"Hullo!" cried the Inspector, "where's he got to?"
Holmes had disappeared.
"Wait here an instant," said young Alec Cunningham. "The fellow is offhis head, in my opinion. Come with me, father, and see where he has gotto!"
They rushed out of the room, leaving the Inspector, the Colonel, and mestaring at each other.
"'Pon my word, I am inclined to agree with Master Alec," said theofficial. "It may be the effect of this illness, but it seems to methat--"
His words were cut short by a sudden scream of "Help! Help! Murder!"With a thrill I recognized the voice of that of my friend. I rushedmadly from the room on to the landing. The cries, which had sunk downinto a hoarse, inarticulate shouting, came from the room which we hadfirst visited. I dashed in, and on into the dressing-room beyond. Thetwo Cunninghams were bending over the prostrate figure of SherlockHolmes, the younger clutching his throat with both hands, while theelder seemed to be twisting one of his wrists. In an instant the threeof us had torn them away from him, and Holmes staggered to his feet,very pale and evidently greatly exhausted.
"Arrest these men, Inspector," he gasped.
"On what charge?"
"That of murdering their coachman, William Kirwan."
The Inspector stared about him in bewilderment. "Oh, come now, Mr.Holmes," said he at last, "I'm sure you don't really mean to--"
"Tut, man, look at their faces!" cried Holmes, curtly.
Never certainly have I seen a plainer confession of guilt upon humancountenances. The older man seemed numbed and dazed with a heavy, sullenexpression upon his strongly-marked face. The son, on the other hand,had dropped all that jaunty, dashing style which had characterized him,and the ferocity of a dangerous wild beast gleamed in his dark eyesand distorted his handsome features. The Inspector said nothing, but,stepping to the door, he blew his whistle. Two of his constables came atthe call.
"I have no alternative, Mr. Cunningham," said he. "I trust that this mayall prove to be an absurd mistake, but you can see that--Ah, would you?Drop it!" He struck out with his hand, and a revolver which the youngerman was in the act of cocking clattered down upon the floor.
"Keep that," said Holmes, quietly putting his foot upon it; "you willfind it useful at the trial. But this is what we really wanted." He heldup a little crumpled piece of paper.
"The remainder of the sheet!" cried the Inspector.
"Precisely."
"And where was it?"
"Where I was sure it must be. I'll make the whole matter clear to youpresently. I think, Colonel, that you and Watson might return now, andI will be with you again in an hour at the furthest. The Inspector and Imust have a word with the prisoners, but you will certainly see me backat luncheon time."
Sherlock Holmes was as good as his word, for about one o'clock herejoined us in the Colonel's smoking-room. He was accompanied by alittle elderly gentleman, who was introduced to me as the Mr. Actonwhose house had been the scene of the original burglary.
"I wished Mr. Acton to be present while I demonstrated this small matterto you," said Holmes, "for it is natural that he should take a keeninterest in the details. I am afraid, my dear Colonel, that you mustregret the hour that you took in such a stormy petrel as I am."
"On the contrary," answered the Colonel, warmly, "I consider it thegreatest privilege to have been permitted to study your methods ofworking. I confess that they quite surpass my expectations, and that Iam utterly unable to account for your result. I have not yet seen thevestige of a clue."
"I am afraid that my explanation may disillusion you but it has alwaysbeen my habit to hide none of my methods, either from my friend Watsonor from any one who might take an intelligent interest in them. But,first, as I am rather shaken by the knocking about which I had inthe dressing-room, I think that I shall help myself to a dash of yourbrandy, Colonel. My strength had been rather tried of late."
"I trust that you had no more of those nervous attacks."
Sherlock Holmes laughed heartily. "We will come to that in its turn,"said he. "I will lay an account of the case before you in its due order,showing you the various points which guided me in my decision. Prayinterrupt me if there is any inference which is not perfectly clear toyou.
"It is of the highest importance in the art of detection to be ableto recognize, out of a number of facts, which are incidental and whichvital. Otherwise your energy and attention must be dissipated instead ofbeing concentrated. Now, in this case there was not the slightest doubtin my mind from the first that the key of the whole matter must belooked for in the scrap of paper in the dead man's hand.
"Before going into this, I would draw your attention to the fact that,if Alec Cunningham's narrative was correct, and if the assailant, aftershooting William Kirwan, had instantly fled, then it obviously could notbe he who tore the paper from the dead man's hand. But if it was not he,it must have been Alec Cunningham himself, for by the time that the oldman had descended several servants were upon the scene. The point is asimple one, but the Inspector had overlooked it because he had startedwith the supposition that these county magnates had had nothing to dowith the matter. Now, I make a point of never having any prejudices,and of following docilely wherever fact may lead me, and so, in thevery first stage of the investigation, I found myself looking a littleaskance at the part which had been played by Mr. Alec Cunningham.
"And now I made a very careful examination of the corner of paper whichthe Inspector had submitted to us. It was at once clear to me that itformed part of a very remarkable document. Here it is. Do you not nowobserve something very suggestive about it?"
"It has a very irregular look," said the Colonel.
"My dear sir," cried Holmes, "there cannot be the least doubt in theworld that it has been written by two persons doing alternate words.When I draw your attention to the strong t's of 'at' and 'to', and askyou to compare them with the weak ones of 'quarter' and 'twelve,' youwill instantly recognize the fact. A very brief analysis of thesefour words would enable you to say with the utmost confidence that the'learn' and the 'maybe' are written in the stronger hand, and the 'what'in the weaker."