StOVERIS PENINSULAM AMENAM
CIRCUMSPIGE
1812
SCIENTIA
ARTES
VERITAS
LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
TIXIOR
Gift of
Dr. Bruce Parker








.
Aothur Lasti,
halsall 1920.
,





A STUDY IN SCARLET.






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Cso, Huebingungot
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“ Lestrade and Holmes sprang upon him like so many
staghounds." (Page 116.)
A Study in Scarlet]
[Frontispiece


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Study in S.
A Study in Scarlet)
[Frontispiece
24mga sur 26


A
STUDY IN SCARLET.
BY
A. CONAN DOYLE,
AUTHOR OF
MICAH CLARKE," "THE WHITE COMPANY," ETC.
WITH A NOTE ON SHERLOCK HOLMES
BY
DR. JOSEPH BELL.
ILLUSTRATED BY GEORGE HUTCHINSON.
LONDON:
WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED,





Sere.
anter. Bruce Hunter
4.10 - 2000
CONTENTS.
PAGR
ix
TUBLISHERS' NOTE TO THIS EDITION
“MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES." BY DR. JOSEPH BELL
xi
0
PART 1.
(Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D.,
late of the Army Medical Department.)
PAGB
CHAPTER
I. MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES.
1
16
.
34
II. THE SCIENCE OF DEDUCTION.
III. THE LAURISTON GARDENS MYSTERY
IV. WHAT JOHN RANCE HAD TO TELL
V. OUR ADVERTISEMENT BRINGS A VISITOR
VI. TOBIAS GREGSON SHOWS WHAT HE CAN DO
54
68
.
82
VII. LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
IOI
PART II.
The Country of the Saints.
.
I. ON THE GREAT ALKALI PLAIN
118
II. THE FLOWER OF UTAH .
136
III. JOHN FERRIER TALKS WITH THE PROPHET
148
IV. A FLIGHT FOR LIFE
158
V. THE AVENGING ANGELS .
176
VI. A CONTINUATION OF THE REMINISCENCES OF JOHN
WATSON, M.D.
192
VII. THE CONCLUSION
213
.
.





PUBLISHERS' NOTE TO THIS EDITION.
As it is in "A Study in Scarlet" that Mr. Sherlock
Holmes is first introduced to the public, and his methods
of work described, it occurred to the publishers of the
volume that a paper on “Sherlock Holmes," which Dr.
Doyle's old master, Dr. Joseph Bell, the original of
Sherlock Holmes, contributed recently to The Bookman,
would greatly interest readers who did not see it when
it appeared in that publication.
Dr. Bell's “intuitive powers " in dealing with his
patients were, so his pupil, Dr. Doyle, tells us in the
pages of The Strand Magazine, “ simply marvellous.”
Case No. I would step up.
" "I see,' said Mr. Bell, you're suffering from drink.
You even carry a flask in the inside breast pocket of your
coat.'
- Another case would come forward.
Cobbler, I see.' Then he would turn to the students,
and point out to them that the inside of the knee of the
man's trousers was worn. That was where the man had
rested the lapstone-a peculiarity only found in cobblers.
“All this impressed me very much. He was continually
ri


PUBLISHERS' NOTE.
before me--his sharp, piercing eyes, eagle nose, and striking
features. There he would sit in his chair with fingers
together-he was very dexterous with his hands--and just
look at the man or woman before him. He was most kind
and painstaking with the students-a real good friend-and
when I took my degree and went to Africa the remarkable
individuality and discriminating tact of my old master
made a deep and lasting impression on me, though I had
not the faintest idea that it would one day lead me to forsake
medicine for story-writing."
That it did lead Dr. Doyle "to forsake medicine for
story-writing," and with what result, every one knows.
And as Mr. Sherlock Holmes has now become a house-
hold word and almost a public institution, the publishers
of "A Study in Scarlet " hope that the following paper,
in which some particulars of Dr. Doyle's early education
and training, and of the circumstances which led him to
form the habit of making careful observations, will prove
of interest to his many readers. Their cordial thanks
are due to Dr. Doyle, Dr. Bell, and to the editor and
proprietors of The Bookman, for courteously consenting
to the reproduction of the paper.








* MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES.'
By DR. JOSEPH BELL.
It is not entirely a bad sign of this weary, worn-
out century that in this, its last decade, even the
petty street-bred people are beginning, as the
nurses say, to take notice. An insatiable and
generally prurient curiosity as to the doings of the
class immediately above us is pandered to by the
society journals, and encouraged even by the daily
newspapers. Such information is valueless in-
tellectually, and tends to moral degradation; it
exercises none of the senses, and pauperises the
imagination. Celebrities at home, illustrated inter-
views, society scandal on all levels merely titillate
the itching ear of the gossip. Memoirs, recol-
lections, anecdotes of the Bar or of the Academy
are much more interesting, and may be valuable
as throwing sidelights on history, but still only
amuse and help to kill the time of which we forget
xiii


xiv
* MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES."
the value. But in the last few years there has
been a distinct demand for books which, to a
certain poor extent, encourage thought and stimu-
late observation. The whole “Gamekeeper at
Home ” series and its imitations opened the eyes
of town dwellers, who had forgotten or never
known White of Selborne, to the delightful sights
and sounds that were the harvest of the open eye
and ear. Something of the same interest is given
to the “crowded city's horrible street” by the
suggestions of crime and romance, of curiosity and
its gratification, which we find written with more or
less cleverness in the enormous mass of so-called
detective literature under which the press groans.
Every bookstall has its shilling shocker, and every
magazine which aims at a circulation must have
its mystery of robbery or murder. Most of these
are poor enough stuff; complicated plots, which
can be discounted in the first chapter, extraordinary
coincidences, preternaturally gifted detectives, who
make discoveries more or less useless by flashes of
insight which no one else can understand, become
wearisome in their sameness, and the interest, such
as it is, centres only in the results and not in the
methods. We may admire Lecocq, but we do not
see ourselves in his shoes. Dr. Conan Doyle has
made a well-deserved success for his detective
stories, and made the name of his hero beloved by


“ MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,"
XV
the boys of this country by the marvellous clever.
ness of his method. He shows how easy it is, if
only you can observe, to find out a great deal as
to the works and ways of your innocent and un-
conscious friends, and, by an extension of the same
method, to baffle the criminal and lay bare the
manner of his crime. There is nothing new under
the sun. Voltaire taught us the method of Zadig,
and every good teacher of medicine or surgery
exemplifies every day in his teaching and practice
the method and its results. The precise and in-
telligent recognition and appreciation of minor
differences is the real essential factor in all success-
ful medical diagnosis. Carried into ordinary life,
granted the presence of an insatiable curiosity and
fairly acute senses, you have Sherlock Holmes as
he astonishes his somewhat dense friend Watson ;
carried out in a specialised training, you have
Sherlock Holmes the skilled detective.
Dr. Conan Doyle's education as a student of
medicine taught him how to observe, and his
practice, both as a general practitioner and a
specialist, has been a splendid training for a man
such as he is, gifted with eyes, memory, and
imagination. Eyes and ears which can see and
hear, memory to record at once and to recall at
pleasure the impressions of the senses, and an
imagination capable of weaving a theory or


XVI
“ MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES."
piecing together a broken chain or unravelling a
tangled clue, such are implements of his trade to a
successful diagnostician. If in addition the doctor
is also a born story-teller, than it is a mere matter
of choice whether he writes detective stories or
keeps his strength for a great historical romance
as is the “White Company.” Syme, one of the
greatest teachers of surgical diagnosis that ever
lived, had a favourite illustration which, as a tra-
dition of his school, has made a mark on Dr. Conan
Doyle's method, "Try to learn the features of a
disease or injury as precisely as you know the
features, the gait, the tricks of manner of your
most intimate friend.” Him, even in a crowd, you
can recognise at once; It may be a crowd of men
dressed alike, and each having his complement of
eyes, nose, hair, and limbs ; in every essential they
resemble each other, only in trifles do they differ ;
and yet, by knowing these trifles well, you make
your diagnosis or recognition with ease. So it is
with disease of mind or body or morals. Racial
peculiarities, hereditary tricks of manner, accent,
occupation or the want of it, education, environ-
ment of all kinds, by their little trivial impressions
gradually mould or carve the individual, and leave
finger marks or chisel scores which the expert can
recognise. The great broad characteristics which
at a glance can be recognised as indicative of heart


"MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES."
xvii
disease or consumption, chronic drunkenness or
long-continued loss of blood, are the common
property of the veriest tyro in medicine, while to
masters of their art there are myriads of signs
eloquent and instructive, but which need the
educated eye to detect. A fair-sized and valuable
book has lately been written on the one symptom,
the pulse ; to any one but a trained physician it
seems as much an absurdity as is Sherlock Holmes'
immortal treatise on the one hundred and fourteen
varieties of tobacco ash. The greatest stride that
has been made of late years in preventive and
diagnostic medicine consists in the recognition and
differentiation by bacteriological research of those
minute organisms which disseminate cholera and
fever, tubercle and anthrax. The importance of
the infinitely little is incalculable. Poison a well
at Mecca with the cholera bacillus, and the holy
water which the pilgrims carry off in their bottles
will infect a continent, and the rags of the victims
of the plague will terrify every seaport in
Christendom.
Trained as he has been to notice and appreciate
minute detail, Dr. Doyle saw how he could interest
his intelligent readers by taking them into his
confidence, and showing his mode of working
He created a shrewd, quick-sighted, inquisitive
man, half doctor, half virtuoso, with plenty of
}


xviii
“ MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES."
spare time, a retentive memory, and perhaps with
the best gift of all-the power of unloading the
mind of all the burden of trying to remember
unnecessary details. Holmes tells Watson : “A
man should keep his little brain-attic stocked with
all the furniture that he is likely to use, as the rest
he can put away in the lumber-room of his library,
where he can get it if he wants it.” But to him
the petty results of environment, the sign-manuals
of labour, the stains of trade, the incidents of
travel, have living interest, as they tend to satisfy
an insatiable, almost inhuman, because impersonal
curiosity. He puts the man in the position of an
amateur, and therefore irresponsible, detective, who
is consulted in all sorts of cases, and then he lets
us see how he works. He makes him cxplain to
the good Watson the trivial, or apparently trivial,
links in his chain of evidence. These are at once
so obvious, when explained, and so easy, once you
know them, that the ingenuous reader at once feels,
and says to himself, I also could do this; life is not
so dull after all ; I will keep my eyes open, and
find out things. The gold watch, with its scratched
keyhole and pawnbrokers' marks, told such an easy
tale about Watson's brother. The dusty old billy-
cock hat revealed that its master had taken to
drinking some years ago, and had got his hair cut
yesterday. The tiny thorn-prick and fearsome


“MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES."
XIX
footmark of the thing that was neither a child nor
a monkey enabled Holmes to identify and capture
the Andaman Islander. Yet, after all, you say,
there is nothing wonderful ; we could all do the
same.
The experienced physician and the trained
surgeon every day, in their examinations of the
humblest patient, have to go through a similar
process of reasoning, quick or slow according to
the personal equations of each, almost automatic
in the experienced man, laboured and often erratic
in the tyro, yet requiring just the same simple
requisites, senses to notice facts, and education and
intelligence to apply them. Mere acuteness of the
senses is not enough. Your Indian tracker will
tell you that the footprint on the leaves was not
a redskin's, but a paleface's, because it marked a
shoe-print, but it needs an expert in shoe-leather
to tell where that shoe was made. A sharp-eyed
detective may notice the thumb-mark of a grimy
or bloody hand on the velvet or the mirror, but it
needs all the scientific knowledge of a Galton to
render the ridges and furrows of the stain visible
and permanent, and then to identify by their
sign-manual the suspected thief or murderer.
Sherlock Holmes has acute senses, and the special
education and information that make these valuable;
and he can afford to let us into the secrets of his


XX
“ MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES."
method. But in addition to the creation of his
hero, Dr. Conan Doyle in this remarkable series of
stories has proved himself a born story-teller. He
has had the wit to devise excellent plots, interest-
ing complications; he tells them in honest Saxon.
English with directness and pith ; and, above all
his other merits, his stories are absolutely free from
padding. He knows how delicious brevity is, how
everything tends to be too long, and he has given
us stories that we can read at a sitting between
dinner and coffee, and we have not a chance to
forget the beginning before we reach the end.
The ordinary detective story, from Gaboriau or
Boisgobey down to the latest shocker, really needs
an effort of memory quite misplaced to keep the
circumstances of the crimes and all the wrong
scents of the various meddlers before the wearied
reader. Dr. Doyle never gives you a chance to
forget an incident or miss a point.


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
PART I.
(Being a reprint from the Reminiscences of JOHN H. WATSON,
M.D., Late of the Army Medical Department.)
CHAPTER I.
MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES.

the year 1878 I
took my degree of
Doctor of Medi-
cine of the Uni-
versity of London,
and proceeded to
Netley
to
go
through the course
prescribed for surgeons
in the army. Having
completed my studies
there, I was duly at-
tached to the Fifth
Northumberland Fusi-
liers as Assistant Sur-
geon,
The regiment
was stationed in India
at the time, and before
Gwith
THERE I WAS STRUCK ON THE
SHOULDER BY A BULLRT.
PP
B


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
I
I could join it, the second Afghan war had broken
out. On landing at Bombay, I learned that my
corps had advanced through the passes, and was
already deep in the enemy's country. I followed,
however, with many other officers who were in the
same situation as myself, and succeeded in reach-
ing Candahar in safety, where I found my regiment,
and at once entered upon my new duties.
The campaign brought honours and promotion
to many, but for me it had nothing but misfortune
and disaster. I was removed from my brigade and
attached to the Berkshires, with whom I served at
the fatal battle of Maiwand. There I was struck
on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered
the bone and grazed the subclavian artery.
should have fallen into the hands of the murderous
Ghazis had it not been for the devotion and courage
shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw me across
a pack-horse, and succeeded in bringing me safely
to the British lines.
Worn with pain, and weak from the prolonged
hardships which I had undergone, I was removed,
with a great train of wounded sufferers, to the base
hospital at Peshawur. Here I rallied, and had
already improved so far as to be able to walk
about the wards, and even to bask a little upon
the verandah, when I was struck down by enteric
fever, that curse of our Indian possessions. For
months my life was despaired of, and when at last
I came to myself and became convalescent, I was
Miu


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
3
so weak and emaciated that a medical board deter-
mined that not a day should be lost in sending me
back to England. I was despatched, accordingly,
in the troopship Orontes, and landed a month later
on Portsmouth jetty, with my health irretrievably
ruined, but with permission from a paternal govern-
ment to spend the next nine months in attempting
to improve it.
I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was
therefore as free as air-or as free as an income
of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit
a man to be. Under such circumstances I natur.
ally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into
which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire
are irresistibly drained. There I stayed for some
time at a private hotel in the Strand, leading a
comfortless, meaningless existence, and spending
such money as I had, considerably more freely
than I ought. So alarming did the state of my
finances become, that I soon realized that I must
either leave the metropolis and rusticate some.
where in the country, or that I must make a com-
plete alteration in my style of living. Choosing
the latter alternative, I began by making up my
mind to leave the hotel, and to take up my quarters
in some less pretentious and less expensive
domicile.
On the very day that I had come to this con-
clusion, I was standing at the Criterion Bar, when
some one tapped me on the shoulder, and turning


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
5
some one to go halves with him in some nice
rooms which he had found, and which were too
much for his purse."
"By Jove !" I cried; "if he really wants some
one to share the rooms and the expense, I am the
very man for him. I should prefer having a partner
to being alone.”
Young Stamford looked rather strangely at me
over his wine-glass. “You don't know Sherlock
Holmes yet,” he said ; "perhaps you would not
care for him as a constant companion.”
“Why, what is there against him?"
Oh, I didn't say there was anything against
him. He is a little queer in his ideas an en-
thusiast in some branches of science. As far as
I know he is a decent fellow enough.”
"A medical student, I suppose ?" said I.
“No I have no idea what he intends to go in
for. I believe he is well up in anatomy, and he is
first-class chemist; but, as far as I know, he has
never taken out any systematic medical classes.
His studies are very desultory and eccentric, but
he has amassed a lot of oat-of-the-way knowledge
which would astonish his professors."
"Did you never ask him what he was going in
for ?" I asked.
“No; he is not a man that it is easy to draw
out, though he can be communicative enough when
the fancy seizes him."
" I should like to meet him," I said. "If I am


6
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
to lodge with any one, I should prefer a man of
studious and quiet habits. I am not strong enough
yet to stand much noise or excitement. I had
enough of both in Afghanistan to last me for the
remainder of my natural existence. How could
I meet this friend of yours?"
"He is sure to be at the laboratory," returned
my companion. "He either avoids the place for
weeks, or else he works there from morning till
night. If you like, we will drive round together
after luncheon."
“Certainly," I answered, and the conversation
drifted away into other channels.
As we made our way to the hospital after leaving
the Holborn, Stamford gave me a few more par-
ticulars about the gentleman whom I proposed to
take as a fellow-lodger.
“ You mustn't blame me if you don't get on with
him," he said ; " I know nothing more of him than
I have learned from meeting him occasionally in
the laboratory. You proposed this arrangement
so you must not hold me responsible."
“ If we don't get on it will be easy to part com-
pany," I answered
“ It seems to me, Stamford,”
I added, looking hard at my companion, " that you
have some reason for washing your hands of the
matter. Is this fellow's temper so formidable, or
what is it? Don't be mealy mouthed about it."
" It is not easy to express the inexpressible," he
answered with a laugh. “ Holmes is a little too


8
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
This was a lofty chamber, lined and littered with
countless bottles. Broad, low tables were scattered
about, which bristled with retorts, test-tubes, and
little Bunsen lamps, with their blue flickering
flames. There was only one student in the room,
who was bending over a distant table absorbed in
his work. At the sound of our steps he glanced
round and sprang to his feet with a cry of pleasure.
“ I've found it! I've found it,” he shouted to my
companion, running towards us with a test-tube in
his hand, "I have found a re-agent which is pre-
cipitated by hæmoglobin, and by nothing else."
Had he discovered a gold mine, greater delight
could not have shone upon his features.
“Dr. Watson, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said Stam-
ford, introducing us.
" How are you ?” he said cordially, gripping my
hand with a strength for which I should hardly
have given him credit. “You have been in
Afghanistan, I perceive."
“How on earth did you know that?" I asked in
astonishment.
“Never mind,” said he, chuckling to himself.
“The question now is about hæmoglobin. No
doubt you see the significance of this discovery of
mine?”
" It is interesting, chemically, no doubt," I an-
swered,“ but practically "
" Why, man, it is the most practical medico-
legal discovery for years. Don't you see that it


-


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
II
gives us an infallible test for blood stains. Come
over here now !" He seized me by the coat-sleeve
in his eagerness, and drew me over to the table at
which he had been working. “Let us have some
fresh blood," he said, digging a long bodkin into
his finger, and drawing off the resulting drop of
blood in a chemical pipette. "Now, I add this
small quantity of blood to a litre of water. You
perceive that the resulting mixture has the appear-
ance of pure water. The proportion of blood
cannot be more than one in a million. I have no
doubt, however, that we shall be able to obtain
the characteristic reaction.” As he spoke, he threw
into the vessel a few white crystals, and then added
some drops of a transparent fluid. In an instant
the contents assumed a dull mahogany colour, and
a brownish dust was precipitated to the bottom of
the glass jar.
“Ha! ha!” he cried, clapping his hands, and
looking as delighted as a child with a new toy.
“What do you think of that?”
" It seems to be a very delicate test," I re-
marked.
“Beautiful ! beautiful! The old guaiacum test
was very clumsy and uncertain. So is the micro-
scopic examination for blood corpuscles. The
latter is valueless if the stains are a few hours old.
Now, this appears to act as well whether the
blood is old or new.
Had this test been invented,
there are hundreds of men now walking the earth


12
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
who would long ago have paid the penalty of their
crimes."
"Indeed!" I murmured.
“ Criminal cases are continually hinging upon
that one point. A man is suspected of a crime
months perhaps after it has been committed. His
linen or clothes are examined and brownish stains
discovered upon them. Are they blood stains, or
mud stains, or rust stains, or fruit stains, or what
are they? That is a question which has puzzled
many an expert, and why? Because there was no
reliable test. Now we have the Sherlock Holmes'
test, and there will no longer be any difficulty."
His eyes fairly glittered as he spoke, and he put
his hand over his heart and bowed as if to some
applauding crowd conjured up by his imagina-
tion.
“You are to be congratulated," I remarked, con-
siderably surprised at his enthusiasm.
“ There was the case of Von Bischoff at Frank-
fort last year. He would certainly have been hung
had this test been in existence. Then there was
Mason of Bradford, and the notorious Muller, and
Lefevre of Montpellier, and Samson of New
Orleans. I could name a score of cases in which
it would have been decisive."
“ You seem to be a walking calendar of crime,”
said Stamford with a laugh. “ You might start a
paper on those lines. Call it the Police News of
the Past.'»


