more until we have a
message from our friend at Norbury."
But we had not a very long time to wait for
that.
It came just as we had finished our tea.
"The cottage is still tenanted," it said.
"Have seen the face again at the window.
Will meet the seven o'clock train, and will
take no steps until you arrive."
He was waiting on the platform when we
stepped out, and we could see in the light
of the station lamps that he was very pale,
and quivering with agitation.
"They are still there, Mr. Holmes," said
he, laying his hand hard upon my friend's
sleeve.
"I saw lights in the cottage as I came
down.
We shall settle it now once and for all."
"What is your plan, then?" asked Holmes, as
he walked down the dark tree-lined road.
"I am going to force my way in and see for
myself who is in the house.
I wish you both to be there as witnesses."
"You are quite determined to do this, in
spite of your wife's warning that it is
better that you should not solve the
mystery?"
"Yes, I am determined."
"Well, I think that you are in the right.
Any truth is better than indefinite doubt.
We had better go up at once.
Of course, legally, we are putting
ourselves hopelessly in the wrong; but I
think that it is worth it."
It was a very dark night, and a thin rain
began to fall as we turned from the high
road into a narrow lane, deeply rutted,
with hedges on either side.
Mr. Grant Munro pushed impatiently forward,
however, and we stumbled after him as best
we could.
"There are the lights of my house," he
murmured, pointing to a glimmer among the
trees.
"And here is the cottage which I am going
to enter."
We turned a corner in the lane as he spoke,
and there was the building close beside us.
A yellow bar falling across the black
foreground showed that the door was not
quite closed, and one window in the upper
story was brightly illuminated.
As we looked, we saw a dark blur moving
across the blind.
"There is that creature!" cried Grant
Munro.
"You can see for yourselves that some one
is there.
Now follow me, and we shall soon know all."
We approached the door; but suddenly a
woman appeared out of the shadow and stood
in the golden track of the lamp-light.
I could not see her face in the darkness,
but her arms were thrown out in an attitude
of entreaty.
"For God's sake, don't Jack!" she cried.
"I had a presentiment that you would come
this evening.
Think better of it, dear!
Trust me again, and you will never have
cause to regret it."
"I have trusted you too long, Effie," he
cried, sternly.
"Leave go of me!
I must pass you.
My friends and I are going to settle this
matter once and forever!"
He pushed her to one side, and we followed
closely after him.
As he threw the door open an old woman ran
out in front of him and tried to bar his
passage, but he thrust her back, and an
instant afterwards we were all upon the
stairs.
Grant Munro rushed into the lighted room at
the top, and we entered at his heels.
It was a cosey, well-furnished apartment,
with two candles burning upon the table and
two upon the mantelpiece.
In the corner, stooping over a desk, there
sat what appeared to be a little girl.
Her face was turned away as we entered, but
we could see that she was dressed in a red
frock, and that she had long white gloves
on.
As she whisked round to us, I gave a cry of
surprise and horror.
The face which she turned towards us was of
the strangest livid tint, and the features
were absolutely devoid of any expression.
An instant later the mystery was explained.
Holmes, with a laugh, passed his hand
behind the child's ear, a mask peeled off
from her countenance, and there was a
little coal black negress, with all her
white teeth flashing in amusement at our
amazed faces.
I burst out laughing, out of sympathy with
her merriment; but Grant Munro stood
staring, with his hand clutching his
throat.
"My God!" he cried.
"What can be the meaning of this?"
"I will tell you the meaning of it," cried
the lady, sweeping into the room with a
proud, set face.
"You have forced me, against my own
judgment, to tell you, and now we must both
make the best of it.
My husband died at Atlanta.
My child survived."
"Your child?"
She drew a large silver locket from her
***.
"You have never seen this open."
"I understood that it did not open."
She touched a spring, and the front hinged
back.
There was a portrait within of a man
strikingly handsome and intelligent-
looking, but bearing unmistakable signs
upon his features of his African descent.
"That is John Hebron, of Atlanta," said the
lady, "and a nobler man never walked the
earth.
I cut myself off from my race in order to
wed him, but never once while he lived did
I for an instant regret it.
It was our misfortune that our only child
took after his people rather than mine.
It is often so in such matches, and little
Lucy is darker far than ever her father
was.
But dark or fair, she is my own dear little
girlie, and her mother's pet."
The little creature ran across at the words
and nestled up against the lady's dress.
"When I left her in America," she
continued, "it was only because her health
was weak, and the change might have done
her harm.
She was given to the care of a faithful
Scotch woman who had once been our servant.
Never for an instant did I dream of
disowning her as my child.
But when chance threw you in my way, Jack,
and I learned to love you, I feared to tell
you about my child.
God forgive me, I feared that I should lose
you, and I had not the courage to tell you.
I had to choose between you, and in my
weakness I turned away from my own little
girl.
For three years I have kept her existence a
secret from you, but I heard from the
nurse, and I knew that all was well with
her.
At last, however, there came an
overwhelming desire to see the child once
more.
I struggled against it, but in vain.
Though I knew the danger, I determined to
have the child over, if it were but for a
few weeks.
I sent a hundred pounds to the nurse, and I
gave her instructions about this cottage,
so that she might come as a neighbor,
without my appearing to be in any way
connected with her.
I pushed my precautions so far as to order
her to keep the child in the house during
the daytime, and to cover up her little
face and hands so that even those who might
see her at the window should not gossip
about there being a black child in the
neighborhood.
If I had been less cautious I might have
been more wise, but I was half crazy with
fear that you should learn the truth.
"It was you who told me first that the
cottage was occupied.
I should have waited for the morning, but I
could not sleep for excitement, and so at
last I slipped out, knowing how difficult
it is to awake you.
But you saw me go, and that was the
beginning of my troubles.
Next day you had my secret at your mercy,
but you nobly refrained from pursuing your
advantage.
Three days later, however, the nurse and
child only just escaped from the back door
as you rushed in at the front one.
And now to-night you at last know all, and
I ask you what is to become of us, my child
and me?"
She clasped her hands and waited for an
answer.
It was a long ten minutes before Grant
Munro broke the silence, and when his
answer came it was one of which I love to
think.
He lifted the little child, kissed her, and
then, still carrying her, he held his other
hand out to his wife and turned towards the
door.
"We can talk it over more comfortably at
home," said he.
"I am not a very good man, Effie, but I
think that I am a better one than you have
given me credit for being."
Holmes and I followed them down the lane,
and my friend plucked at my sleeve as we
came out.
"I think," said he, "that we shall be of
more use in London than in Norbury."
Not another word did he say of the case
until late that night, when he was turning
away, with his lighted candle, for his
bedroom.
"Watson," said he, "if it should ever
strike you that I am getting a little over-
confident in my powers, or giving less
pains to a case than it deserves, kindly
whisper 'Norbury' in my ear, and I shall be
infinitely obliged to you."