I can’t see the best woman God ever made go to her deathwithout doing all that is possible to save her. I can’t explainthings—I can’t even try to explain them, but I know beyond alldoubt that Miss Dunbar is innocent. You know the facts—whodoesn’t? It has been the gossip of the country. And never a voiceraised for her! It’s the damned injustice of it all that makes me crazy.
That woman has a heart that wouldn’t let her kill a fly. Well, I’llcome at eleven to-morrow and see if you can get some ray of light inthe dark. Maybe I have a clue and don’t know it. Anyhow, all I knowand all I have and all I am are for your use if only you can save her.
If ever in your life you showed your powers, put them now into thiscase.
Yours faithfully,
J. NEIL GIBSON.
“There you have it,” said Sherlock Holmes, knocking out theashes of his after-breakfast pipe and slowly refilling it. “That is thegentleman I await. As to the story, you have hardly time to masterall these papers, so I must give it to you in a nutshell if you areto take an intelligent interest in the proceedings. This man is thegreatest financial power in the world, and a man, as I understand,of most violent and formidable character. He married a wife, thevictim of this tragedy, of whom I know nothing save that shewas past her prime, which was the more unfortunate as a veryattractive governess superintended the education of two youngchildren. These are the three people concerned, and the scene isa grand old manor house, the centre of a historical English state.
Then as to the tragedy. The wife was found in the grounds nearlyhalf a mile from the house, late at night, clad in her dinner dress,with a shawl over her shoulders and a revolver bullet through herbrain. No weapon was found near her and there was no local clueas to the murder. No weapon near her, Watson—mark that! Thecrime seems to have been committed late in the evening, and thebody was found by a gamekeeper about eleven o’clock, when it wasexamined by the police and by a doctor before being carried up tothe house. Is this too condensed, or can you follow it clearly?”
“It is all very clear. But why suspect the governess?”
1328 The Complete Sherlock Holmes
“Well, in the first place there is some very direct evidence.
revolver with one discharged chamber and a calibre whichcorresponded with the bullet was found on the floor of herwardrobe.” His eyes fixed and he repeated in broken words, “On—the—floor—of—her—wardrobe.” Then he sank into silence, andsaw that some train of thought had been set moving which Ishould be foolish to interrupt. Suddenly with a start he emergedinto brisk life once more. “Yes, Watson, it was found. Prettydamning, eh? So the two juries thought. Then the dead womanhad a note upon her making an appointment at that very place andsigned by the governess. How’s that? Finally there is the motive.
Senator Gibson is an attractive person. If his wife dies, who morelikely to succeed her than the young lady who had already by allaccounts received pressing attentions from her employer? Love,fortune, power, all depending upon one middle-aged life. Ugly,Watson—very ugly!”
“Yes, indeed, Holmes.”
“Nor could she prove an alibi. On the contrary, she had to admitthat she was down near Thor Bridge—that was the scene of thetragedy—about that hour. She couldn’t deny it, for some passingvillager had seen her there.”
“That really seems final.”
“And yet, Watson—and yet! This bridge—a single broad spanof stone with balustraded sides—carries the drive over thenarrowest part of a long, deep, reed-girt sheet of water. ThorMere it is called. In the mouth of the bridge lay the dead woman.
Such are the main facts. But here, if I mistake not, is our client,considerably before his time.”
Billy had opened the door, but the name which he announcedwas an unexpected one. Mr. Marlow Bates was a stranger toboth of us. He was a thin, nervous wisp of a man with frightenedeyes and a twitching, hesitating manner—a man whom my ownprofessional eye would judge to be on the brink of an absolutenervous breakdown.
“You seem agitated, Mr. Bates,” said Holmes. “Pray sit down. Ifear I can only give you a short time, for I have an appointment ateleven.”
“I know you have,” our visitor gasped, shooting out shortsentences like a man who is out of breath. “Mr. Gibson is coming.
Mr. Gibson is my employer. I am manager of his estate. Mr.
Holmes, he is a villain—an infernal villain.”
“Strong language, Mr. Bates.”
“I have to be emphatic, Mr. Holmes, for the time is so limited.
would not have him find me here for the world. He is almostdue now. But I was so situated that I could not come earlier.
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His secretary, Mr. Ferguson, only told me this morning of hisappointment with you.”
“And you are his manager?”
“I have given him notice. In a couple of weeks I shall haveshaken off his accursed slavery. A hard man, Mr. Holmes, hardto all about him. Those public charities are a screen to cover hisprivate iniquities. But his wife was his chief victim. He was brutalto her—yes, sir, brutal! How she came by her death I do not know,but I am sure that he had made her life a misery to her. She wasa creature of the tropics, a Brazilian by birth, as no doubt youknow.”
“No, it had escaped me.”
“Tropical by birth and tropical by nature. A child of the sun andof passion. She had loved him as such women can love, but whenher own physical charms had faded—I am told that they oncewere great—there was nothing to hold him. We all liked her andfelt for her and hated him for the way that he treated her. But heis plausible and cunning. That is all I have to say to you. Don’ttake him at his face value. There is more behind. Now I’ll go. No,no, don’t detain me! He is almost due.”
With a frightened look at the clock our strange visitor literallyran to the door and disappeared.
“Well! Well!” said Holmes after an interval of silence. “Mr.Gibson seems to have a nice loyal household. But the warning is auseful one, and now we can only wait till the man himself appears.”