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
• 13
" Very interesting reading it might be made,
too," remarked Sherlock Holmes, sticking a small
piece of plaster over the prick on his finger. “I
have to be careful,” he continued, turning to me
with a smile, “for I dabble with poisons a good
deal.” He held out his hand as he spoke, and I
noticed that it was all mottled over with similar
pieces of plaster, and discoloured with strong
acids.
“We came here on business,” said Stamford,
sitting down on a high three-legged stool, and
pushing another one in my direction with his foot.
* My friend here wants to take diggings; and as
you were complaining that you could get no one
to go halves with you, I thought that I had better
bring you together.”
Sherlock Holmes seemed delighted at the idea
of sharing his rooms with me.
“I have my eye
on a suite in Baker Street," he said, "which would
suit us down to the ground. You don't mind the
smell of strong tobacco, I hope ?”
I always smoke ship's' myself,” I answered.
"That's good enough. I generally have chemi-
cals about, and occasionally do experiments.
Would that annoy you?”
"By no means."
“Let me see—what are my other shortcomings.
I get in the dumps at times, and don't open my
mouth for days on end. You must not think I am
sulky when I do that. Just let me alone, and I'I'


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
soon be right. What have you to confess now?
It's just as well for two fellows to know the worst
of one another before they begin to live together."
I laughed at this cross-examination. “I keep a
bull pup," I said, “and I object to rows because
my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts of
ungodly hours, and I am extremely lazy. I have
another set of vices when I'm well, but those are
the principal ones at present."
"Do you include violin playing in your category
of rows ?" he asked, anxiously.
"It depends on the player," I answered. “A
well-played violin is a treat for the gods—a badly-
played one"
Oh, that's all right,” he cried, with a merry
laugh. "I think we may consider the thing as
settled--that is, if the rooms are agreeable to
you."
" When shall we see them?"
“Call for me here at noon to-morrow, and we'll
go together and settle everything," he answered.
“ All right-noon exactly," said I, shaking his
hand.
We left him working among his chemicals, and
we walked together towards my hotel.
"By the way," I asked suddenly, stopping and
turning upon Stamford, “how the deuce did he
know that I had come from Afghanistan ?"
My companion smiled an enigmatical smile.
* That's just his little peculiarity," he said. “A


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
15
good many people have wanted to know how he
finds things out."
"Oh! a mystery is it?" I cried, rubbing my
hands. “This is very piquant. I am much obliged
to you for bringing us together. The proper study
of mankind is man,' you know."
“You must study him, then,“ Stamford said, as
he bade me good-bye. "You'll find him a knotty
problem, though. I'll wager he learns more about
you than you about him. Good-bye."
"Good-bye," I answered, and strolled on to my
hotel, considerably interested in my new acquaint-
ance.


CHAPTER II.
THE SCIENCE OF DEDUCTION.

N
SLIME
met next
day as he
had ar-
ranged,
and in-
spected
the rooms
at No.
22IB,
Baker
Street, of which
he had spoken
at our meeting
They consisted
of a couple of
comfortable
bedrooms and a
single large airy
sitting-room,
cheerfully furnished, and illuminated by two broad
HR WOULD CLOSE HIS EYES AND SCRAPB CARB-
LESSLY AT THE PIDDLE."
16


18
À STUDY IN SCARLET.
some narcotic, had not the temperance and cleanli-
ness of his whole life forbidden such a notion.
As the weeks went by, my interest in him and
my curiosity as to his aims in life gradually
deepened and increased. His very person and
appearance were such as to strike the attention of
the most casual observer. In height he was rather
over six feet, and so excessively lean that he
seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes were
sharp and piercing, save during those intervals of
torpor to which I have alluded ; and his thin,
hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air
of alertness and decision. His chin, too, had the
prominence and squareness which mark the man
of determination. His hands were invariably
blotted with ink and stained with chemicals, yet
he was possessed of extraordinary delicacy of touch,
as I frequently had occasion to observe when I
watched him manipulating his fragile philosophical
instruments.
The reader may set me down as a hopeless busy-
body, when I confess how much this man stimulated
my curiosity, and how often I endeavoured to break
through the reticence which he showed on all that
concerned himself. Before pronouncing judgment,
however, be it remembered, how objectless was my
life, and how little there was to engage my atten-
tion. My
My health forbade me from venturing out
unless the weather was exceptionally genial, and I
had no friends who would call upon me and break


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
19
the monotony of my daily existence. Under these
circumstances, I eagerly hailed the little mystery
which hung around my companion, and spent much
of my time in endeavouring to unravel it.
He was not studying medicine. He had himself,
in reply to a question, confirmed Stamford's opinion
upon that point. Neither did he appear to have
pursued any course of reading which might fit him
for a degree in science or any other recognised
portal which would give him an entrance into the
learned world. Yet his zeal for certain studies was
remarkable, and within eccentric limits his know-
ledge was so extraordinarily ample and minute that
his observations have fairly astounded me. Surely
no man would work so hard or attain such precise
information unless he had some definite end in
view. Desultory readers are seldom remarkable
for the exactness of their learning.
No man
burdens his mind with small matters unless he has
some very good reason for doing so.
His ignorance was as remarkable as his know-
ledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and
politics he appeared to know next to nothing.
Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he enquired in
the natvest way who he might be and what he had
done. My surprise reached a climax, however,
when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of
the Copernican Theory and of the composition of
the Solar System. That any civilized human being
in this nineteenth century should not be aware that


20
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
the earth travelled round the sun appeared to be
to me such an extraordinary fact that I could
hardly realize it.
"You appear to be astonished,” he said, smiling
at my expression of surprise. “ Now that I do
know it I shall do my best to forget it.”
"To forget it !"
“You see,” he explained, “I consider that a
man's brain originally is like a little empty attic,
and you have to stock it with such furniture as you
choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every
sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge
which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or
at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so
that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it.
Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as
to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have
nothing but the tools which may help him in doing
his work, but of these he has a large assortment,
and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake
to think that that little room has elastic walls and
can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there
comes a time when for every addition of knowledge
you forget something that you knew before. It is
of the highest importance, therefore, not to have
useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”
" But the Solar System!” I protested.
" What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted
impatiently: "you say that we go round the
gun, , If we went round the moon it would not


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
I
make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my
work."
I was on the point of asking him what that work
might be, but something in his manner showed me
that the question would be an unwelcome one.
pondered over our short conversation, however, and
endeavoured to draw my deductions from it. He
said that he would acquire no knowledge which did
not bear upon his object. Therefore all the know-
ledge which he possessed was such as would be
useful to him. I enumerated in my own mind all
the various points upon which he had shown me
that he was exceptionally well-informed. I even
took a pencil and jotted them down. I could not
help smiling at the document when I had completed
it. It ran in this way :-
SHERLOCK HOLMES—his limits.
1. Knowledge of Literature. --Nil.
„ Philosophy.--Nil
.
3.
Astronomy.-Nil.
4.
Politics.-Feeble.
5.
Botany.-Variable. Well up in bella-
donna, opium, and poisons
generally. Knows nothing of
practical gardening.
Geology.--Practical, but limited. Tells
at a glance different soils
from each other. After walks
has shown me splashes upon
his trousers, and told me by
their colour and consistence
in what part of London be
had received them.


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
>)
7. Knowledge of Chemistry.- Profound.
8,
» Anatomy.-Accurate, but unsystematic.
9.
Sensational Literature.-Immense. He
appears to know
every detail of
every
horror
perpetrated in
the century
10. Plays the violin well.
11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.
12. Has a good practical knowledge of British law.
When I had got so far in my list I threw it into
the fire in despair. “If I can only find what the
fellow is driving at by reconciling all these accom-
plishments, and discovering a calling which needs
them all," I said to myself, “I may as well give up
the attempt at once."
I see that I have alluded above to his powers
upon the violin. These were very remarkable, but
as eccentric as all his other accomplishments. That
he could play pieces, and difficult pieces, I knew
well, because at my request he has played me some
of Mendelssohn's Lieder, and other favourites.
When left to himself, however, he would seldom
produce any music or attempt any recognised air.
Leaning back in his arm-chair of an evening, he
would close his eyes and scrape carelessly at the
fiddle which was thrown across his knee. Some-
times the chords were sonorous and melancholy.
Occasionally they were fantastic and cheerful.
Clearly they reflected the thoughts which possessed


A STUDY IN SCARLET,
23
him, but whether the music aided those thoughts,
or whether the playing was simply the result of a
whim or fancy, was more than I could determine
I might have rebelled against these exasperating

Orale
"THERE WAS A LITTLE SALLOW, RAT-FACED, DARK-EYED FELLOW."
solos had it not been that he usually terminated
them by playing in quick succession a whole series
of my favourite airs as a slight compensation for
the trial upon my patience.


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
25
and who came three or four times in a single week,
One morning a young girl called, fashionably
dressed, and stayed for half an hour or more. The
same afternoon brought a grey-headed, seedy visitor,

co
Ceoilta
" AN OLD WHITE-HAIRED GENTLEMAN HAD AN INTERVIEW WITH
MY COMPANION."
looking like a Jew pedlar, who appeared to me to
be much excited, and who was closely followed by
a slip-shod elderly woman. On another occasion
an old white-haired gentleman had an interview


26
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
in me.
with my companion ; and on another, a railway
porter in his velveteen uniform. When any of
these nondescript individuals put in an appearance,
Sherlock Holmes used to beg for the use of the
sitting-room, and I would retire to my bed-room.
He always apologised to me for putting me to this
inconvenience. “I have to use this room as a place
of business," he said, "and these people are my
clients.” Again I had an opportunity of asking
him a point-blank question, and again my delicacy
prevented me from forcing another man to confide
I imagined at the time that he had some
strong reason for not alluding to it, but he soon
dispelled the idea by coming round to the subject
of his own accord.
It was upon the 4th of March, as I have good
reason to remember, that I rose somewhat carlier
than usual, and found that Sherlock Holmes had
not yet finished his breakfast. The landlady had
become so accustomed to my late habits that my
place had not been laid nor my coffee prepared.
With the unreasonable petulance of mankind I
rang the bell and gave a curt intimation that I was
ready. Then I picked up a magazine from the
table and attempted to while away the time with
it, while my companion munched silently at his
toast. One of the articles had a pencil mark at
the heading, and I naturally began to run my eye
through it.
Its somewhat ambitious title was “The Book of


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
Life," and it attempted to show how much an
observant man might learn by an accurate and
systematic examination of all that came in his way.
It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of
shrewdness and of absurdity. The reasoning was
close and intense, but the deductions appeared to
me to be far-fetched and exaggerated. The writer
claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a
muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man's
inmost thoughts. Deceit, according to him, was
an impossibilily in the case of one trained to ob-
servation and analysis. His conclusions were as
infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So
startling would his results appear to the uninitiated
that until they learned the processes by which he
had arrived at them they might well consider him
as a necromancer.
“From a drop of water," said the writer, “a logi-
cian could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a
Niagara without having seen or heard of one or
the other. So all life is a great chain, the nature
of which is known whenever we are shown a single
link of it. Like all other arts, the Science of
Deduction and Analysis is one which can only be
acquired by long and patient study, nor is life long
enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest
possible perfection in it. Before turning to those
moral and mental aspects of the matter which pre-
sent the greatest difficulties, let the inquirer begin
by mastering more elementary problems. Let


À STUDY IN SCARLET.
31
« No
English army doctor have seen much hardship and
got his arm wounded ? Clearly in Afghanistan.'
The whole train of thought did not occupy a
second. I then remarked that you came from
Afghanistan, and you were astonished."
" It is simple enough as you explain it," I said,
smiling. “You remind me of Edgar Allen Poe's
Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did
exist outside of stories."
Sherlock Holmes rose and lit his pipe.
doubt you think that you are complimenting me
in comparing me to Dupin," he observed. "Now,
in my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow.
That trick of his of breaking in on his friends'
thoughts with an apropos remark after a quarter
of an hour's silence is really very showy and super-
ficial. He had some analytical genius, no doubt ;
but he was by no means such a phenomenon as
Poe appeared to imagine."
“ Have you read Gaboriau's works?" I asked.
“Does Lecoq come up to your idea of a detective ?"
Sherlock Holmes sniffed sardonically. "Lecoq
was a miserable bungler," he said, in an angry
voice; " he had only one thing to recommend him,
and that was his energy. That book made me
positively ill. The question was how to identify
an unknown prisoner. I could have done it in
twenty-four hours. Lecoq took six months or so.
It might be made a text-book for detectives to
teach them what to avoid."


32
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
I felt rather indignant at having two characters
whom I had admired treated in this cavalier style.
I walked over to the window, and stood looking
out into the busy street. This fellow may be
very clever," I said to myself,“ but he is certainly
very conceited."
" There are no crimes and no criminals in these
days," he said, querulously. "What is the use of
having brains in our profession. I know well that
I have it in me to make my name famous. No
man lives or has ever lived who has brought the
same amount of study and of natural talent to the
detection of crime which I have done. And what
is the result? There is no crime to detect, or, at
most, some bungling villainy with a motive so
transparent that even a Scotland Yard official can
see through it."
I was still annoyed at his bumptious style of
conversation. I thought it best to change the
topic.
"I wonder what that fellow is looking for?” I
asked, pointing to a stalwart, plainly-dressed indi-
vidual who was walking slowly down the other
side of the street, looking anxiously at the numbers.
He had a large blue envelope in his hand, and was
evidently the bearer of a message.
" You mean the retired sergeant of Marines,"
said Sherlock Holmes.
“Brag and bounce !” thought I to myself. "He
knows that I cannot verify his guess.


À STUDY IN SCARLET.
33
The thought had hardly passed through my
mind when the man whom we were watching
caught sight of the number on our door, and ran
rapidly across the roadway. We heard a loud
knock, a deep voice below, and heavy steps ascend
ing the stair.
“For Mr. Sherlock Holmes," he said, stepping
into the room and handing my friend the letter.
Here was an opportunity of taking the conceit
out of him. He little thought of this when he
made that random shot. “May I ask, my lad,” I
said, in the blandest voice, “what your trade may
be?"
"Commissionaire, sir," he said, gruffly. “Uni-
form away for repairs.”
“And you were?” I asked, with a slightly mali-
cious glance at my companion.
"A sergeant, sir, Royal Marine Light Infantry,
sir. No answer? Right, sir.”
He clicked his heels together, raised his hand ir
a salute, and was gone.


CHAPTER III.
THE LAURISTON GARDEN MYSTERY.

CONFESS that I
was considerably
startled by this
fresh proof of the
practical nature of
my companion's
theories. My
respect for his
powers of analysis
increased won-
drously. There
still remained
some lurking
suspicion in my
mind, however,
that the whole
thing was a pre-
arranged episode,
intended to dazzle
me, though what
earthly object he
HE HUSTLED ON HIS OVERCOAT.


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
35
ness.
could have in taking me in was past my compre-
hension. When I looked at him, he had finished
reading the note, and his eyes had assumed the
vacant, lack-lustre expression which showed mentai
abstraction.
“How in the world did you deduce that?" I
asked.
“Deduce what?" said he, petulantly.
" Why, that he was a retired sergeant of Marines."
“I have no time for trifles," he answered,
brusquely ; then with a smile, “Excuse my rude-
You broke the thread of my thoughts; but
perhaps it is as well. So you actually were not able
to see that that man was a sergeant of Marines ?"
“No, indeed.”
" It was easier to know it than to explain why
I know it. If you were asked to prove that two
and two made four, you might find some difficulty,
and yet you are quite sure of the fact. Even
across the street I could see
great blue anchor
tattooed on the back of the fellow's hand. That
smacked of the sea. He had a military carriage,
however, and regulation side whiskers. There we
have the marine. He was a man with some amount
of self-importance and a certain air of command.
You must have observed the way in which he held
his head and swung his cane. A steady, respect-
able, middle-aged man, too, on the face of him
all facts which led me to believe that he had been
a sergeant."


