me between us, and it has so shaken me that I do notknow what I should do for the best. Suddenly this morning it occurred tome that you were the man to advise me, so I have hurried to you now, andI place myself unreservedly in your hands. If there is any point which Ihave not made clear, pray question me about it. But, above all, tell mequickly what I am to do, for this misery is more than I can bear."
Holmes and I had listened with the utmost interest to this extraordinarystatement, which had been delivered in the jerky, broken fashion of aman who is under the influence of extreme emotions. My companion satsilent for some time, with his chin upon his hand, lost in thought.
"Tell me," said he at last, "could you swear that this was a man's facewhich you saw at the window?"
"Each time that I saw it I was some distance away from it, so that it isimpossible for me to say."
"You appear, however, to have been disagreeably impressed by it."
"It seemed to be of an unnatural color, and to have a strange rigidityabout the features. When I approached, it vanished with a jerk."
"How long is it since your wife asked you for a hundred pounds?"
"Nearly two months."
"Have you ever seen a photograph of her first husband?"
"No; there was a great fire at Atlanta very shortly after his death, andall her papers were destroyed."
"And yet she had a certificate of death. You say that you saw it."
"Yes; she got a duplicate after the fire."
"Did you ever meet any one who knew her in America?"
"No."
"Did she ever talk of revisiting the place?"
"No."
"Or get letters from it?"
"No."
"Thank you. I should like to think over the matter a little now. If thecottage is now permanently deserted we may have some difficulty. If, onthe other hand, as I fancy is more likely, the inmates were warned ofyour coming, and left before you entered yesterday, then they may beback now, and we should clear it all up easily. Let me advise you, then,to return to Norbury, and to examine the windows of the cottage again.If you have reason to believe that it is inhabited, do not force yourway in, but send a wire to my friend and me. We shall be with you withinan hour of receiving it, and we shall then very soon get to the bottomof the business."
"And if it is still empty?"
"In that case I shall come out to-morrow and talk it over with you.Good-by; and, above all, do not fret until you know that you really havea cause for it."
"I am afraid that this is a bad business, Watson," said my companion, ashe returned after accompanying Mr. Grant Munro to the door. "What do youmake of it?"
"It had an ugly sound," I answered.
"Yes. There's blackmail in it, or I am much mistaken."
"And who is the blackmailer?"
"Well, it must be the creature who lives in the only comfortable roomin the place, and has her photograph above his fireplace. Upon my word,Watson, there is something very attractive about that livid face at thewindow, and I would not have missed the case for worlds."
"You have a theory?"
"Yes, a provisional one. But I shall be surprised if it does not turnout to be correct. This woman's first husband is in that cottage."
"Why do you think so?"
"How else can we explain her frenzied anxiety that her second one shouldnot enter it? The facts, as I read them, are something like this:This woman was married in America. Her husband developed some hatefulqualities; or shall we say that he contracted some loathsome disease,and became a leper or an imbecile? She flies from him at last, returnsto England, changes her name, and starts her life, as she thinks,afresh. She has been married three years, and believes that her positionis quite secure, having shown her husband the death certificate ofsome man whose name she has assumed, when suddenly her whereaboutsis discovered by her first husband; or, we may suppose, by someunscrupulous woman who has attached herself to the invalid. They writeto the wife, and threaten to come and expose her. She asks for a hundredpounds, and endeavors to buy them off. They come in spite of it, andwhen the husband mentions casually to the wife that there are new-comersin the cottage, she knows in some way that they are her pursuers. Shewaits until her husband is asleep, and then she rushes down to endeavorto persuade them to leave her in peace. Having no success, she goesagain next morning, and her husband meets her, as he has told us, asshe comes out. She promises him then not to go there again, but two daysafterwards the hope of getting rid of those dreadful neighbors was toostrong for her, and she made another attempt, taking down with her thephotograph which had probably been demanded from her. In the midst ofthis interview the maid rushed in to say that the master had come home,on which the wife, knowing that he would come straight down to thecottage, hurried the inmates out at the back door, into the grove offir-trees, probably, which was mentioned as standing near. In this wayhe found the place deserted. I shall be very much surprised, however, ifit is still so when he reconnoitres it this evening. What do you thinkof my theory?"