Something was moving in the shadow of the tool-house. I sawa dark, creeping figure which crawled round the corner andsquatted in front of the door. Seizing my pistol, I was rushingout, when my wife threw her arms round me and held me withconvulsive strength. I tried to throw her off, but she clung to memost desperately. At last I got clear, but by the time I had openedthe door and reached the house the creature was gone. He hadleft a trace of his presence, however, for there on the door wasthe very same arrangement of dancing men which had alreadytwice appeared, and which I have copied on that paper. Therewas no other sign of the fellow anywhere, though I ran all overthe grounds. And yet the amazing thing is that he must have beenthere all the time, for when I examined the door again in themorning, he had scrawled some more of his pictures under the linewhich I had already seen.”
“Have you that fresh drawing?”
“Yes, it is very short, but I made a copy of it, and here it is.”
Again he produced a paper. The new dance was in this form:
“Tell me,” said Holmes—and I could see by his eyes that he wasmuch excited— “was this a mere addition to the first or did itappear to be entirely separate?”
“It was on a different panel of the door.”
“Excellent! This is far the most important of all for our purpose.
It fills me with hopes. Now, Mr. Hilton Cubitt, please continueyour most interesting statement.”
“I have nothing more to say, Mr. Holmes, except that I wasangry with my wife that night for having held me back when Imight have caught the skulking rascal. She said that she fearedthat I might come to harm. For an instant it had crossed my mindthat perhaps what she really feared was that HE might come toharm, for I could not doubt that she knew who this man was,and what he meant by these strange signals. But there is a tone inmy wife’s voice, Mr. Holmes, and a look in her eyes which forbiddoubt, and I am sure that it was indeed my own safety that was inher mind. There’s the whole case, and now I want your advice asto what I ought to do. My own inclination is to put half a dozen ofmy farm lads in the shrubbery, and when this fellow comes againto give him such a hiding that he will leave us in peace for thefuture.”
“I fear it is too deep a case for such simple remedies,” said Holmes.
“How long can you stay in London?”
“I must go back to-day. I would not leave my wife alone all nightfor anything. She is very nervous, and begged me to come back.”
“I daresay you are right. But if you could have stopped, Imight possibly have been able to return with you in a day or two.
Meanwhile you will leave me these papers, and I think that it isvery likely that I shall be able to pay you a visit shortly and tothrow some light upon your case.”
Sherlock Holmes preserved his calm professional manner untilour visitor had left us, although it was easy for me, who knew himso well, to see that he was profoundly excited. The moment thatHilton Cubitt’s broad back had disappeared through the doormy comrade rushed to the table, laid out all the slips of papercontaining dancing men in front of him, and threw himself into anintricate and elaborate calculation. For two hours I watched himas he covered sheet after sheet of paper with figures and letters,so completely absorbed in his task that he had evidently forgottenmy presence. Sometimes he was making progress and whistledand sang at his work; sometimes he was puzzled, and would sitfor long spells with a furrowed brow and a vacant eye. Finally hesprang from his chair with a cry of satisfaction, and walked up anddown the room rubbing his hands together. Then he wrote a longtelegram upon a cable form. “If my answer to this is as I hope, youwill have a very pretty case to add to your collection, Watson,”
said he. “I expect that we shall be able to go down to Norfolktomorrow, and to take our friend some very definite news as to thesecret of his annoyance.”
I confess that I was filled with curiosity, but I was aware thatHolmes liked to make his disclosures at his own time and in hisown way, so I waited until it should suit him to take me into hisconfidence.
But there was a delay in that answering telegram, and two daysof impatience followed, during which Holmes pricked up his earsat every ring of the bell. On the evening of the second there camea letter from Hilton Cubitt. All was quiet with him, save that along inscription had appeared that morning upon the pedestal ofthe sundial. He inclosed a copy of it, which is here reproduced:
Holmes bent over this grotesque frieze for some minutes, andthen suddenly sprang to his feet with an exclamation of surpriseand dismay. His face was haggard with anxiety.
“We have let this affair go far enough,” said he. “Is there a trainto North Walsham to-night?”
I turned up the time-table. The last had just gone.
“Then we shall breakfast early and take the very first in themorning,” said Holmes. “Our presence is most urgently needed.
Ah! here is our expected cablegram. One moment, Mrs. Hudson,there may be an answer. No, that is quite as I expected. Thismessage makes it even more essential that we should not lose anhour in letting Hilton Cubitt know how matters stand, for it is asingular and a dangerous web in which our simple Norfolk squireis entangled.”
So, indeed, it proved, and as I come to the dark conclusion ofa story which had seemed to me to be only childish and bizarre,I experience once again the dismay and horror with which I wasfilled. Would that I had some brighter ending to communicate tomy readers, but these are the chronicles of fact, and I must followto their dark crisis the strange chain of events which for some daysmade Riding Thorpe Manor a household word through the lengthand breadth of England.
We had hardly alighted at North Walsham, and mentioned thename of our destination, when the station-master hurried towardsus. “I suppose that you are the detectives from London?” said he.
A look of annoyance passed over Holmes’s face.
“What makes you think such a thing?”