36
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
* Wonderful !" I ejaculated.
" Commonplace,” said Holmes, though I thought
from his expression that he was pleased at my
evident surprise and admiration. “I said just now
that there were no criminals. It appears that I am
wrong-look at this !” He threw me over the
note which the commissionaire had brought.
“Why,” I cried, as I cast my eye over it, “ this
is terrible!”
“ It does seem to be a little out of the common,"
he remarked, calmly. “Would you mind reading
it to me aloud ?”
This is the letter which I read to him,-
“ MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,
“There has been a bad business during the
night at 3, Lauriston Gardens, off the Brixton
Road. Our man on the beat saw a light there
about two in the morning, and as the house was
an empty one, suspected that something was amiss.
He found the door open, and in the front room,
which is bare of furniture, discovered the body of
a gentleman, well dressed, and having cards in his
pocket bearing the name of 'Enoch J. Drebber,
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.' There had been no
robbery, nor is there any evidence as to how the
man met his death. There are marks of blood in
the room, but there is no wound upon his person.
We are at a loss as to how he came into the empty
house ; indeed the whole affair is a puzzler, If


A STUDY IN SCARLET,
37
you can come round to the house any time before
twelve, you will find me there. I have left every-
thing in statu quo until I hear from you. If you
are unable to come, I shall give you fuller details,
and would esteem it a great kindness if you would
favour me with your opinion.
“Yours faithfully,
TOBIAS GREGSON."
..
" Gregson is the smartest of the Scotland
Yarders," my friend remarked; "he and Lestrade
are the pick of a bad lot. They are both quick
and energetic, but conventional-shockingly so.
They have their knives into one another, too. They
are as jealous as a pair of professional beauties.
There will be some fun over this case if they are
both put upon the scent."
I was amazed at the calm way in which he
rippled on. “Surely there is not a moment to
be lost," I cried; "shall I go and order you a
cab?"
I'm not sure about whether I shall go. I am
the most incurably lazy devil that ever stood in
shoe leather—that is, when the fit is on me, for I
can be spry enough at times."
“Why, it is just such a chance as you have been
longing for."
“My dear fellow, what does it matter to me?
Supposing I unravel the whole matter, you may be
sure that Gregson, Lestrade, and Co. will pocket


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
all the credit. That comes of being an unofficial
personage.”
"But he begs you to help him."
“Yes. He knows that I am his superior, and
acknowledges it to me; but he would cut his
tongue out before he would own it to any third
person. However, we may as well go and have a
look. I shall work it out on my own hook. I
may have a laugh at them, if I have nothing else.
Come on!"
He hustled on his overcoat, and bustled about
in a way that showed that an energetic fit had
superseded the apathetic one.
“Get your hat," he said.
“ You wish me to come ?"
“Yes, if you have nothing better to do.” A minute
later we were both in a hansom, driving furiously
for the Brixton Road.
It was a foggy, cloudy morning, and a dun-
coloured veil hung over the house-tops, looking like
the reflection of the mud-coloured streets beneath,
My companion was in the best of spirits, and
prattled away about Cremona fiddles, and the differ-
ence between a Stradivarius and an Amati. As
for myself, I was silent, for the dull weather and
the melancholy business upon which we were en-
gaged, depressed my spirits.
" You don't seem to give much thought to the
matter in hand," I said at last, interrupting Holmes,
musical disquisition.


À STUDY IN SCARLÉT.
39
"No data yet,” he answered. “It is a capital
mistake to theorize before you have all the evi-
dence. It biases the judgment."
"You will have your data soon," I remarked,
pointing with my finger; “this is the Brixton
Road, and that is the house, if I am not very much
mistaken."
"So it is. Stop, driver, stop!” We were still
a hundred yards or so from it, but he insisted upon
our alighting, and we finished our journey upon
foot.
Number 3, Lauriston Gardens wore an ill-omened
and minatory look. It was one of four which stood
back some little way from the street, two being
occupied and two empty. The latter looked out
with three tiers of vacant melancholy windows,
which were blank and dreary, save that here and
there a "To Let" card had developed like a cataract
upon the bleared panes. A small garden sprinkled
over with a scattered eruption of sickly plants
separated each of these houses from the street, and
was traversed by a narrow pathway, yellowish in
colour, and consisting apparently of a mixture of
clay and of gravel. The whole place was very
sloppy from the rain which had fallen through the
night. The garden was bounded by a three-foot
trick wall with a fringe of wood rails upon the top,
and against this wall was leaning a stalwart police
constable, surrounded by a small knot of loafers,
who craned their necks and strained their eyes in


40
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
the vain hope of catching some glimpse of the pro-
ceedings within
I had imagined that Sherlock Holmes would at
once have hurried into the house and plunged into
a study of the mystery. Nothing appeared to be
further from his intention. With an air of non-
chalance which, under the circumstances, seemed
to me to border upon affectation, he lounged up
and down the pavement, and gazed vacantly at the
ground, the sky, the opposite houses and the line
of railings. Having finished his scrutiny, he pro-
ceeded slowly down the path, or rather down the
fringe of grass which flanked the path, keeping his
eyes riveted upon the ground. Twice he stopped,
and once I saw him smile, and heard him utter an
exclamation of satisfaction. There were many
marks of footsteps upon the wet clayey soil ; but
since the police had been coming and going over
it, I was unable to see how my companion could
hope to learn anything from it. Still I had had
such extraordinary evidence of the quickness of his
perceptive faculties, that I had no doubt that he
could see a great deal which was hidden from me.
At the door of the house we were met by a tall,
white-faced, flaxen-haired man, with a notebook in
his hand, who rushed forward and wrung my com-
panion's hand with effusion. “It is indeed kind of
you to come,” he said, " I have had everything left
untouched."
"Except that !” my friend answered, pointing at


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
41
the pathway. “If a herd of buffaloes had passed
along there could not be a greater mess. No doubt,
however, you had drawn your own conclusions,
Gregson, before you permitted this."
“I have had so much to do inside the house,”
the detective said evasively. “My colleague, Mr.
Lestrade, is here. I had relied upon him to look
after this.”
Holmes glanced at me and raised his eyebrows
sardonically. “With two such men as yourself and
Lestrade upon the ground, there will not be much
for a third party to find out,” he said.
Gregson rubbed his hands in a self-satisfied way.
" I think we have done all that can be done,” he
answered ; "it's a queer case though, and I knew
your taste for such things.”
“ You did not come here in a cab?" asked Sher-
lock Holmes.
"No, sir."
“ Nor Lestrade ? "
"No, sir."
“Then let us go and look at the room." With
which inconsequent remark he strode on into the
house, followed by Gregson, whose features ex-
pressed his astonishment.
A short passage, bare-planked and dusty, led to
the kitchen and offices. Two doors opened out of
it to the left and to the right. One of these had
obviously been closed for many weeks. The other
belonged to the dining-room, which was the apart.


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
ment in which the mysterious affair had occurred.
Holmes walked in, and I followed him with that
subdued feeling at my heart which the presence of
death inspires.
It was a large square room, looking all the larger
from the absence of all furniture. A vulgar flaring
paper adorned the walls, but it was blotched in
places with mildew, and here and there great strips
had become detached and hung down, exposing
the yellow plaster beneath. Opposite the door
was a showy fireplace, surmounted by a mantel-
piece of imitation white marble. On one corner
of this was stuck the stump of a red wax candle.
The solitary window was so dirty that the light was
hazy and uncertain, giving a dull grey tinge to
everything, which was intensified by the thick layer
of dust which coated the whole apartment.
All these details I observed afterwards. At
present my attention was centred upon the single,
grim, motionless figure which lay stretched upon
the boards, with vacant, sightless eyes staring up
at the discoloured ceiling. It was that of a man
about forty-three or forty-four years of age, middle-
sized, broad-shouldered, with crisp curling black
hair, and a short, stubbly beard. He was dressed
in a heavy broadcloth frock coat and waistcoat, with
light-coloured trousers, and immaculate collar and
cuffs. A top hat, well brushed and trim, was
placed upon the floor beside him. His hands were
clenched and his arms thrown abroad, while his


A STUDY IN SCARLET,
43
lower limbs were interlocked, as though his death
struggle had been a grievous one. On his rigid
face there stood an expression of horror, and, as it
seemed to me, of hatred, such as I have never seen
upon human features. This malignant and terrible
contortion, combined with the low forehead, blunt
nose, and prognathous jaw, gave the dead man a
singularly simious and ape-like appearance, which
was increased by his writhing, unnatural posture.
I have seen death in many forms, but never has it
appeared to me in a more fearsome aspect than in
that dark, grimy apartment, which looked out upon
one of the main arteries of suburban London.
Lestrade, lean and ferret-like as ever, was stand-
ing by the doorway, and greeted my companion
and myself.
"This case will make a stir, sir," he remarked.
" It beats anything I have seen, and I am no
chicken."
“There is no clue?” said Gregson.
“None at all," chimed in Lestrade.
Sherlock Holmes approached the body, and,
kneeling down, examined it intently. “You are
sure that there is no wound?” he asked, pointing
to numerous gouts and splashes of blood which
lay all round.
“ Positive !" cried both detectives.
" Then, of course, this blood belongs to a second
individual-presumably the murderer, if murder
has been committed. It reminds me of the cir-


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
cumstances attendant on the death of Van Jansen,
in Utrecht, in the year '34 Do you remember the
case, Gregson ?"
"No, sir."
"Read it up-you really should. There is no

caur
Cso, Hulchinson.
SHERLOCK HOLMES APPROACHED THE BODY, AND, KNEELING DOWN
EXAMINED IT INTENTLY."
thing new under the sun. It has all been done
before."
As he spoke, his nimble fingers were flying here,
there, and everywhere, feeling, pressing, unbutton-
ing, examining, while his eyes wore the same far-
away expression which I have already remarked
upon. So swiftly was the examination made, thật


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
45
one would hardly have guessed the minuteness
with which it was conducted. Finally, he sniffed
the dead man's lips, and then glanced at the soles
of his patent leather boots.
“ He has not been moved at all ?” he asked.
“No more than was necessary for the purposes
of our examination."
“ You can take him to the mortuary now," he
said. "There is nothing more to be learned."
Gregson had a stretcher and four men at hand.
At his call they entered the room, and the stranger
was lifted and carried out. As they raised him, a
ring tinkled down and rolled across the floor.
Lestrade grabbed it up and stared at it with
mystified eyes.
“ There's been a woman here," he cried.
a woman's wedding-ring."
He held it out, as he spoke, upon the palm of
his hand. We all gathered round him and gazed
at it. There could be no doubt that that circlet of
plain gold had once adorned the finger of a bride.
“This complicates matters," said Gregson.
Heaven knows, they were complicated enough
before."
"You're sure it doesn't simplify them?” ob-
served Holmes. “There's nothing to be learned
by staring at it. What did you find in his
pockets ?”
“We have it all here," said Gregson, pointing to
a litter of objects upon one of the bottom steps of
" It's


46
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
the stairs. "A gold watch, No. 97163, by Barraud,
of London. Gold Albert chain, very heavy and
solid. Gold ring, with masonic device. Gold pin
--bull-dog's head, with rubies as eyes. Russian
leather card-case, with cards of Enoch J. Drebber
of Cleveland, corresponding with the E. J. D.
upon the linen. No purse, but loose money to the
extent of seven pounds thirteen. Pocket edition
of Boccaccio's 'Decameron,' with name of Joseph
Stangerson upon the fly-leaf. Two letters-one
addressed to E. J. Drebber and one to Joseph
Stangerson."
“At what address ?"
"American Exchange, Strand—to be left till
called for. They are both from the Guion Steam
ship Company, and refer to the sailing of their
boats from Liverpool. It is clear that this unfor-
tunate man was about to return to New York."
“ Have you made any inquiries as to this man
Stangerson ?"
“I did it at once, sir," said Gregson. “I have
had advertisements sent to all the newspapers, and
one of my men has gone to the American Ex-
change, but he has not returned yet.”
"Have you sent to Cleveland ? "
"We telegraphed this morning."
“How did you word your inquiries?”
“We simply detailed the circumstances, and said
that we should be glad of any information which
could help us.”


48
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
large piece had peeled off, leaving a yellow square
of coarse plastering. Across this bare space there
was scrawled in blood-red letters a single word
RACHE.
" What do you think of that ?" cried the detec-
tive, with the air of a showman exhibiting his
show. “This was overlooked because it was in
the darkest corner of the room, and no one
thought of looking there. The murderer has
written it with his or her own blood. See this
smear where it has trickled down the wall! That
disposes of the idea of suicide anyhow. Why was
that corner chosen to write it on? I will tell you.
See that candle on the mantelpiece. It was lit at
the time, and if it was lit this corner would be
the brightest instead of the darkest portion of the
wall.”
“ And what does it mean now that you have
found it?" asked Gregson in a depreciatory voice.
“ Mean? Why, it means that the writer was
going to put the female pame Rachel, but was
disturbed before he or she had time to finish.
You mark my words, when this case comes to be
cleared up, you will find that a woman named
Rachel has something to do with it. It's all very
well for you to laugh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. You
may be very smart and clever, but the old hound
is the best, when all is said and done."
"I really beg your pardon !” said my com-



Cartohtorchini Som Júr 42
"HE STRUCK A MATCH ON HIS BOOT AND HELD IT UP AGAINST
THE WALL


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
51
panion, 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 partici.
pant in last night's mystery. I have not had time
to examine this room yet, but with your per-
mission 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 exclama-
tions, 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 eager-
ness, until it comes across the lost scent. For
twenty minutes or more he continued his re-
searches, measuring with the most exact care the
distance between marks which were entirely in-
visible to me, and occasionally applying his tape
to the walls in an equally incomprehensible man-
ner. In one place he gathered up very carefully
a little pile of grey dust from the floor, and packed


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
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 man-
euvres of their amateur companion with consider-
able 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 any one 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.
Dance," he said. "He is off duty now. You will
“ John


A STUDY IN SCARLET,
53
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 Ger-
man for 'revenge'; so don't lose your time look-
ing 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.

was one o'clock
when we left
No. 3, Lauris-
ton Gardens.
Sherlock
Holmes led me
to the nearest
telegraph office,
whence he dis-
patched 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 re-
marked; "as a matter of fact,
my mind is entirely made
to Hureyingar
up upon the case, but still we
may as well learn all that is
to be learned."
"HE APPEARED PRESENTLY, LOOKING S4
A LITTLE IRRITABLE."


56
A STUDY IN SCARLET,
" And his age ?" I asked.
“Well, if a man can stride four and a-half feet
without the smallest effort, he can't be quite in
the sere and yellow. That was the breadth of a
puddle on the garden walk which he had evidently
walked across.
Patent-leather boots had gone
round, and Square-toes had hopped over. There
is no mystery about it at all. I am simply apply.
ing to ordinary life a few of those precepts of
observation and deduction which I advocated in
that article. Is there anything else that puzzles
you ?"
“The finger-nails and the Trichinopoly,” I sug-
gested.
“The writing on the wall was done with a man's
fore-finger dipped in blood. My glass allowed me
to observe that the plaster was slightly scratched
in doing it, which would not have been the case if
the man's nail had been trimmed. I gathered up
some scattered ash from the floor. It was dark in
colour and flakey-such an ash as is only made by
a Trichinopoly. I have made a special study of
cigar ashes--in fact, I have written a monograph
upon the subject. I flatter myself that I can dis-
tinguish at a glance the ash of any known brand
either of cigar or of tobacco. It
It is just in such
details that the skilled detective differs from the
Gregson and Lestrade type."
“ And the florid face ?" I asked.
"Ah, that was a more daring shot, though I have


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
57
I
no doubt that I was right. You must not ask me
that at the present state of the affair."
passed my hand over my brow. "My head is
in a whirl," I remarked; "the more one thinks of
it the more mysterious it grows. How came these
two men-if there were two men-into an empty
house? What has become of the cabman who
drove them? How could one man compel another
to take poison? Where did the blood come from?
What was the object of the murderer, since robbery
had no part in it? How came the woman's ring
there? Above all, why should the second man
write up the German word RACHE before de-
camping? I confess that I cannot see any possible
way of reconciling all these facts."
My companion smiled approvingly.
"You sum up the difficulties of the situation
succinctly and well,” he said. “ There is much
that is still obscure, though I have quite made up
my mind on the main facts. As to poor Lestrade's
discovery, it was simply a blind intended to put the
police upon a wrong track, by suggesting Socialism
and secret societies. It was not done by a Ger-
man. The A, if you noticed, was printed some-
what after the German fashion. Now, a real Ger-
man invariably prints in the Latin character, so
that we may safely say that this was not written by
one, but by a clumsy imitator who overdid his
part. It was simply a ruse to divert inquiry into
a wrong channel. I'm not going to tell you much


58
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
more of the case, Doctor. You know a conjuror
gets no credit when once he has explained his
trick; and if I show you too much of my method
of working, you will come to the conclusion that I
am a very ordinary individual after all."
" I shall never do that," I answered ; " you have
brought detection as near an exact science as it
ever will be brought in this world."
My companion flushed up with pleasure at my
words, and the earnest way in which I uttered
them. I had already observed that he was as
sensitive to flattery on the score of his art as any
girl could be of her beauty.
“ I'll tell you one other thing," he said.
“ Patent-
leathers and Square-toes came in the same cab,
and they walked down the pathway together as
friendly as possible--arm-in-arm, in all probability.
When they got inside, they walked up and down
the room-or rather, Patent-leathers stood still
while Square-toes walked up and down. I could
read all that in the dust; and I could read that as
he walked he grew more and more excited. That
is shown by the increased length of his strides.
He was talking all the while, and working him-
self up, no doubt, into a fury. Then the tragedy
occurred. I've told you all I know myself now, for
the rest is mere surmise and conjecture. We have
a good working basis, however, on which to start.
We must hurry up, for I want to go to Halle's
concert to hear Norman Neruda this afternoon."


