The Valley of Fear (Sherlock Holmes 7)

"I freely admit the difficulties," said Holmes. "I propose to make alittle investigation of my own to-night, and it is just possible thatit may contribute something to the common cause."

"Can we help you, Mr. Holmes?"

"No, no! Darkness and Dr. Watson's umbrella--my wants are simple. AndAmes, the faithful Ames, no doubt he will stretch a point for me. Allmy lines of thought lead me back invariably to the one basicquestion--why should an athletic man develop his frame upon sounnatural an instrument as a single dumb-bell?"

It was late that night when Holmes returned from his solitaryexcursion. We slept in a double-bedded room, which was the best thatthe little country inn could do for us. I was already asleep when I waspartly awakened by his entrance.

"Well, Holmes," I murmured, "have you found anything out?"

He stood beside me in silence, his candle in his hand. Then the tall,lean figure inclined towards me. "I say, Watson," he whispered, "wouldyou be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic, a man withsoftening of the brain, an idiot whose mind has lost its grip?"

"Not in the least," I answered in astonishment.

"Ah, that's lucky," he said, and not another word would he utter thatnight.

Chapter 7

The Solution

Next morning, after breakfast, we found Inspector MacDonald and WhiteMason seated in close consultation in the small parlour of the localpolice sergeant. On the table in front of them were piled a number ofletters and telegrams, which they were carefully sorting and docketing.Three had been placed on one side.

"Still on the track of the elusive bicyclist?" Holmes asked cheerfully."What is the latest news of the ruffian?"

MacDonald pointed ruefully to his heap of correspondence.

"He is at present reported from Leicester, Nottingham, Southampton,Derby, East Ham, Richmond, and fourteen other places. In three ofthem--East Ham, Leicester, and Liverpool--there is a clear case againsthim, and he has actually been arrested. The country seems to be full ofthe fugitives with yellow coats."

"Dear me!" said Holmes sympathetically. "Now, Mr. Mac and you, Mr.White Mason, I wish to give you a very earnest piece of advice. When Iwent into this case with you I bargained, as you will no doubtremember, that I should not present you with half-proved theories, butthat I should retain and work out my own ideas until I had satisfiedmyself that they were correct. For this reason I am not at the presentmoment telling you all that is in my mind. On the other hand, I saidthat I would play the game fairly by you, and I do not think it is afair game to allow you for one unnecessary moment to waste yourenergies upon a profitless task. Therefore I am here to advise you thismorning, and my advice to you is summed up in three words--abandon thecase."

MacDonald and White Mason stared in amazement at their celebratedcolleague.

"You consider it hopeless!" cried the inspector.

"I consider your case to be hopeless. I do not consider that it ishopeless to arrive at the truth."

"But this cyclist. He is not an invention. We have his description, hisvalise, his bicycle. The fellow must be somewhere. Why should we notget him?"

"Yes, yes, no doubt he is somewhere, and no doubt we shall get him; butI would not have you waste your energies in East Ham or Liverpool. I amsure that we can find some shorter cut to a result."

"You are holding something back. It's hardly fair of you, Mr. Holmes."The inspector was annoyed.

"You know my methods of work, Mr. Mac. But I will hold it back for theshortest time possible. I only wish to verify my details in one way,which can very readily be done, and then I make my bow and return toLondon, leaving my results entirely at your service. I owe you too muchto act otherwise; for in all my experience I cannot recall any moresingular and interesting study."

"This is clean beyond me, Mr. Holmes. We saw you when we returned fromTunbridge Wells last night, and you were in general agreement with ourresults. What has happened since then to give you a completely new ideaof the case?"

"Well, since you ask me, I spent, as I told you that I would, somehours last night at the Manor House."

"Well, what happened?"

"Ah, I can only give you a very general answer to that for the moment.By the way, I have been reading a short but clear and interestingaccount of the old building, purchasable at the modest sum of one pennyfrom the local tobacconist."

Here Holmes drew a small tract, embellished with a rude engraving ofthe ancient Manor House, from his waistcoat pocket.

"It immensely adds to the zest of an investigation, my dear Mr. Mac,when one is in conscious sympathy with the historical atmosphere ofone's surroundings. Don't look so impatient; for I assure you that evenso bald an account as this raises some sort of picture of the past inone's mind. Permit me to give you a sample. 'Erected in the fifth yearof the reign of James I, and standing upon the site of a much olderbuilding, the Manor House of Birlstone presents one of the finestsurviving examples of the moated Jacobean residence--'"

"You are making fools of us, Mr. Holmes!"

"Tut, tut, Mr. Mac!--the first sign of temper I have detected in you.Well, I won't read it verbatim, since you feel so strongly upon thesubject. But when I tell you that there is some account of the takingof the place by a parliamentary colonel in 1644, of the concealment ofCharles for several days in the course of the Civil War, and finally ofa visit there by the second George, you will admit that there arevarious associations of interest connected with this ancient house."