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
59
This conversation had occurred while our cab
had been threading its way through a long succes-
sion of dingy streets and dreary byways. In the
dingiest and dreariest of them our driver suddenly
came to a stand. “That's Audley Court in there,"
he said, pointing to a narrow slit in the line of
dead-coloured brick. “You'll find me here when
you come back."
Audley Court was not an attractive locality.
The narrow passage led us into a quadrangle paved
with flags and lined by sordid dwellings. We
picked our way among groups of dirty children,
and through lines of discoloured linen, until we
came to Number 46, the door of which was deco-
rated with a small slip of brass on which the name
Rance was engraved. On inquiry we found that
the constable was in bed, and we were shown into
a little front parlour to await his coming.
He appeared presently, looking a little irritable
at being disturbed in his slumbers. "I made my
report at the office," he said.
Holmes took a half-sovereign from his pocket and
played with it pensively. “We thought that we
should like to hear it all from your own lips,” he said.
" I shall be most happy to tell you anything I
can," the constable answered, with his eyes upon
the little golden disk.
" Just let us hear it all in your own way as it
occurred."
Rance sat down on the horsehair sofa. and knitted


60
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
his brows, as though determined not to omit any-
thing in his narrative.
“ I'll tell it ye from the beginning," he said. "My
time is from ten at night to six in the morning. At
eleven there was a fight at the 'White Hart'; but
bar that all was quiet enough on the beat. At one
o'clock it began to rain, and I met Harry Murcher
-him who has the Holland Grove beat-and we
stood together at the corner of Henrietta Street
a-talkin'. Presently-maybe about two or a little
after-I thought I would take a look round and
see that all was right down the Brixton Road. It
was precious dirty and lonely. Not a soul did I
meet all the way down, though a cab or two went
past me. I was a-strollin' down, thinkin' between
ourselves how uncommon handy a four of gin hot
would be, when suddenly the glint of a light caught
my eye in the window of that same house. Now,
I knew that them two houses in Lauriston Gardens
was empty on account of him that owns them who
won't have the drains seed too, though the very
last tenant what lived in one of them died o'
typhoid fever. I was knocked all in a heap, there-
fore, at seeing a light in the window, and I sus-
pected as something was wrong. When I got to
the door
“ You stopped, and then walked back to the
garden gate," my companion interrupted.
nterrupted. “What
did you do that for?”
Rance gave a violent jump, and stared at Sher-



Calamusops
"JOHN RAN
ANCE SPRANG TO HIS FEET WITH A FRIGHTENED FACE."
61


À sIUDY IN SCARLET.
63
lock Holmes with the utmost amazement upon his
features.
“Why, that's true, sir," he said ; "though how
you come to know it, Heaven only knows, Ye see
when I got up to the door, it was so still and so
lonesome, that I thought I'd be none the worse
for some one with me. I ain't afeard of anything
on this side o' the grave; but I thought that maybe
it was him that died o' the typhoid inspecting the
drains what killed him. The thought gave me a
kind o' turn, and I walked back to the gate to see
if I could see Murcher's lantern, but there wasn't
no sign of him nor of any one else."
There was no one in the street ?"
“Not a livin' soul, sir, nor as much as a dog.
Then I pulled myself together and went back and
pushed the door open. All was quiet inside, so I
went into the room where the light was a-burnin'.
There was a candle flickerin' on the mantelpiece-
a red wax one-and by its light I saw-
“Yes, I know all that you saw. You walked
round the room several times, and you knelt dowr
by the body, and then you walked through and
tried the kitchen door, and then
John Rance sprang to his feet with a frightened
face and suspicion in his eyes.
• Where was you
hid to see all that?” he cried. “It seems to me
that you knows a deal more than
you
should”
Holmes laughed and threw his card across the
table to the constable. "Don't get arresting me
»
---
-


64
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
for the murder,” he said. “I am one of the hounds
and not the wolf ; Mr. Gregson or Mr. Lestrade
will answer for that. Go on, though. What did
you do next?”
Rance resumed his seat, without, however, losing
his mystified expression. “I went back to the gate
and sounded my whistle. That brought Murcher
and two more to the spot.”
“ Was the street empty then ? "
“Well, it was, as far as anybody that could be of
any good goes."
“ What do you mean?”
The constable's features broadened into a grin.
" I've seen many a drunk chap in my time," he said,
" but never any one so cryin' drunk as that cove.
He was at the gate when I came out, a-leanin'
up ag'in the railings, and a-singin' at the pitch o’
his lungs about Columbine's New-fangled Banner,
or some such stuff. He couldn't stand, far less
help."
“What sort of a man was he?" asked Sherlock
Holmes.
John Rance appeared to be somewhat irritated
at this digression. “He was an uncommon drunk
sort o' man," he said. "He'd ha' found hisself in
the station if we hadn't been so took up."
“ His face-his dress—didn't you notice them ?"
Holmes broke in impatiently.
" I should think I did notice them, seeing that I
had to prop him up-me and Murcher between us


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
65
He was a long chap, with a red face, the lower part
muffled round

BAUT
Bro. Huleyinoon
" HE WAS AN UNCOMMON DRUNK SORT OF WAN.'"
" What became
" That will do," cried Holmes.
of him?"
F


66
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
“We'd enough to do without lookin' after him,"
the policeman said, in an aggrieved voice. "I'll
wager he found his way home all right."
"How was he dressed ?"
"A brown overcoat.”
"Had he a whip in his hand ?"
“A whip--no."
"He must have left it behind," muttered my
companion. “You didn't happen to see or hear a
cab after that ?"
“ No."
“There's a half-sovereign for you,” my com-
panion said, standing up and taking his hat. “]
am afraid, Rance, that you will never rise in the
force. That head of yours should be for use as
well as ornament. You might have gained your
sergeant's stripes last night. The man whom you
held in your hands is the man who holds the clue
of this mystery, and whom we are seeking. There
is no use of arguing about it now ; I tell you that
it is so. Come along, Doctor."
We started off for the cab together, leaving our
informant incredulous, but obviously uncomfortable.
“The blundering fool!” Holmes said, bitterly, as
we drove back to our lodgings. “Just to think of
his having such an incomparable bit of good luck,
and not taking advantage of it."
“I am rather in the dark still. It is true that
the description of this man tallies with your idea
of the second party in this mystery. But why


A STUDY IN SCARLET
67
should he come back to the house after leaving it?
That is not the way of criminals."
" The ring, man, the ring : that was what he
came back for. If we have no other way of catch-
ing him, we can always bait our line with the ring.
I shall have him, Doctor-I'll lay you two to one
that I have him. I must thank you for it all. I
might not have gone but for you, and so have
missed the finest study I ever came across: a study
in scarlet, eh? Why shouldn't we use a little art
jargon. There's the scarlet thread of murder run-
ning through the colourless skein of life, and our
duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose
every inch of it. And now for lunch, and then for
Norman Neruda. Her attack and her bowing are
splendid What's that little thing of Chopin's
she plays so magnificently : Tra-la-la-lira-lira-lay.”
Leaning back in the cab, this amateur blood-
hound carolled away like a lark while I meditated
upon the manysidedness of the human mind.


CHAPTER V.
OUR ADVERTISEMENT BRINGS A VISITOR.

morn-
ing's
exer-
tions
had
been
too
much for my weak
health, and I was
tired out in the
afternoon. After
Holmes' depar-
ture for the con-
cert, I lay down
upon the sofa and
endeavour-
ed to get
couple
of hours'
WHEN I RETURNED WITH THE PISTOL."
a
68


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
oy
sleep. It was a useless attempt. My mind had
been too much excited by all that had occurred,
and the strangest fancies and surmises crowded
into it. Every time that I closed my eyes I saw
before me the distorted, baboon-like countenang
of the murdered man. So sinister was the im.
pression which that face had produced upon me
that I found it difficult to feel anything but grati.
tude for him who had removed its owner from the
world. If ever human features bespoke vice of the
most malignant type, they were certainly those of
Enoch J. Drebber, of Cleveland. Still I recognised
that justice must be done, and that the depravity
of the victim was no condonement in the eyes of
he law.
The more I thought of it the more extraordinary
did my companion's hypothesis, that the man had
been poisoned, appear. I remembered how he had
sniffed his lips, and had no doubt that he had
detected something which had given rise to the
idea. Then, again, if not poison, what had caused
the man's death, since there was neither wound
nor marks of strangulation? But, on the other
hand, whose blood was that which lay so thickly
upon the floor? There were no signs of a struggle,
nor had the victim any weapon with which he
might have wounded an antagonist. As long as
all these questions were unsolved, I felt that sleep
would be no easy matter, either for Holmes or
myself. His quiet, self-confident manner convinced


70
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
me that he had already formed a theory which
explained all the facts, though what it was I could
not for an instant conjecture.
He was very late in returning-so late that I
knew that the concert could not have detained him
all the time. Dinner was on the table before he
appeared.
“ It was magnificent," he said, as he took his
seat. “
"Do you remember what Darwin says about
music? He claims that the power of producing
and appreciating it existed among the human race
long before the power of speech was arrived at.
Perhaps that is why we are so subtly influenced by
it. There are vague memories in our souls of those
misty centuries when the world was in its child.
hood."
* That's rather a broad idea," I remarked.
"One's ideas must be as broad as Nature if they
are to interpret Nature," he answered. " What's
the matter? You're not looking quite yourself
.
This Brixton Road affair has upset you."
“ To tell the truth, it has," I said. “I ought
to be more case-hardened after my Afghan ex
periences. I saw my own comrades hacked to
pieces at Maiwand without losing my nerve."
"I can understand. There is a mystery about
this which stimulates the imagination ; where there
is no imagination there is no horror. Have you
seen the evening paper ?”
"No."


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
71
'It gives a fairly good account of the affair. It
does not mention the fact that when the man was
raised up a woman's wedding ring fell upon the
floor. It is just as well it does not.”
" Why?"
" Look at this advertisement,” he answered. "I
had one sent to every paper this morning im-
mediately after the affair."
He threw the paper across to me and I glanced
at the place indicated. It was the first announce-
ment in the "Found" column. “In Brixton Road,
this morning," it ran, “a plain gold wedding ring,
found in the roadway between the White Hart
Tavern and Holland Grove. Apply Dr. Watson,
221B, Baker Street, between eight and nine this
evening."
"Excuse my using your name," he said. "If I
used my own, some of these dunderheads would
recognise it, and want to meddie in the affair."
"That is all right," I answered. "But supposing
any one applies, I have no ring."
“Oh yes, you have,” said he, handing me one.
"This will do very well. It is almost a facsimile.”
"And who do you expect will answer this ad-
vertisement"
Why, the man in the brown coat-our florid
friend with the square toes. If he does not come
himself, he will send an accomplice."
"Would he not consider it as too dangerous ?"
« Not at all. If my view of the case is correct,
CC


72
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
and I have every reason to believe that it is, this
man would rather risk anything than lose the ring.
According to my notion he dropped it while stoop-
ing over Drebber's body, and did not miss it at the
time. After leaving the house he discovered his
loss and hurried back, but found the police already
in possession, owing to his own folly in leaving the
candle burning. He had to pretend to be drunk
in order to allay the suspicions which might have
been aroused by his appearance at the gate. Now
put yourself in that man's place. On thinking the
matter over, it must have occurred to him that it
was possible that he had lost the ring in the road
after leaving the house. What would he do then ?
He would eagerly look out for the evening papers
in the hope of seeing it among the articles found.
His eye, of course, would light upon this. He
would be overjoyed. Why should he fear a trap?
There would be no reason in his eyes why the
finding of the ring should be connected with the
murder.
He would come.
He will come.
You
shall see him within an hour ?”
“And then?” I asked.
“Oh, you can leave me to deal with him then,
Have you any arms? "
“ I have my old service revolver and a few cart-
ridges.”
“ You had better clean it and load it. He will
be a desperate man; and though I shall take him
anawares, it is as well to be ready for anything."



dames Greig
VC
“A very old woman hobbled into the apartment."
A Study in Scarlet]
[Page 74





A STUDY IN SCARLET.
73
I went to my bedroom and followed his advice.
When I returned with the pistol, the table had
been cleared, and Holmes was engaged in his
favourite occupation of scraping upon his violin.
"The plot thickens,” he said, as I entered ; “I
have just had an answer to my American telegram.
My view of the case is the correct one."
"And that is ?" I asked eagerly.
“My fiddle would be the better for new strings,"
he remarked. "Put your pistol in your pocket.
When the fellow comes, speak to him in an
ordinary way.
Leave the rest to me. Don't
frighten him by looking at him too hard.”
" It is eight o'clock now," I said, glancing at my
watch.
« Yes.
He will probably be here in a few
minutes. Open the door slightly. That will do.
Now put the key on the inside.
Thank you!
This is a queer old book I picked up at a stall
yesterday—De Jure inter Gentes'-published in
Latin at Liege in the Lowlands, in 1642. Charles's
head was still firm on his shoulders when this little
brown-backed volume was struck off."
“Who is the printer ?”
Philippe de Croy, whoever he may have been.
On the fly-leaf, in very faded ink, is written 'Ex
libris Guliolmi Whyte. I wonder who William
Whyte was. Some pragmatical seventeenth cen.
tury lawyer, I suppose. His writing has a legal
twist about it. Here comes our man, I think."


74
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
As he spoke there was a sharp ring at the bell.
Sherlock Holmes rose softly and moved his chair
in the direction of the door. We heard the servant
pass along the hall, and the sharp click of the
latch as she opened it.
“Does Dr. Watson live here?" asked a clear
but rather harsh voice. We could not hear the
servant's reply, but the door closed, and some one
began to ascend the stairs. The footfall was an
uncertain and shuffling one. A look of surprise
passed over the face of my companion as he
listened to it. It came slowly along the passage,
and there was a feeble tap at the door.
" Come in," I cried.
At my summons, instead of the man of violence
whom we expected, a very old and wrinkled
woman hobbled into the apartment.
peared to be dazzled by the sudden blaze of light,
and after dropping a curtsey, she stood blinking
at us with her bleared eyes and fumbling in her
pocket with nervous, shaky fingers. I glanced at
my companion, and his face had assumed such a
disconsolate expression that it was all I could do
to keep my countenance.
The old crone drew out an evening paper, and
pointed at our advertisement. " It's this as has
brought me, good gentlemen,” she said, dropping
another curtsey; "a gold wedding ring in the
Brixton Road. It belongs to my girl Sally, as
was married only this time twelvemonth, which
She ap-



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"THE OLD CRONB DREW OUT AN EVENING PAPER AND POINTED AT OUR
ADVERTISRMENT."





A STUDY IN SCARLET.
77
A weary
her husband is steward aboard a Union boat, and
what he'd say if he come 'ome and found her
without her ring is more than I can think, he being
short enough at the best o' times, but more es-
pecially when he has the drink. If it please you,
she went to the circus last night along with "
“ Is that her ring ?" I asked.
« The Lord be thanked !” cried the old woman;
“ Sally will be a glad woman this night. That's
the ring."
“And what may your address be ?” I inquired
taking up a pencil.
"13, Duncan Street, Houndsditch.
way from here."
“The Brixton Road does not lie between any
circus and Houndsditch," said Sherlock Holmes
sharply.
The old woman faced round and looked keenly at
him from her little red-rimmed eyes. “The gentle-
man asked me for my address,” she said. "Sally
lives in lodgings at 3, Mayfield Place, Peckham.”
“And your name is-
• My name is Sawyer-hers is Dennis, which
Tom Dennis married her-and a smart, clean lad,
too, as long as he's at sea, and no steward in the
company more thought of; but when on shore,
what with the women and what with liquor
shops"
“Here is your ring, Mrs. Sawyer," I interrupted,
in obedience to a sign from my companion ; "it
»


78
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
clearly belongs to your daughter, and I am glad to
be able to restore it to the rightful owner.”
With many mumbled blessings and protestations
of gratitude the old crone packed it away in her
pocket, and shuffled off down the stairs. Sherlock
Holmes sprang to his feet the moment that she
was gone and rushed into his room. He returned
in a few seconds enveloped in an ulster and a
cravat. “I'll follow her," he said, hurriedly; "she
must be an accomplice, and will lead me to him.
Wait up for me." The hall door had hardly
slammed behind our visitor before Holmes had
descended the stair. Looking through the window
I could see her walking feebly along the other side,
while her pursuer dogged her some little distance
behind. “Either his whole theory is incorrect," ]
thought to myself, "or else he will be led now to
the heart of the mystery." There was no need for
him to ask me to wait up for him, for I felt that
sleep was impossible until I heard the result of his
adventure.
It was close upon nine when he set out. I had
no idea how long he might be, but I sat stolidly
puffing at my pipe and skipping over the pages of
Henri Murger's “Vie de Bohème." Ten o'clock
passed, and I heard the footsteps of the maid as
they pattered off to bed. Eleven, and the more
stately tread of the landlady passed my door, bound
for the same destination, It was close upon twelve
before I heard the sharp scund of his latch-key.


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
79
The instant he entered I saw by his face that he
had not been successful. Amusement and chagrip

Con torsiyong
HER PURSUER DOGGED HER SOMX LITTLR DISTANCE BEHIND."
seemed to be struggling for the mastery, until the
former suddenly carried the day, and he burst into
a hearty laugh.


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
81
fear it will be some time before he gets his fare.
On inquiring at Number 13 we found that the
house belonged to a respectable paperhanger,
named Keswick, and that no one of the name
either of Sawyer or Dennis had ever been heard
of there."
" You don't mean to say," I cried, in amaze-
ment, “ that that tottering, feeble old woman was
able to get out of the cab while it was in motion,
without either you or the driver seeing her?”
« Old woman be damned !” said
said Sherlock
Holmes, sharply. “We were the old women to
be so taken in. It must have been a young man,
and an active one, too, besides being an incompar-
able actor. The get-up was inimitable. He saw
that he was followed, no doubt, and used this
means of giving me the slip. It shows that the
man we are after is not as lonely as I imagined he
was, but has friends who are ready to risk some-
thing for him. Now, Doctor, you are looking
done-up. Take my advice and turn in."
I was certainly feeling very weary, so I obeyed
his injunction. I left Holmes seated in front of
the smouldering fire, and long into the watches of
the night I heard the low, melancholy wailings of
his violin, and knew that he was still pondering
over the strange problem which he had set himself
to unravel.


CHAPTER VI.
TOBIAS GREGSON SHOWS WHAT HE CAN DO.

papers next day
were full of the
« Brixton Mystery,"
as they termed it
Each had a long
account of the affair,
and some had leaders upon
it in addition. There was
some information in them
which was new to me.
still retain in my scrap-book
numerous clippings and ex.
tracts bearing upon the case.
Here is a condensation of a
few of them :-
The Daily Telegraph re-
marked that in the history
CAME UP THE STAIRS THREE STEPS of crime there had seldom
I
AT A TIME."


84
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
Drebber's body was, as recorded, discovered in an
empty house in the Brixton Road, many miles
from Euston. How he came there, or how he met
his fate, are questions which are still involved in
mystery. Nothing is known of the whereabouts of
Stangerson. We are glad to learn that Mr. Les-
trade and Mr. Gregson, of Scotland Yard, are both
engaged upon the case, and it is confidently antici-
pated that these well-known officers will speedily
throw light upon the matter.
The Daily News observed that there was no
doubt as to the crime being a political one. The
despotism and hatred of Liberalism which animated
the Continental Governments had had the effect of
driving to our shores a number of men who might
have made excellent citizens were they not soured
by the recollection of all that they had under-
gone. Among these men there was a stringent
code of honour, any infringement of which was
punished by death. Every effort should be made
to find the secretary, Stangerson, and to ascertain
some particulars of the habits of the deceased.
A great step had been gained by the dis-
covery of the address of the house at which he
had boarded—a result which was entirely due to
the acuteness and energy of Mr. Gregson of Scot.
land Yard.
Sherlock Holmes and I read these notices over
together at breakfast, and they appeared to afford
him considerable amusement.



0.00
Crohtulehujioz
" IT'S THE BAKER STREET DIVISION OF THE DETECTIVE POLICE PORCE.


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
87
" I told you that, whatever happened, Lestrade
and Gregson would be sure to score."
"That depends on how it turns out."
"Oh, bless you, it doesn't matter in the least.
If the man is caught, it will be on account of their
exertions ; if he escapes, it will be in spite of their
exertions. It's heads I win and tails you lose.
Whatever they do, they will have followers. Un
sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l'admire.''
“What on earth is this?" I cried, for at this mo-
ment there came the pattering of many steps in the
hall and on the stairs, accompanied by audible ex.
pressions of disgust upon the part of our landlady.
" It's the Baker Street division of the detective
police force," said my companion gravely; and as
he spoke there rushed into the room half a dozen
of the dirtiest and most ragged street Arabs that
ever I clapped eyes on.
“ 'Tention ! " cried Holmes, in a sharp tone, and
the six dirty little scoundrels stood in a line like
so many disreputable statuettes.
« In future you
shall send up Wiggins alone to report, and the rest
of you must wait in the street. Have you found
it, Wiggins ?”
"No, sir, we hain't," said one of the youths.
I hardly expected you would. You must keep
on until you do. Here are your wages." He
handed each of them a shilling. “Now, off you go,
and come back with a better report next time.”
He waved his hand, and they scampered away


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
downstairs like so many rats, and we heard their
shrill voices next moment in the street.
“There's more work to be got out of one of
those little beggars than out of a dozen of the
force," Holmes remarked. “'The mere sight of an
official-looking person seals men's lips. These
youngsters, however, go everywhere and hear
everything They are as sharp as needles, too;
all they want is organization.”
" Is it on this Brixton case that you are employ-
ing them?" I asked.
“Yes ; there is a point which I wish to ascertain.
It is merely a matter of time.
Hullo! we are
going to hear some news now with a vengeance !
Here is Gregson coming down the road with beati-
tude written upon every feature of his face. Bound
for us, I know. Yes, he is stopping. There he is ! ”
There was a violent peal at the bell, and in a
few seconds the fair-haired detective came up the
stairs, three steps at a time, and burst into our
sitting-room.
“My dear fellow," he cried, wringing Holmes'
unresponsive hand,"congratulate me! I have made
the whole thing as clear as day."
A shade of anxiety seemed to me to cross my
companion's expressive face.
“Do you mean that you are on the right track ?"
he asked.
“The right track! Why, sir, we have the man
under lock and key."


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
89
" And his name is ? "
Arthur Charpentier, sub-lieutenant in Her
Majesty's navy," cried Gregson pompously rub-
bing his fat hands and inflating his chest.
Sherlock Holmes gave a sigh of relief and re-
laxed into a smile.
"Take a seat, and try one of these cigars," he
said. “We are anxious to know how you managed
it. Will you have some whiskey and water ?”
"I don't mind if I do," the detective answered.
“ The tremendous exertions which I have gone
through during the last day or two have worn me
out. Not so much bodily exertion, you understand,
as the strain upon the mind. You will appreciate
that, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, for we are both brain-
workers."
"You do me too much honour," said Holmes,
gravely. “Let us hear how you arrived at this
most gratifying result.”
The detective seated himself in the arm-chair, and
puffed complacently at his cigar. Then suddenly
he slapped his thigh in a paroxysm of amusement.
“ The fun of it is," he cried, “that that fool
Lestrade, who thinks himself so smart, has gone
off upon the wrong track altogether. He is after
the secretary Stangerson, who had no more to do
with the crime than the babe unborn. I have no
doubt that he has caught him by this time.”
The idea tickled Gregson so much that he
laughed until he choked.


90
A STUDY IN SCARLET,
" And how did you get your
clue ?"
“Ah, I'll tell you all about it. Of course, Doctor
Watson, this is strictly between ourselves. The
first difficulty which we had to contend with was
the finding of this American's antecedents. Some
people would have waited until their advertisements
were answered, or until parties came forward and
volunteered information. That is not Tobias
Gregson's way of going to work. You remember
the hat beside the dead man ?”
“ Yes," said Holmes ; " by John Underwood and
Sons, 129, Camberwell Road.”
Gregson looked quite crest-fallen.
" I had no idea that you noticed that," he said.
"Have you been there ? ”
“ No."
" Hal” cried Gregson, in a relieved voice; "you
should never neglect a chance, however small it
may seem.”
"To a great mind, nothing is little," remarked
Holmes, sententiously.
"Well, I went to Underwood, and asked him it
he had sold a hat of that size and description. He
looked over his books, and came on it at once.
He had sent the hat to a Mr. Drebber, residing
at Charpentier's Boarding Establishment, Torquay
Terrace. Thus I got at his address.
Smart—very
smart!" murmured Sherlock
Holmes.
"I next called upon Madame Charpentier," con.


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
91
• Have you
tinued the detective. "I found her very pale and
distressed. Her daughter was in the room, too-
an uncommonly fine girl she is, too; she was
looking red about the eyes and her lips trembled
as I spoke to her. That didn't escape my notice.
I began to smell a rat. You know the feeling, Mr.
Sherlock Holmes, when you come upon the right
scent-a kind of thrill in your nerves.
heard of the mysterious death of your late boarder
Mr. Enoch J. Drebber, of Cleveland ?" I asked.
“ The mother nodded. She didn't seem able to
get out a word. The daughter burst into tears.
felt more than ever that these people knew some-
thing of the matter.
" At what o'clock did Mr. Drebber leave your
house for the train ?" I asked.
"" At eight o'clock,' she said, gulping in her
throat to keep down her agitation. His secretary,
Mr. Stangerson, said that there were two trains-
one at 9.15 and one at 11. He was to catch the
first.'
". And was that the last which you saw of him ?'
“ A terrible change came over the woman's face
as I asked the question. Her features turned per-
fectly livid. It was some seconds before she could
get out the single word 'Yes'-and when it did
come it was in a husky, unnatural tone.
"There was silence for a moment, and then the
daughter spoke in a calm, clear voice.
"No good can ever come of falsehood, mother'


92
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
she said. Let us be frank with this gentleman.
We did see Mr. Drebber again.'
""God forgive you l' cried Madame Charpentier,
throwing up her hands and sinking back in her
chair. "You have murdered your brother.'
u • Arthur would rather that we spoke the truth,'
the girl answered firmly.
" You had best tell me all about it now,' I said.
Half-confidences are worse than none. Besides,
you
do not know how much we know of it.'
«« On your head be it, Alice !" cried her mother;
and then, turning to me, I will tell you all, sir.
Do not imagine that my agitation on behalf of my
son arises from any fear lest he should have had a
hand in this terrible affair. He is utterly innocent
of it. My dread is, however, that in your eyes and
in the eyes of others he may appear to be com-
promised. That, however, is surely impossible.
His high character, his profession, his antecedents
would all forbid it.'
«• Your best way is to make a clean breast of the
facts,' I answered. *Depend upon it, if your son is
innocent he will be none the worse.'
"Perhaps, Alice, you had better leave us to-
gether,' she said, and her daughter withdrew
Now, sir,' she continued, 'I had no intention of
telling you all this, but since my poor daughter
has disclosed it I have no alternative. Having
once decided to speak, I will tell you all without
omitting any particular.'


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
93
* It is your wisest course,' said I.
“. Mr. Drebber has been with us nearly three
weeks. He and his secretary, Mr. Stangerson, had
been travelling on the Continent. I noticed a
Copenhagen" label upon each of their trunks,
showing that that had been their last stopping
place. Stangerson was a quiet, reserved man, but
his employer, I am sorry to say, was far otherwise.
He was coarse in his habits and brutish in his
ways. The very night of his arrival he became
very much the worse for drink, and, indeed, after
twelve o'clock in the day he could hardly ever be
said to be sober. His manners towards the maid.
servants were disgustingly free and familiar
Worst of all, he speedily assumed the same at.
titude towards my daughter, Alice, and spoke to
her more than once in a way which, fortunately,
she is too innocent to understand. On one oc-
casion he actually seized her in his arms and
embraced her-an outrage which caused his own
secretary to reproach him for his unmanly con-
duct.'
"But why did you stand all this?' I asked. 'I
suppose that you can get rid of your boarders
when you wish.' '
“Mrs. Charpentier blushed at my pertinent ques-
tion. 'Would to God that I had given him notice
on the very day that he came,' she said. “But it
was a sore temptation. They were paying a pound
A day each-fourteen pounds a week, and this is


94
1 STUDY IN SCARLET
the slack season. I am a widow, and my boy in
the Navy has cost me much. I grudged to lose
the money. I acted for the best. This last was
too much, however, and I gave him notice to leave
on account of it. That was the reason of his
going'
« Well?'
“My heart grew light when I saw him drive
away. My son is on leave just now, but I did not
tell him anything of all this, for his temper is
violent, and he is passionately fond of his sister.
When I closed the door behind them a load seemed
to be lifted from my mind. Alas, in less than an
hour there was a ring at the bell, and I learned
that Mr. Drebber had returned. He was much
excited, and evidently the worse for drink. He
forced his way into the room, where I was sitting
with my daughter, and made some incoherent re-
mark about having missed his train. He then
turned to Alice, and before my very face, proposed
to her that she should fly with him. “You are of
age,” he said, "and there is no law to stop you. I
have money enough and to spare. Never mind the
old girl here, but come along with me now straight
away. You shall live like a princess." Poor Alice
was so frightened that she shrunk away from him,
but he caught her by the wrist and endeavoured
to draw her towards the door. I screamed, and at
that moment my son Arthur came into the room.
What happened then I do not know. I heard





A STUDY IN SCARLET,
97
oaths and the confused sounds of a scuffle. I was
too terrified to raise my head. When I did look
up I saw, Arthur standing in the doorway laughing,
with a stick in his hand. “I don't think that fine
fellow will trouble us again,” he said. "I will just
go after him and see what he does with himself.”
With those words he took his hat and started oft
down the street. The next morning we heard of
Mr. Drebber's mysterious death.'
“This statement came from Mrs. Charpentier's
lips with many gasps and pauses. At times she
spoke so low that I could hardly catch the words.
I made shorthand notes of all that she said, how-
ever, so that there should be no possibility of a
mistake.”
" It's quite exciting," said Sherlock Holmes, with
a yawn. “What happened next?”
"When Mrs. Charpentier paused,” the detective
continued, “I saw that the whole case hung upon
one point. Fixing her with my eye in a way
which I always found effective with women, I
asked her at what hour her son returned.
"I do not know,' she answered.
". Not know ?'
"No; he has a latch-key, and he let himself in.'
After
you went to bed p'
6. Yes.'
"When did you go to bed ?'
« « About eleven.'
"So your son was gone at least two hours ?'
H


98
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
«« Yes.'
«Possibly four or five ?'
u Yes.'
" What was he doing during that time?'
"I do not know?' she answered, turning white
to her very lips.
“Of course after that there was nothing more to
be done. I found out where Lieutenant Charpentier
was, took two officers with me, and arrested him.
When I touched him on the shoulder and warned
him to come quietly with us, he answered us as
bold as brass, I suppose you are arresting me for
being concerned in the death of that scoundrel
Drebber,' he said. We had said nothing to him
about it, so that his alluding to it had a most sus-
picious aspect."
"Very," said Holmes.
" He still carried the heavy stick which the
inother described him as having with him when
he followed Drebber. It was a stout oak cudgel."
"What is your theory, then?"
"Well, my theory is that he followed Drebber
as far as the Brixton Road. When there, a fresh
altercation arose between them, in the course of
which Drebber received a blow from the stick, in
the pit of the stomach perhaps, which killed him
without leaving any mark. The night was so wet
that no one was about, so Charpentier dragged the
body of his victim into the empty house. As to
the candle, and the blood, and the writing on the


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
99
wall, and the ring, they may all be so many tricks
to throw the police on to the wrong scent."
“ Well done!” said Holmes in an encouraging
voice. “Really, Gregson, you are getting along.
We shall make something of you yet."
"I flatter myself that I have managed it rather
neatly,” the detective answered proudly. “The
young man volunteered a statement, in which he
said that after following Drebber some time, the
latter perceived him, and took a cab in order to
get away from him. On his way home he met an
old shipmate, and took a long walk with him. On
being asked where this old shipmate lived, he was
unable to give any satisfactory reply. I think the
whole case fits together uncommonly well. What
amuses me is to think of Lestrade, who had started
off upon the wrong scent. I am afraid he won't
make much of it. Why, by Jove, here's the very
man himself !”
It was indeed Lestrade, who had ascended the
stairs while we were talking, and who now entered
the room.
The assurance and jauntiness which
generally marked his demeanour and dress were,
however, wanting. His face was disturbed and
troubled, while his clothes were disarranged and
untidy. He had evidently come with the intention
of consulting with Sherlock Holmes, for on per-
ceiving his colleague he appeared to be embar-
rassed and put out. He stood in the centre of the
room, fumbling nervously with his hat and un-


100
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
certain what to do. “This is a most extraordinary
case,” he said at last—"a most incomprehensible
affair."
"Ah, you find it so, Mr. Lestrade!” cried Greg-
son, triumphantly. “I thought you would come
to that conclusion. Have you managed to find the
secretary, Mr. Joseph Stangerson ? "
“ The secretary, Mr. Joseph Stangerson," said
Lestrade gravely, "was murdered at Halliday's
Private Hotel about six o'clock this morning."

wa


CHAPTER VII.
LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS.
HE
intelligence with
which Lestrade
greeted us was
SO momentous
and so
unex-
pected that we were
all three fairly dumb-
foundered. Gregson
sprang out of his chair
and upset the remain-
der of his whiskey
and water. I stared
in silence at Sherlock
Holmes, whose lips
were compressed and
his brows drawn down
over his eyes.
“Stangerson too!"
he muttered.
* HE NEARLY PAINTED WHEN HE SAW IT."
plot thickens.”
Cott
« The
10)


Io
d STUDY IN SCARLET.
" It was quite thick enough before,” grumbled
Lestrade, taking a chair. “I seem to have dropped
into a sort of council of war."
"Are you-are you sure of this piece of intelli-
gence ?" stammered Gregson.
“I have just come from his room," said Le-
strade. “I was the first to discover what had
occurred."
“We have been hearing Gregson's view of the
matter," Holmes observed. “ Would you mind
letting us know what you have seen and done ? "
“I have no objection,” Lestrade answered, seat-
ing himself. “I freely confess that I was of the
opinion that Stangerson was concerned in the
death of Drebber. This fresh development has
shown me that I was completely mistaken. Full
of the one idea, I set myself to find out what had
become of the secretary. They had been seen
together at Euston Station about half-past eight on
the evening of the third. At two in the morning
Drebber had been found in the Brixton Road.
The question which confronted me was to find out
how Stangerson had been employed between 8.30
and the time of the crime, and what had become
of him afterwards. I telegraphed to Liverpool,
giving a description of the man, and warning them
to keep a watch upon the American boats. I then
set to work calling upon all the hotels and lodging-
houses in the vicinity of Euston. You see, I
argued that if Drebber and his companion had


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
103
become separated, the natural course for the latter
would be to put up somewhere in the vicinity for
the night, and then to hang about the station again
next morning."
“They would be likely to agree on some meet-
ing-place beforehand,” remarked Holmes.
"So it proved. I spent the whole of yesterday
evening in making inquiries entirely without avail.
This morning I began very early, and at eight
o'clock I reached Halliday's Private Hotel, in
Little George Street. On my inquiry as to
whether a Mr. Stangerson was living there, they
at once answered me in the affirmative.
"No doubt you are the gentleman whom he
was expecting,' they said. "He has been waiting
for a gentleman for two days.'
«* Where is he now?' I asked.
“He is upstairs in bed. He wished to be called
at nine.'
" I will go up and see him at once,' I said.
“ It seemed to me that my sudden appearance
might shake his nerves and lead him to say some-
thing 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' ex-
perience. From under the door there curled a
little red ribbon of blood, which had meandered


106
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
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 con-
taining 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 amaze-
ment.
“ 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 Stanger-
son 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


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
107
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. It's 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,


TIO
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
were gradually clearing away, and I began to have
a dim, vague perception of the truth.
"All this seems strange to you," continued
Holmes, “because you failed at the beginning of
the inquiry to grasp the importance of the single
real clue which was presented to you, I had the
good fortune to seize upon that, and everything
which has occurred since then has served to con-
firm my original supposition, and, indeed, was the
logical sequence of it. Hence things which have
perplexed you and made the case more obscure
have served to enlighten me and to strengthen my
conclusions. It is a mistake to confound strange-
ness with mystery. The most commonplace crime
is often the most mysterious, because it presents no
new or special features from which deductions may
be drawn. This murder would have been infinitely
more difficult to unravel had the body of the
victim been simply found lying in the roadway
without any of those outré and sensational ac-
companiments which have rendered it remarkable.
These strange details, far from making the case
more difficult, have really had the effect of making
it less so."
Mr. Gregson, who had listened to this address
with considerable impatience, could contain him-
self no longer. "Look here, Mr. Sherlock Holmes,"
he said, “we are all ready to acknowledge that
you are a smart man, and that you have your own
methods of working. We want something more



ma
Cow lelehiny song, jasa
THE UNFORTUNATI CREATURE'S TONGUE SEEMED HARDLY TO HAVE BEEN MOISTENED
IN IT BEFORE IT GAVE A CONVULSIVB SHIVER IN EVERY LIMB, AND LAY AS RIGID
AND LIFELBSS AS IT IT HAD BEFA! STRUCK BY LIGHTNING,


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
113
than mere theory and preaching now, though. It
is a case of taking the man. I have made my case
out, and it seems I was wrong. Young Charpen-
tier could not have been engaged in this second
affair. Lestrade went after his man, Stangerson,
and it appears that he was wrong too. You have
thrown out hints here, and hints there, and seem
to know more than we do, but the time has come
when we feel that we have a right to ask you
straight how much you do know of the business.
Can you name the man who did it?"
“I cannot help feeling that Gregson is right, sir,"
remarked Lestrade. “We have both tried, and we
have both failed. You have remarked more than
once since I have been in the room that
you had
all the evidence which you require. Surely you
will not withhold it any longer."
Any delay in arresting the assassin," I ob-
served, "might give him time to perpetrate some
fresh atrocity."
Thus pressed by us all, Holmes showed signs of
irresolution. He continued to walk up and down
the room with his head sunk on his chest and his
brows drawn down, as was his habit when lost in
thought.
“There will be no more murders," he said at
last, stopping abruptly and facing us.
put that consideration out of the question. You
have asked me if I know the name of the assassin.
I do. The mere knowing of his name is a small
“ You can
I


114
A STUDY IN SCARLET
=
thing, however, compared with the power of laying
our hands upon him. This I expect very shortly
to do. I have good hopes of managing it through
my own arrangements; but it is a thing which
needs delicate handling, for we have a shrewd and
desperate man to deal with, who is supported, as I
have had occasion to prove, by another who is as
clever as himself. As long as this man has no
idea that any one can have a clue there is some
chance of securing him; but if he had the slightest
suspicion, he would change his name, and vanish in
an instant among the four million inhabitants of
this great city. Without meaning to hurt either
of your feelings, I am bound to say that I consider
these men to be more than a match for the official
force, and that is why I have not asked your
assistance. If I fail, I shall, of course, incur all the
blame due to this omission; but that I am pre-
pared for. At present I am ready to promise that
the instant that I can communicate with you with-
out endangering my own combinations, I shall do
SO
Gregson and Lestrade seemed to be far from
satisfied by this assurance, or by the depreciating
allusion to the detective police. The former had
flushed up to the roots of his flaxen hair, while
the other's beady eyes glistened with curiosity
and resentment. Neither of them had time to
speak, however, before there was a tap at the
door, and the spokesman of the street Arabs


116
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
"Gentlemen," he cried, with flashing eyes, "let
me introduce you to Mr. Jefferson Hope, the mur-
derer of Enoch Drebber and of Joseph Stanger-
son."
The whole thing occurred in a moment-So
quickly that I had no time to realize it. I have a
vivid recollection of that instant, of Holmes' trium-
phant expression and the ring of his voice, of the
cabman's dazed, savage face, as he glared at the
glittering handcuffs, which had appeared as if by
magic upon his wrists. For a second or two we
might have been a group of statues. Then with
an inarticulate roar of fury, the prisoner wrenched
himself free from Holmes's grasp, and hurled him-
self through the window. Woodwork and glass
gave way before him; but before he got quite
through, Gregson, Lestrade, and Holmes sprang
upon him like so many staghounds.
dragged back into the room, and then commenced
a terrific conflict. So powerful and so fierce was
he that the four of us were shaken off again and
again. He appeared to have the convulsive strength
of a man in an epileptic fit. His face and hands
were terribly mangied by his passage through the
glass, but loss of brood had no effect in diminish-
ing his resistance. It was not until Lestrade suc-
ceeded in getting his hand inside his neckcloth
and half-strangling him that we made him realize
that his struggles were of no avail ; and even then
we felt no security until we had pinioned his feet
He was


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
117
as well as his hands. That done, we rose to our
feet breathless and panting.
“We have his cab," said Sherlock Holmes. "It
will serve to take him to Scotland Yard. And
now, gentlemen," he continued, with a pleasant
smile, “we have reached the end of our little
mystery. You are very welcome to put any ques-
tions that you like to me now, and there is no
danger that I will refuse to answer them.”


PART II.
The Country of the Saints,
CHAPTER I.
ON THE GREAT ALKALI PLAIN.

IN
the central por-
tion of the great
North American
Continent there
lies an arid and
repulsive desert,
which for many
a long year
served as a barrier against
the advance of civiliza-
tion. From the Sierra
Nevada to Nebraska, and
from the Yellowstone River
in the north to the Colorado
upon the south, is a region of
desolation and silence. Nor
is Nature always in one mood
& throughout this grim district.
It comprises snow-capped and
DYING FROM HUNGRR."
118


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
119
lofty mountains, and dark and gloomy valleys.
There are swift-flowing rivers which dash through
jagged cañons; and there are enormous plains,
which in winter are white with snow, and in sum-
mer are grey with the saline alkali dust. They all
preserve, however, the common characteristics of
barrenness, inhospitality, and misery.
There are no inhabitants of this land of despair.
A band of Pawnees or of Blackfeet may occasion-
ally traverse it in order to reach other hunting-
grounds, but the hardiest of the braves are glad
to lose sight of those awsome plains, and to find
themselves once more upon their prairies. The
coyote skulks among the scrub, the buzzard flaps
heavily through the air, and the clumsy grizzly
bear lumbers through the dark ravines, and picks
up such sustenance as it can amongst the rocks.
These are the sole dwellers in the wilderness.
In the whole world there can be no more dreary
view than that from the northern slope of the
Sierra Blanco. As far as the eye can reach stretches
the great flat plain-land, all dusted over with patches
of alkali, and intersected by clumps of the dwarfish
chapparal bushes. On the extreme verge of the
horizon lie a long chain of mountain peaks, with
their rugged summits flecked with snow. In this
great stretch of country there is no sign of life, nor
of anything appertaining to life. There is no bird
in the steel-blue heaven, no movement upon the
dull, grey earth-above all, there is absolute silence.


1 20
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
Listen as one may, there is no shadow of a sound
in all that mighty wilderness ; nothing but silence
-complete and heart-subduing silence.
It has been said there is nothing appertaining
to life upon the broad plain. That is hardly true.
Looking down from the Sierra Blanco, one sees a
pathway traced out across the desert, which winds
away and is lost in the extreme distance. It is
rutted with wheels and trodden down by the feet
of many adventurers. Here and there there are
scattered white objects which glisten in the sun,
and stand out against the dull deposit of alkali.
Approach, and examine them! They are bones :
some large and coarse, others smaller and more
delicate. The former have belonged to oxen, and
the latter to men. For fifteen hundred miles one
may trace this ghastly caravan route by these
scattered remains of those who had fallen by the
wayside.
Looking down on this very scene, there stood
upon the fourth of May, eighteen hundred and
forty-seven, a solitary traveller. His appearance
was such that he might have been the very genius
or demon of the region. An observer would have
found it difficult to say whether he was nearer to
forty or to sixty. His face was lean and haggard,
and the brown parchment-like skin was drawn
tightly over the projecting bones; his long, brown
hair and beard were all flecked and dashed with
white; his eyes were sunken in his head, and


A STUDY IN SCARLET,
121
burned with an unnatural lustre ; while the hand
which grasped his rifle was hardly more fleshy
than that of a skeleton. As he stood, he leaned
upon his weapon for support, and yet his tall
figure and the massive framework of his bones
suggested a wiry and vigorous constitution. His
gaunt face, however, and his clothes, which hung
so baggily over his shrivelled limbs, proclaimed
what it was that gave him that senile and decrepit
appearance. The man was dying-dying from
hunger and from thirst.
He had toiled painfully down the ravine, and on
to this little elevation, in the vain hope of seeing
some signs of water. Now the great salt plain
stretched before his eyes, and the distant belt of
savage mountains, without a sign anywhere of
plant or tree, which might indicate the presence of
moisture. In all that broad landscape there was
no gleam of hope. North, and east, and west he
looked with wild, questioning eyes, and then he
realized that his wanderings had come to an end,
and that there, on that barren crag, he was about
to die. "Why not here, as well as in a feather bed,
twenty years hence," he muttered, as he seated
himself in the shelter of a boulder.
Before sitting down, he had deposited upon the
ground his useless rifle, and also a large bundle
tied up in a grey shawl, which he had carried slung
over his right shoulder. It appeared to be some-
what too heavy for his strength, for in lowering it,


124
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
I thought there was some chance of water in this
direction, so I heaved you over my shoulder and
we tramped it together. It don't seem as though
we've improved matters. There's an almighty
small chance for us now !”
“Do you mean that we are going to die too?"
asked the child, checking her sobs, and raising her
tear-stained face.
I guess that's about the size of it.”
“Why didn't you say so before ?" she said,
laughing gleefully. “You gave me such a fright.
Why, of course, now as long as we die we'll be with
mother again."
“ Yes, you will, dearie.”
“And you too. I'll tell her how awful good
you've been. I'll bet she meets us at the door of
heaven with a big pitcher of water, and a lot of
buckwheat cakes, hot, and toasted on both sides,
like Bob and me was fond of. How long will it be
first ?"
“ I don't know, not very long." The man's eyes
were fixed upon the northern horizon. In the blue
vault of the heaven there had appeared three little
specks which increased in size every moment, so
rapidly did they approach. They speedily resolved
themselves into three large brown birds, which
circled over the heads of the two wanderers, and
then settled upon some rocks which overlooked
them. They were buzzards, the vultures of the
west, whose coming is the forerunner of death.



V&T
- United in the entreaty for mercy.”
A Study in Scarlet]
[Page 126





A STUDY IN SCARLET.
125
“ Cocks and hens,” cried the little girl gleefully,
pointing at their ill-omened forms, and clapping her
hands to make them rise. "Say, did God make
this country ?"
"In course He did," said her companion, rather
startled by this unexpected question.
“ He made the country down in Illinois, and He
made the Missouri," the little girl continued. "I
guess somebody else made the country in these
parts. It's not nearly so well done. They forgot
the water and the trees."
“What would ye think of offering up prayer ? "
the man asked diffidently.
" It ain't night yet," she answered.
"It don't matter. It ain't quite regular, but He
won't mind that, you bet. You say over them ones
that you used to say every night in the waggon
when we was on the Plains."
“Why don't you say some yourself?" the child
asked, with wondering eyes.
"I disremember them," he answered. “I hain't
said none since I was half the height o' that gun.
I
guess it's never too late. You say them out, and
I'll stand by and come in on the choruses."
“ Then you'll need to kneel down, and me too,"
she said, laying the shawl out for that purpose.
* You've got to put your hands up like this. It
makes you feel kind of good.”
It was a strange sight, had there been any.
thing but the buzzards to see it. Side by side on


126
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
the narrow shawl knelt the two wanderers, the
little prattling child and the reckless, hardened
adventurer. Her chubby face and his haggard,

CAorttuleyin son.
* SIDE BY SIDS ON THE NARROW SHAWL KNELT THE TWO WANDERERS."
angular visage were both turned up to the cloudless
heaven in heartfelt entreaty to that dread Being
with whom they were face to face, while the two
voices--the one thin and clear, the other deep and


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
127
harsh-united in the entreaty for mercy and for-
giveness. The prayer finished, they resumed their
seat in the shadow of the boulder until the child
fell asleep, nestling upon the broad breast of her
protector. He watched over her slumber for some
time, but Nature proved to be too strong for him.
For three days and three nights he had allowed
himself neither rest nor repose. Slowly the eyelids
drooped over the tired eyes, and the head sunk
lower and lower upon the breast, until the man's
grizzled beard was mixed with the gold tresses of
his companion, and both slept the same deep and
dreamless slumber.
Had the wanderer remained awake for another
half-hour a strange sight would have met his eyes.
Far away on the extreme verge of the alkali plain
there rose up a little spray of dust, very slight at
first, and hardly to be distinguished from the mists
of the distance, but gradually growing higher and
broader until it formed a solid, well defined cloud.
This cloud continued to increase in size until it be-
came evident that it could only be raised by a great
multitude of moving creatures. In more fertile
spots the observer would have come to the con-
clusion that one of those great herds of bisons which
graze upon the prairie land was approaching him.
This was obviously impossible in these arid wilds.
As the whirl of dust drew nearer to the solitary
bluff upon which the two castaways were reposing
the canvas-covered tilts of waggons and the figures


128
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
of armed horsemen began to show up through the
haze, and the apparition revealed itself as being a
great caravan upon its journey for the West. But
what a caravan! When the head of it had reached
the base of the mountains, the rear was not yet visible
on the horizon. Right across the enormous plain
stretched the straggling array, waggons and carts,
men on horseback, and men on foot. Innumerable
women who staggered along under burdens, and chil-
dren who toddled beside the waggons or peeped out
from under the white coverings. This was evidently
no ordinary party of immigrants, but rather some
nomad people who had been compelled from stress
of circumstances to seek themselves a new country.
There rose through the clear air a confused clatter-
ing and rumbling from this great mass of humanity,
with the creaking of wheels and the neighing horses.
Loud as it was, it was not sufficient to rouse the
two tired wayfarers above them.
At the head of the column there rode a score or
more of grave, ironfaced men, clad in sombre home-
spun garments and armed with rifles. On reaching
the base of the bluff they halted, and held a short
council among themselves.
“The wells are to the right, my brothers," said
one, a hard-lipped, clean-shaven man with grizzly
hair.
" To the right of the Sierra Blanco—so we shall
reach the Rio Grande," said another.
* Fear not for water," cried a third. “ He who


130
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
alarm was leading them. Suddenly his followers
saw him throw up his hands, as though overcome
with astonishment, and on joining him they were
affected in the same way by the sight which met
their eyes.
On the little plateau which crowned the barren
hill there stood a single giant boulder, and against
this boulder there lay a tall man, long-bearded and
hard-featured, but of an excessive thinness. His
placid face and regular breathing showed that he
was fast asleep. Beside him lay a little child, with
her round white arms encircling his brown sinewy
neck, and her golden-haired head resting upon the
breast of his velveteen tunic. Her rosy lips were
parted, showing the regular line of snow-white teeth
within, and a playful smile played over her infan-
tile features. Her plump little white legs, termin-
ating in white socks and neat shoes with shining
buckles, offered a strange contrast to the long
shrivelled members of her companion. On the
ledge of rock above this strange couple there stood
three solemn buzzards, who, at the sight of the new
comers, uttered raucous screams of disappointment
and flapped sullenly away.
The cries of the foul birds awoke the two sleepers,
who stared about them in bewilderment. The man
staggered to his feet and looked down upon the
plain which had been so desolate when sleep had
overtaken him, and which was now traversed by
this enormous body of men and of beasts. His face


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
131
assumed an expression of incredulity as he gazed,
and he passed his bony
hand over his eyes. This
is what they call delirium,
I guess," he muttered.
The child stood beside
him, holding on to the
skirt of his coat, and said

Gro. Ho
'ONS OF THEM SEIZED THE LITTLE GIRI; AND HOISTED HER UPON HIS
6
SHOULDER.
nothing, but looked all round her with the wonder.
ing, questioning gaze of childhood.


132
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
on.
The rescuing party were speedily able to con-
vince the two castaways that their appearance was
no delusion. One of them seized the little girl
and hoisted her upon his shoulder, while two others
supported her gaunt companion, and assisted him
towards the waggons.
"My name is John Ferrier," the wanderer ex-
plained ; "me and that little un are all that's left
o'twenty-one people. The rest is all dead o'thirst
and hunger away down in the south."
" Is she your child ?” asked some one.
" I guess she is now," the other cried, defiantly ;
"she's mine 'cause I saved her. No man will take
her from me. She's Lucy Ferrier from this day
Who are you though ?” he continued, glancing
with curiosity at his stalwart, sunburned rescuers;
" there seems to be a powerful lot of ye."
"Nigh upon ten thousand,” said one of the young
men ; “we are the persecuted children of God-
the chosen of the Angel Merona."
“I never heard tell on him," said the wanderer.
" He appears to have chosen a fair crowd of ye.”
“Do not jest at that which is sacred,” said the
other sternly. “We are of those who believe in
those sacred writings, drawn in Egyptian letters
on plates of beaten gold, which were handed unto
the holy Joseph Smith at Palmyra. We have
come from Nauvoo, in the State of Illinois, where
we had founded our temple. We have come
to seek a refuge from the violent man and from


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
133
the godless, even though it be the heart of the
desert."
The name of Nauvoo evidently recalled recollec-
tions to John Ferrier. "I see,” he said ; "you are
the Mormons."
“We are the Mormons,” answered his com-
panions with one voice.
“ And where are you going?"
“ We do not know. The hand of God is leading
us under the person of our Prophet. You must
come before him. He shall say what is to be done
with you."
They had reached the base of the hill by this
time, and were surrounded by crowds of the pil-
grims--pale-faced, meek-looking women; strong,
laughing children; and anxious, earnest-eyed men.
Many were the cries of astonishment and of com-
miseration which arose from them when they per-
ceived the youth of one of the strangers and the
destitution of the other. Their escort did not halt,
however, but pushed on, followed by a great crowd
of Mormons, until they reached a waggon, which
was conspicuous for its great size and for the gaudi.
ness and smartness of its appearance. Six horses
were yoked to it, whereas the others were furnished
with two, or, at most, four a-piece. Beside the
driver there sat a man who could not have been
more than thirty years of age, but whose massive
head and resolute expression marked him as a
leader. He was reading a brown-backed volume,


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
135
"You shall remain here," he said. "In a few
days you will have recovered from your fatigues.
In the meantime, remember that now and for ever
you are of our religion. Brigham Young has said
it, and he has spoken with the voice of Joseph
Smith, which is the voice of God.”
arse


CHAPTER II.
THE FLOWER OF UTAH.
This

is not the place
to commemorate
the trials and pri-
vations endured
by the immigrant
Mormons before
they came to their
final haven. From
the shores of the
Mississippi to the
western
slopes
of the
Rocky
Moun-
tains
they
had struggled on with a constancy almost un-
6C
DOWN THE DUSTY HIGH ROADS DEFILED LONG STREAMS
OF HEAVILY-LADEN MULES.”
136
-


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
137
paralleled in history. The savage man, and the
savage beast, hunger, thirst, fatigue, and disease-
every impediment which Nature could place in the
way–had all been overcome with Anglo-Saxon
tenacity. Yet the long journey and the accumu-
lated terrors had shaken the hearts of the stoutest
among them.
There was not one who did not
sink upon his knees in heartfelt prayer when they
saw the broad valley of Utah bathed in the sunlight
beneath them, and learned from the lips of their
leader that this was the promised land, and that
these virgin acres were to be theirs for evermore.
Young speedily proved himself to be a skilful
administrator as well as a resolute chief. Maps
were drawn and charts prepared, in which the
future city was sketched out. All around farms
were apportioned and allotted in proportion to the
standing of each individual. The tradesman was
put to his trade and the artisan to his calling. In
the town streets and squares sprang up as if by
magic. In the country there was draining and
hedging, planting and clearing, until the next
summer saw the whole country golden with the
wheat crop. Everything prospered in the strange
settlement. Above all, the great temple which they
had erected in the centre of the city grew ever
taller and larger. From the first blush of dawn
until the closing of the twilight, the clatter of the
hammer and the rasp of the saw were never absent
from the monument which the immigrants erected


138
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
to Him who had led them safe through many
dangers.
The two castaways, John Ferrier and the little
girl, who had shared his fortunes and had been
adopted as his daughter, accompanied the Mor
mons to the end of their great pilgrimage. Little
Lucy Ferrier was borne along pleasantly enough
in Elder Stangerson's waggon, a retreat which she
shared with the Mormon's three wives and with his
son, a headstrong, forward boy of twelve. Having
rallied, with the elasticity of childhood, from the
shock caused by her mother's death, she soon be-
came a pet with the women, and reconciled herself
to this new life in her moving canvas-covered home.
In the meantime Ferrier having recovered from his
privations, distinguished himself as a useful guide
and an indefatigable hunter. So rapidly did he
gain the esteem of his new companions, that when
they reached the end of their wanderings, it was
unanimously agreed that he should be provided
with as large and as fertile a tract of land as any of
the settlers, with the exception of Young himself,
and of Stangerson, Kemball, Johnston, and Drebber,
who were the four principal Elders.
On the farm thus acquired John Ferrier built
himself a substantial log-house, which received so
many additions in succeeding years that it grew
into a roomy villa. He was a man of a practical
turn of mind, keen in his dealings and skilful with
his hands. His iron constitution enabled him to


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
139
work morning and evening at improving and tilling
his lands. Hence it came about that his farm and
all that belonged to him prospered exceedingly
In three years he was better off than his neigh-
bours, in six he was well-to-do, in nine he was rich,
and in twelve there were not half a dozen men in
the whole of Salt Lake City who could compare
with him. From the great inland sea to the distant
Wahsatch Mountains there was no name better
known than that of John Ferrier.
There was one way and only one in which he
offended the susceptibilities of his co-religionists.
No argument or persuasion could ever induce him
to set up a female establishment after the manner
of his companions.
He never gave reasons for this
persistent refusal, but contented himself by reso-
lutely and inflexibly adhering to his determination.
There were some who accused him of lukewarm-
ness in his adopted religion, and others who put it
down to greed of wealth and reluctance to incur
expense. Others, again, spoke of some early love
affair, and of a fair-haired girl who had pined away
on the shores of the Atlantic. Whatever the reason,
Ferrier remained strictly celibate. In every other
respect he conformed to the religion of the young
settlement, and gained the name of being an or-
thodox and straight-walking man.
Lucy Ferrier grew up within the log-house, and
assisted her adopted father in all his undertakings.
The keen air of the mountains and the balsamic


140
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
odour of the pine trees took the place of nurse and
mother to the young girl. As year succeeded to
year she grew taller and stronger, her cheek more
ruddy and her step more elastic. Many a way.
farer upon the high road which ran by Ferrier's
farm felt long-forgotten thoughts revive in their
minds as they watched her lithe, girlish figure trip-
ping through the wheatfields, or met her mounted
upon her father's mustang, and managing it with
all the ease and grace of a true child of the West.
So the bud blossomed into a flower, and the year
which saw her father the richest of the farmers left
her as fair a specimen of American girlhood as
could be found in the whole Pacific slope.
It was not the father, however, who first dis-
covered that the child had developed into the woman.
It seldom is in such cases. That mysterious change
is too subtle and too gradual to be measured by
dates. Least of all does the maiden herself know
it until the tone of a voice or the touch of a hand
sets her heart thrilling within her, and she learns,
with a mixture of pride and of fear, that a new and
a larger nature has awoke within her. There are
few who cannot recall that day and remember the
one little incident which heralded the dawn of a
new life. In the case of Lucy Ferrier the occasion
was serious enough in itself, apart from its future
nfluence on her destiny and that of many besides.
It was a warm June morning, and the Latter
Day Saints were as busy as the bees whose hive



Vic
“A sinewy brown hand caught the frightened horse by
the curb."
A Study in Scarlet]
[Page 142


142
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
closed in behind her, and she found herself com.
pletely imbedded in the moving stream of fierce-
eyed, long-horned bullocks. Accustomed as she
was to deal with cattle, she was not alarmed at her
situation, but took advantage of every opportunity
to urge her horse on, in the hopes of pushing her
way through the cavalcade. Unfortunately the
horns of one of the creatures, either by accident or
design, came in violent contact with the flank of
the mustang, and excited it to madness. In an
instant it reared up upon its hind legs with a snort
of rage, and pranced and tossed in a way that
would have unseated any but a skilful rider. The
situation was full of peril. Every plunge of the
excited horse brought it against the horns again,
and goaded it to fresh madness. It was all that
the girl could do to keep herself in the saddle, yet
a slip would mean a terrible death under the hoofs
of the unwieldy and terrified animals. Unaccus-
tomed to sudden emergencies, her head began to
swim, and her grip upon the bridle to relax. Choked
by the rising cloud of dust and by the steam from
the struggling creatures, she might have abandoned
her efforts in despair, but for a kindly voice at her
elbow which assured her of assistance. At the same
moment a sinewy brown hand caught the fright-
ened horse by the curb, and forcing a way through
the drove, soon brought her to the outskirts.
“You're not hurt, I hope, miss," said her pre-
server, respectfully


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
143
She looked up at his dark, fierce face, and
laughed saucily. "I'm awful frightened,” she said,
naïvely; "whoever would have thought that Poncho
would have been so scared by a lot of cows ?”
" Thank God you kept your seat,” the other said
earnestly. He was a tall, savage-looking young
fellow, mounted on a powerful roan horse, and clad
in the rough dress of a hunter, with a long rifle
slung over his shoulders. “I guess you are the
daughter of John Ferrier," he remarked ; " I saw
you ride down from his house.
When you see
him, ask him if he remembers the Jefferson Hopes
of St. Louis. If he's the same Ferrier, my father
and he were pretty thick.”
"Hadn't you better come and ask yourself?" she
asked, demurely.
The young fellow seemed pleased at the sugges-
tion, and his dark eyes sparkled with pleasure.
" I'll do so," he said ; “ we've been in the mountains
for two months, and are not over and above in
visiting condition. He must take us as he finds
us."
“ He has a good deal to thank you for, and so
have I," she answered," he's awful fond of me. If
those cows had jumped on me he'd have never got
over it."
“Neither would I," said her companion.
"You! Well, I don't see that it would make
much matter to you, anyhow. You ain't even a
friend of ours.”


144
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
The young hunter's dark face grew so gloomy
over this remark that Lucy Ferrier laughed aloud.
"There, I didn't mean that,” she said ; "of course,
you are a friend now. You must come and see us.
Now I must push along, or father won't trust me
with his business any more.
Good-bye!"
"Good-bye,” he answered, raising his broad som-
brero, and bending over her little hand. She
wheeled her mustang round, gave it a cut with her
riding-whip, and darted away down the broad road
in a rolling cloud of dust.
Young Jefferson Hope rode on with his com-
panions, gloomy and taciturn. He and they had
been among the Nevada Mountains prospecting for
silver, and were returning to Salt Lake City in the
hope of raising capital enough to work some lodes
which they had discovered. He had been as keen
as any of them upon the business until this sudden
incident had drawn his thoughts into another
channel. The sight of the fair young girl, as
frank and wholesome as the Sierra breezes, had
stirred his volcanic, untamed heart to its very
depths. When she had vanished from his sight,
he realized that a crisis had come in his life, and
that neither silver speculations nor any other ques-
tions could ever be of such importance to him as
this new and all-absorbing one. The love which
had sprung up in his heart was not the sudden,
changeable fancy of a boy, but rather the wild,
fierce passion of a man of strong will and imperious


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
145
temper. He had been accustomed to succeed in
all that he undertook. He swore in his heart that
he would not fail in this if human effort and human
perseverance could render him successful.
He called on John Ferrier that night, and many
times again, until his face was a familiar one at the
farmhouse.
John, cooped up in the valley, and
absorbed in his work, had had little chance of
learning the news of the outside world during the
last twelve years.
All this Jefferson Hope was
able to tell him, and in a style which interested
Lucy as well as her father. He had been a pioneer
in California, and could narrate many a strange tale
of fortunes made and fortunes lost in those wild,
halcyon days. He had been a scout too, and a
trapper, a silver explorer, and a ranchman. Wher-
ever stirring adventures were to be had, Jefferson
Hope had been there in search of them. He soon
became a favourite with the old farmer, who spoke
eloquently of his virtues. On such occasions, Lucy
was silent, but her blushing cheek and her bright,
happy eyes showed only too clearly that her young
heart was no longer her own. Her honest father
may not have observed these symptoms, but they
were assuredly not thrown away upon the man
who had won her affections.
One summer evening he came galloping down
the road and pulled up at the gate. She was at the
doorway, and came down to meet him. He threw
the bridle over the fence and strode up the pathway.
L


146
A STUDY IN SCARLET,
I am off, Lucy," he said, taking her two hands
in his, and gazing tenderly down into her face; “I
won't ask you to come with me now, but will you
be ready to come when I am here again ?"
" And when will that be?" she asked, blushing
and laughing
" A couple of months at the outside.
I will come

tau
ในแpaาก
(
60
ONE SUMMER KVENING HE CAMR GALLOPING DOWN THE WOAD."
and claim you then, my darling. There's no one
who can stand between us."
“ And how about father?" she asked.
" He has given his consent, provided we get
these mines working all right. I have no fear on
that head."
"Oh, well; of course, if you and father have


CHAPTER III.
JOHN FERRIER TALKS WITH THE PROPHET.
HREE weeks had
passed since
Jefferson Hope
and his com-
rades had de-
parted from Salt
Lake City. John
Ferrier's heart was
sore within
within him
when he thought of
the young man's
return, and of the
impending loss of
his adopted child. Yel
her bright and happy face
reconciled him to the arrange-
ment more than any argument
'ARMED MEN, MASKED,
could have done. He had
always determined, deep down in his resolute
heart, that nothing would ever induce him to allow

STEALTHY AND NOISELESS."


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
his daughter to wed a Mormon. Such a marriage
he regarded as no marriage at all, but as a shame
and a disgrace. Whatever he might think of the
Mormon doctrines, upon that one point he was
inflexible. He had to seal his mouth on the sub-
ject, however, for to express an unorthodox opinion
was a dangerous matter in those days in the Land
of the Saints.
Yes, a dangerous matter-so dangerous that even
the most saintly dared only whisper their religious
opinions with bated breath, lest something which
fell from their lips might be misconstrued, and
bring down a swift retribution upon them. The
victims of persecution had now turned persecutors
on their own account, and persecutors of the most
terrible description. Not the Inquisition of Seville,
nor the German Vehmgericht, nor the Secret
Societies of Italy, were ever able to put a more
formidable machinery in motion than that which
cast a cloud over the State of Utah.
Its invisibility, and the mystery which was
attached to it, made this organization doubly
terrible. It appeared to be omniscient and omni-
potent, and yet was neither seen nor heard. The
man who held out against the Church vanished
away, and none knew whither he had gone or
what had befallen him. His wife and his children
awaited him at home, but no father ever returned
to tell them how he had fared at the hands of his
secret judges. A rash word or a hasty act was


A STUDY IN SCARLET
151
than to lessen the horror which it inspired in the
minds of men. None knew who belonged to this
ruthless society. The names of the participators
in the deeds of blood and violence done under the
name of religion were kept profoundly secret.
The very friend to whom you communicated your
misgivings as to the Prophet and his mission
might be one of those who would come forth at
night with fire and sword to exact a terrible repa-
ration. Hence every man feared his neighbour,
and none spoke of the things which were nearest
his heart.
One fine morning John Ferrier was about to set
out to his wheat-fields, when he heard the click of
the latch, and, looking through the window, saw a
stout, sandy-haired, middle-aged man coming up
the pathway. His heart leapt to his mouth, for
this was none other than the great Brigham Young
himself. Full of trepidation—for he knew that
such a visit boded him little good-Ferrier ran to
the door to greet the Mormon chief. The latter,
however, received his salutations coldly, and
followed him with a stern face into the sitting-
room.
“ Brother Ferrier," he said, taking a seat, and
eyeing the farmer keenly from under his light.
coloured eyelashes, "the true believers have been
good friends to you. We picked you up when you
were starving in the desert, we shared our food
with you, led you safe to the Chosen Valley, gave


CHAPTER IV.
A FLIGHT FOR LIFE.

the morning which
followed his interview
with the Mormon
Prophet, John Ferrier
went in to Salt Lake
City,and having found
his acquaintance, who
was bound for the
Nevada Mountains,
he entrusted him with
his message to Jeffer-
son Hope. In it he
told the young man
of the imminent dan.
ger which threatened them, and how necessary it
was that he should return. Having done thus he
felt easier in his mind, and returned home with
a lighter heart.
A SMALL SQUARE OF PAPER PINNED ON TO
THE COVERLET OF HIS BED."
158


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
159
As he approached his farm, he was surprised to
see a horse hitched to each of the posts of the gate.
Still more surprised was he on entering to find two
young men in possession of his sitting-room. One,
with a long pale face, was leaning back in the rock-
ing-chair, with his feet cocked up upon the stove.
The other, a bull-necked youth with coarse, bloated
features, was standing in front of the window with
his hands in his pockets whistling a popular hymn.
Both of them nodded to Ferrier as he entered, and
the one in the rocking-chair commenced the con-
versation.
"Maybe you don't know us," he said. “This
here is the son of Elder Drebber, and I'm Joseph
Stangerson, who travelled with you in the desert
when the Lord stretched out His hand and gathered
you into the true fold.”
“ As He will all the nations in His own good
time," said the other in a nasal voice; "He grindeth
slowly but exceeding small."
John Ferrier bowed coldly. He had guessed who
his visitors were.
“We have come," continued Stangerson, "at the
advice of our fathers to solicit the hand of your
daughter for whichever of us may seem good to you
and to her. As I have but four wives and Brother
Drebber here has seven, it appears to me that my
claim is the stronger one."
"Nay, nay, Brother Stangerson," cried the other ;
'the question is not how many wives we have, but


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
161
white with rage. “You have defied the Prophet
and the Council of Four,
You shall rue it to the end
of your days."
“The hand of the Lord shall
be heavy upon you," cried
young Drebber; "He will
arise and smite you !"
"Then I'll start the smiting,"
exclaimed Ferrier, furiously,

YOU SHALL SMART FOR THIS !' STANGERSON
CRIED, WHITE WITH RAGE.'
Erotulebuyson som
and would have rushed upstairs for his gun had
not Lucy seized him by the arm and restrained him
M


162
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
Before he could escape from her, the clatter of horses
hoofs told him that they were beyond his reach.
" The young canting rascals!” he exclaimed,
wiping the perspiration from his forehead; “I
would sooner see you in your grave, my girl, than
the wife of either of them."
"And so should I, father,” she answered, with
spirit; “but Jefferson will soon be here."
“Yes. It will not be long before he comes. The
sooner the better, for we do not know what their
next move may be.”
It was, indeed, high time that some one capable
of giving advice and help should come to the aid
of the sturdy old farmer and his adopted daughter.
In the whole history of the settlement there had
never been such a case of rank disobedience to the
authority of the Elders. If minor errors were
punished so sternly, what would be the fate of
this arch rebel. Ferrier knew that his wealth and
position would be of no avail to him. Others as
well known and as rich as himself had been
spirited away before now, and their goods given
over to the Church. He was a brave man, but he
trembled at the vague, shadowy terrors which
hung over him. Any known danger he could face
with a firm lip, but this suspense was unnerving.
He concealed his fears from his daughter, however,
and affected to make light of the whole matter,
though she, with the keen eye of love, saw plainly
that he was ill at ease.


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
163
He expected that he would receive some mes.
sage or remonstrance from Young as to his conduct,
and he was not mistaken, though it came an
unlooked-for manner. Upon rising next morning
he found, to his surprise, a small square of paper
pinned on to the coverlet of his bed just over his
chest. On it was printed, in bold, straggling
letters :
“Twenty-nine days are given you for amend-
ment, and then"
The dash was more fear-inspiring than any
threat could have been. How this warning came
into his room puzzled John Ferrier sorely, for his
servants slept in an outhouse, and the doors and
windows had all been secured. He crumpled the
paper up and said nothing to his daughter, but the
incident struck a chill into his heart. The twenty-
nine days were evidently the balance of the month
ich Young had promised. What strength of
courage could avail against an enemy armed with
such mysterious powers? The hand which fastened
that pin might have struck him to the heart, and
he could never have known who had slain him.
Still more shaken was he next morning. They
had sat down to their breakfast, when Lucy with a
cry of surprise pointed upwards. In the centre of
the ceiling was scrawled, with a burned stick ap-
parently, the number 28. To his daughter it was
unintelligible, and he did not enlighten her. That
night he sat up with his gun and kept watch and


166
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
some agent who was marking up that the last day
of grace had arrived. John Ferrier felt that instant
death would be better than the suspense which
shook his nerves and chilled his heart. Springing
forward, he drew the bolt and threw the door open.
Outside all was calm and quiet. The night was
fine, and the stars were twinkling brightly overhead.
The little front garden lay before the farmer's eyes
bounded by the fence and gate, but neither there
nor on the road was any human being to be seen.
With a sigh of relief, Ferrier looked to right and
to left, until, happening to glance straight down at
his own feet, he saw to his astonishment a man
lying flat upon his face upon the ground, with arms
and legs all asprawl.
So unnerved was he at the sight that he leaned
up against the wall with his hand to his throat to
stifle his inclination to call out. His first thought
was that the prostrate figure was that of some
wounded or dying man, but as he watched it he
saw it writhe along the ground and into the hall
with the rapidity and noiselessness of a serpent.
Once within the house the man sprang to his feet,
closed the door, and revealed to the astonished
farmer the fierce face and resolute expression of
Jefferson Hope,
"Good God!" gasped John Ferrier.
scared me! Whatever made you come in like
that."
· Give me food," the other said, hoarsely. "I
“How you


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
169
have had no time for bit or sup for eight-and-forty
hours." He flung himself upon the cold meat and
bread which were still lying upon the table from
his host's supper, and devoured it voraciously.
"Does Lucy bear up well ?” he asked, when he
had satisfied his hunger.
“ Yes, She does not know the danger," her
father answered.
“ That is well. The house is watched on every
side. That is why I crawled my way up to it.
They may be darned sharp, but they're not quite
sharp enough to catch a Washoe hunter."
John Ferrier felt a different man now that he
realized that he had a devoted ally. He seized the
young man's leathery hand and wrung it cordially,
“You're a man to be proud of," he said. “There
are not many who would come to share our danger
and our troubles."
“ You've hit it there, pard,” the young hunter
answered. “I have a respect for you, but if you
were alone in this business I'd think twice before I
put my head into such a hornet's nest.
It's Lucy
that brings me here, and before harm comes on her
I guess there will be one less of the Hope family
in Utah."
“ What are we to do?"
“To-morrow is your last day, and unless you act
to-night you are lost. I have a mule and two
horses waiting in the Eagle Ravine. How much
money have you ?"


172
A STUDY IN SCARLET,
It was as well that his prairie training had given
Jefferson Hope the ears of a lynx. He and his
friends had hardly crouched down before the
melancholy hooting of a mountain owl was heard
within a few yards of them, which was immediately
answered by another hoot at a small distance. At
the same moment a vague, shadowy figure emerged
from the gap for which they had been making,
and uttered the plaintive signal cry again, on
which a second man appeared out of the obscurity.
“To-morrow at midnight," said the first, who
appeared to be in authority. “When the Whip-
poor-Will calls three times.”
“It is well," returned the other. "Shall I tell
Brother Drebber?"
“Pass it on to him, and from him to the others.
Nine to seven!”
"Seven to five ! ” repeated the other; and the
two figures Aitted away in different directions.
Their concluding words had evidently been some
form of sign and countersign. The instant that
their footsteps had died away in the distance,
Jefferson Hope sprang to his feet, and helping his
companions through the gap, led the way across
the fields at the top of his speed, supporting and
half-carrying the girl when her strength appeared
to fail her.
"Hurry on! hurry on!” he gasped from time to
time. "We are through the line of sentinels.
Everything depends on speed. Hurry on!”


CHAPTER V.
THE AVENGING ANGELS.

night their course lay
through intricate defiles
and over irregular and
rock-strewn paths.
More than once they lost
their way, but Hope's inti-
mate knowledge of the moun-
tains enabled them to regain
the track once more.
When
morning broke, a scene of
marvellous though savage
beauty lay before them. In
every direction the great snow-
capped peaks hemmed them
in, peeping over each other's
shoulders to the far horizon.
So steep were the rocky banks
on either side of them that
the larch and the pine seemed
to be suspended over their
'A GREAT BOULDER CRASHED
DOWN ON HIM."
175


180
A STUDY İN SCARLET,
he came to a mountain torrent which he was sure
that he had never seen before. Convinced that he
had taken the wrong turn, he tried another, but
with the same result. Night was coming on
rapidly, and it was almost dark before he at last
found himself in a defile which was familiar to
him. Even then it was no easy matter to keep to
the right track, for the moon had not yet risen,
and the high cliffs on either side made the ob-
scurity more profound. Weighed down with his
burden, and weary from his exertions, he stumbled
along, keeping up his heart by the reflection that
every step brought him nearer to Lucy, and that
he carried with him enough to ensure them food
for the remainder of their journey.
He had now come to the mouth of the very
defile in which he had left them. Even in the
darkness he could recognise the outline of the
cliffs which bounded it. They must, he reflected,
be awaiting him anxiously, for he had been absent
nearly five hours. In the gladness of his heart he
put his hands to his mouth and made the glen re-
echo to a loud halloo as a signal that he was
coming. He paused and listened for an answer.
None came save his own cry, which clattered up
the dreary, silent ravines, and was borne back to
his ears in countless repetitions. Again he shouted,
even louder than before, and again no whisper
came back from the friends whom he had left such
a short time ago.
A vague, nameless dread came


A STUDY İN SCARLET.
181
over him, and he hurried onwards frantically,
dropping the precious food in his agitation.
When he turned the corner, he came full in sight
of the spot where the fire had been lit. There was
still a glowing pile of wood ashes there, but it had
evidently not been tended since his departure. The
same dead silence still reigned all round. With
his fears all changed to convictions, he hurried on.
There was no living creature near the remains of
the fire : animals, man, maiden, all were gone. It
was only too clear that some sudden and terrible
disaster had occurred during his absence-a disaster
which had embraced them all, and yet had left no
traces behind it.
Bewildered and stunned by this blow, Jefferson
Hope felt his head spin round, and had to lean upon
his rifle to save himself from falling. He was
essentially a man of action, however, and speedily
recovered from his temporary impotence. Seizing
a half-consumed piece of wood from the smoulder-
ing fire, he blew it into a flame, and proceeded with
its help to examine the little camp. The ground
was all stamped down by the feet of horses, show-
ing that a large party of mounted men had over-
taken the fugitives, and the direction of their tracks
proved that they had afterwards turned back to
Salt Lake City. Had they carried back both of his
companions with them? Jefferson Hope had al-
most persuaded himself that they must have done
so, when his eye fell upon an object which made


182
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
every nerve of his body tingle within him. A little
way on one side of the camp was a low-lying heap
of reddish soil, which had assuredly not been there
before. There was no mistaking it for anything
out a newly-dug grave. As the young hunter ap-
proached it, he perceived that a stick had been
planted on it, with a sheet of paper stuck in the
cleft fork of it. The inscription upon the paper
was brief, but to the point :-
JOHN FERRIER,
FORMERLY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Died August 4th, 1860.
The sturdy old man, whom he had left so short a
time before, was gone, then, and this was all his
epitaph. Jefferson Hope looked wildly round to
see if there was a second grave, but there was no
sign of one. Lucy had been carried back by their
terrible pursuers to fulfil her original destiny, by
becoming one of the harem of the Elder's son. As
the young fellow realized the certainty of her fate,
and his own powerlessness to prevent it, he wished
that he, too, was lying with the old farmer in his
last silent resting-place.
Again, however, his active spirit shook off the
lethargy which springs from despair. If there was
nothing else left to him, he could at least devote
his life to revenge. With indomitable patience
and perseverance, Jefferson Hope possessed also a
power of sustained vindictiveness, which he may


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
ment; but his other wives mourned over her, and
sat up with her the night before the burial, as is
the Mormon custom. They were grouped round
the bier in the early hours of the morning, when,
to their inexpressible fear and astonishment, the
door was flung open, and a savage-looking, weather-
beaten man in tattered garments strode into the

SNATCHING UP HER HAND, HE TOOK THE WEDDING-RING FROM HER FINGER.
room. Without a glance or a word to the cower-
ing women, he walked up to the white silent figure
which had once contained the pure soul of Lucy
Ferrier. Stooping over her, he pressed his lips
reverently to her cold forehead, and then, snatch-
ing up her hand, he took the wedding-ring from her
finger. " She shall not be buried in that,” he cried


188
A STUDY ÎN SCARLET.
with a fierce snarl, and before an alarm could be
raised sprang down the stairs and was gone. So
strange and so brief was the episode that the
watchers might have found it hard to believe it
themselves or persuade other people of it, had it
not been for the undeniable fact that the circlet of
gold which marked her as having been a bride had
disappeared.
For some months Jefferson Hope lingered among
the mountains, leading a strange, wild life, and
nursing in his heart the fierce desire for vengeance
which possessed him. Tales were told in the city
of the weird figure which was seen prowling about
the suburbs, and which haunted the lonely moun-
tain gorges.
Once a bullet whistled through
Stangerson's window and flattened itself upon the
wall within a foot of him. On another occasion,
as Drebber passed under a cliff a great boulder
crashed down on him, and he only escaped a terrible
death by throwing himself upon his face. The two
young Mormons were not long in discovering the
reason of these attempts upon their lives, and led
repeated expeditions into the mountains in the
hope of capturing or killing their enemy, but al-
ways without success. Then they adopted the pre-
caution of never going out alone or after night-fall,
and of having their houses guarded. After a time
they were able to relax these measures, for nothing
was either heard or seen of their opponent, and they
hoped that time had cooled his vindictiveness.


À STUDY IN SCARLET,
189
Far from doing so, it had, if anything, augmented
it. The hunter's mind was of a hard, unyielding
nature, and the predominant idea of revenge had
taken such complete possession of it that there
was no room for any other emotion. He was, how-
ever, above all things, practical. He soon realized
that even his iron constitution could not stand the
incessant strain which he was putting upon it.
Exposure and want of wholesome food were wear-
ing him out. If he died like a dog among the
mountains, what was to become of his revenge
then? And yet such a death was sure to overtake
him if he persisted. He felt that that was to play
his enemy's game, so he reluctantly returned to the
old Nevada mines, there to recruit his health and
to amass money enough to allow him to pursue his
object without privation.
His intention had been to be absent a year at
the most, but a combination of unforeseen circum-
stances prevented his leaving the mines for nearly
five. At the end of that time, however, his memory
of his wrongs and his craving for revenge were quite
as keen as on that memorable night when he had
stood by John Ferrier's grave. Disguised, and
under an assumed name, he returned to Salt Lake
City, careless what became of his own life, as long
as he obtained what he knew to be justice. There
he found evil tidings awaiting him. There had
been a schism among the Chosen People a few
months before, some of the younger members of


190
A STUDY IN SCARLET,
the Church having rebelled against the authority
of the Elders, and the result had been the secession
of a certain number of the malcontents, who had
left Utah and become Gentiles. Among these had
been Drebber and Stangerson ; and no one knew
whither they had gone. Rumour reported that
Drebber had managed to convert a large part of
his property into money, and that he had departed
a wealthy man, while his companion, Stangerson,
was comparatively poor. There was no clue at
all, however, as to their whereabouts.
Many a man, however vindictive, would have
abandoned all thought of revenge in the face of
such a difficulty, but Jefferson Hope never faltered
for a moment. With the small competence he
possessed, eked out by such employment as he
could pick up, he travelled from town to town
through the United States in quest of his enemies.
Year passed into year, his black hair turned
grizzled, but still he wandered on, a human blood.
hound, with his mind wholly set upon the one
object to which he had devoted his life. At
last his perseverance was rewarded. It was but a
glance of a face in a window, but that one glance
told him that Cleveland in Ohio possessed the men
whom he was in pursuit of. He returned to his
miserable lodgings with his plan of vengeance all
arranged. It chanced, however, that Drebber, look-
ing from his window, had recognised the vagrant
in the street, and had read murder in his eyes. He


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
199
door. Presently some luggage was brought out
and after a time Drebber and Stangerson followed
it, and drove off. I whipped up my horse and
kept within sight of them, feeling very ill at ease,
for I feared that they were going to shift their
quarters. At Euston Station they got out, and I
left a boy to hold my horse and followed them on to
the platform. I heard them ask for the Liverpool
train, and the guard answer that one had just gone,
and there would not be another for some hours
Stangerson seemed to be put out at that, but
Drebber was rather pleased than otherwise. I got
so close to them in the bustle that I could hear
every word that passed between them. Drebber
said that he had a little business of his own to do,
and that if the other would wait for him he would
soon rejoin him. His companion remonstrated
with him, and reminded him that they had resolved
to stick together. Drebber answered that the
matter was a delicate one, and that he must go
alone. I could not catch what Stangerson said to
that, but the other burst out swearing, and re-
minded him that he was nothing more than his
paid servant, and that he must not presume to
dictate to him. On that the secretary gave it up
as a bad job, and simply bargained with him that
if he missed the last train he should rejoin him at
Halliday's Private Hotel ; to which Drebber an-
swered that he would be back on the platform
before eleven, and made his way out of the station


206
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
silence for a minute or more, waiting to see which
was to live and which was to die. Shall I ever
forget the look which came over his face when the
first warning pangs told him that the poison was
in his system? I laughed as I saw it, and held
Lucy's marriage ring in front of his eyes. It was
but for a moment, for the action of the alkaloid is
rapid. A spasm of pain contorted his features; he
threw his hands out in front of him, staggered, and
then, with a hoarse cry, fell heavily upon the floor.
I turned him over with my foot, and placed my
hand upon his heart. There was no movement.
He was dead!
« The blood had been streaming from my nose,
but I had taken no notice of it. I don't know
what it was that put it into my head to write upon
the wall with it. Perhaps it was some mischievous
idea of setting the police upon a wrong track, for I
felt light-hearted and cheerful. I remembered a
German being found in New York with RACHE
written up above him, and it was argued at the
time in the newspapers that the secret societies
must have done it. I guessed that what puzzled the
New Yorkers would puzzle the Londoners, so I
dipped my finger in my own blood and printed it
on a convenient place on the wall. Then I walked
down to my cab and found that there was nobody
about, and that the night was still very wild. I
had driven some distance, when I put my hand
into the pocket in which I usually kept Lucy's



I choo, Hulebygon.fso.
"HE COWERED AWAY WITH WILD CRIES AND PRAYERS FOR MERCY."
307


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
209
ring, and found that it was not there. I was thun-
derstruck at this, for it was the only memento that
I had of her. Thinking that I might have dropped
it when I stooped over Drebber's body, I drove
back, and leaving my cab in a side street, I went
boldly up to the house for I was ready to dare
anything rather than lose the ring. When I ar-
rived there, I walked right into the arms of a
police-officer who was coming out, and only man.
aged to disarm his suspicions by pretending to be
hopelessly drunk.
“ That was how Enoch Drebber came to his end.
All I had to do then was to do as much for Stanger-
son, and so pay off John Ferrier's debt. I knew
that he was staying at Halliday's Private Hotel,
and I hung about all day, but he never came out.
I fancy that he suspected something when Drebber
failed to put in an appearance. He was cunning,
was Stangerson, and always on his guard. If he
thought he could keep me off by staying indoors
he was very much mistaken. I soon found out
which was the window of his bedroom, and early
next morning I took advantage of some ladders
which were lying in the lane behind the hotel, and
so made my way into his room in the grey of the
dawn. I woke him up and told him that the hour
had come when he was to answer for the life he
had taken so long before. I described Drebber's
death to him, and I gave him the same choice of
the poisoned pills. Instead of grasping at the
P


212
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
can tell my own secrets,” he said, “but I don't get
other people into trouble. I saw your advertise-
ment, and I thought it might be a plant, or it
might be the ring which I wanted. My friend
volunteered to go and see. I think you'll own he
did it smartly."
“Not a doubt of that,” said Holmes heartily
“Now, gentleman,” the inspector remarked,
gravely, “ the forms of the law must be complied
with. On Thursday the prisoner will be brought
before the magistrates, and your attendance will
be required. Until then I will be responsible for
him.” He rang the bell as he spoke, and Jefferson
Hope was led off by a couple of warders, while my
friend and I made our way out of the station and
took a cab back to Baker Street.


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
215
a hindrance. In solving a problem of this sort, the
grand thing is to be able to reason backwards. That
is a very useful accomplishment, and a very easy
one, but people do not practise it much. In the
every-day affairs of life it is more useful to reason
forwards, and so the other comes to be neglected.
There are fifty who can reason synthetically for one
who can reason analytically.
"I confess,” said I, " that I do not quite follow
you."
“ I hardly expected that you would. Let me see
if I can make it clearer. Most people, if you de-
scribe a train of events to them, will tell you what
the result would be. They can put those events
together in their minds, and argue from them that
something will come to pass.
There are few
people, however, who, if you told them a result,
would be able to evolve from their own inner con-
sciousness what the steps were which led up to
that result. This power is what I mean when I
talk of reasoning backwards, or analytically."
"I understand," said I.
“Now this was a case in which you were given
the result and had to find everything else for your-
self. Now let me endeavour to show you the
different steps in my reasoning. To begin at the
beginning. I approached the house, as you know,
on foot, and with my mind entirely free from all
impressions. I naturally began by examining the
roadway, and there, as I have already explained to


A STUDY IN SCARLET.
219
of the police at Cleveland, limiting my inquiry to
the circumstances connected with the marriage of
Enoch Drebber. The answer was conclusive. It
told me that Drebber had already applied for the
protection of the law against an old rival in love,
named Jefferson Hope, and that this same Hope
was at present in Europe. I knew now that I held
the clue to the mystery in my hand, and all that
remained was to secure the murderer.
"I had already determined in my own mind that
the man who had walked into the house with
Drebber was none other than the man who had
driven the cab. The marks in the road showed
me that the horse had wandered on in a way which
would have been impossible had there been any
one in charge of it. Where, then, could the driver
be, unless he were inside the house? Again, it is
absurd to suppose that any sane man would carry
out a deliberate crime under the very eyes, as it
were, of a third person, who was sure to betray
him. Lastly, supposing one man wished to dog
another through London, what better means could
he adopt than to turn cabdriver. All these con-
siderations led me to the irresistible conclusion that
Jefferson Hope was to be found among the jarveys
of the Metropolis.
“ If he had been one, there was no reason to
believe that he had ceased to be. On the contrary,
from his point of view, any sudden change would
be likely to draw attention to himself. He would