Nothing had been stolen or disarranged, and there is absolutelyno explanation of what the horror can be which has frightened awoman to death and two strong men out of their senses. There isthe situation, Mr. Holmes, in a nutshell, and if you can help us toclear it up you will have done a great work.”
I had hoped that in some way I could coax my companionback into the quiet which had been the object of our journey; butone glance at his intense face and contracted eyebrows told mehow vain was now the expectation. He sat for some little time insilence, absorbed in the strange drama which had broken in uponour peace.
“I will look into this matter,” he said at last. “On the face of it,it would appear to be a case of a very exceptional nature. Have youbeen there yourself, Mr. Roundhay?”
“No, Mr. Holmes. Mr. Tregennis brought back the account tothe vicarage, and I at once hurried over with him to consult you.”
“How far is it to the house where this singular tragedy occurred?”
“About a mile inland.”
“Then we shall walk over together. But before we start I mustask you a few questions, Mr. Mortimer Tregennis.”
The other had been silent all this time, but I had observedthat his more controlled excitement was even greater than theobtrusive emotion of the clergyman. He sat with a pale, drawnface, his anxious gaze fixed upon Holmes, and his thin handsclasped convulsively together. His pale lips quivered as he listenedto the dreadful experience which had befallen his family, and hisdark eyes seemed to reflect something of the horror of the scene.
“Ask what you like, Mr. Holmes,” said he eagerly. “It is a badthing to speak of, but I will answer you the truth.”
“Tell me about last night.”
“Well, Mr. Holmes, I supped there, as the vicar has said, and myelder brother George proposed a game of whist afterwards. We satdown about nine o’clock. It was a quarter-past ten when I movedto go. I left them all round the table, as merry as could be.”
“Who let you out?”
“Mrs. Porter had gone to bed, so I let myself out. I shut the halldoor behind me. The window of the room in which they sat wasclosed, but the blind was not drawn down. There was no changein door or window this morning, nor any reason to think that anystranger had been to the house. Yet there they sat, driven cleanmad with terror, and Brenda lying dead of fright, with her headhanging over the arm of the chair. I’ll never get the sight of thatroom out of my mind so long as I live.”
“The facts, as you state them, are certainly most remarkable,”
said Holmes. “I take it that you have no theory yourself which canin any way account for them?”
“It’s devilish, Mr. Holmes, devilish!” cried Mortimer Tregennis.
“It is not of this world. Something has come into that room whichhas dashed the light of reason from their minds. What humancontrivance could do that?”
“I fear,” said Holmes, “that if the matter is beyond humanity it iscertainly beyond me. Yet we must exhaust all natural explanationsbefore we fall back upon such a theory as this. As to yourself,Mr. Tregennis, I take it you were divided in some way from yourfamily, since they lived together and you had rooms apart?”
“That is so, Mr. Holmes, though the matter is past and donewith. We were a family of tin-miners at Redruth, but we sold ourventure to a company, and so retired with enough to keep us. Iwon’t deny that there was some feeling about the division of themoney and it stood between us for a time, but it was all forgivenand forgotten, and we were the best of friends together.”
“Looking back at the evening which you spent together, doesanything stand out in your memory as throwing any possible lightupon the tragedy? Think carefully, Mr. Tregennis, for any cluewhich can help me.”
“There is nothing at all, sir.”
“Your people were in their usual spirits?”
“Never better.”
“Were they nervous people? Did they ever show any apprehensionof coming danger?”
“Nothing of the kind.”
“You have nothing to add then, which could assist me?”
Mortimer Tregennis considered earnestly for a moment.
“There is one thing occurs to me,” said he at last. “As we sat atthe table my back was to the window, and my brother George,he being my partner at cards, was facing it. I saw him once lookhard over my shoulder, so I turned round and looked also. Theblind was up and the window shut, but I could just make out thebushes on the lawn, and it seemed to me for a moment that I sawsomething moving among them. I couldn’t even say if it was manor animal, but I just thought there was something there. WhenI asked him what he was looking at, he told me that he had thesame feeling. That is all that I can say.”
“Did you not investigate?”
“No; the matter passed as unimportant.”
“You left them, then, without any premonition of evil?”
“None at all.”
“I am not clear how you came to hear the news so early thismorning.”
“I am an early riser and generally take a walk before breakfast.
This morning I had hardly started when the doctor in his carriageovertook me. He told me that old Mrs. Porter had sent a boydown with an urgent message. I sprang in beside him and wedrove on. When we got there we looked into that dreadful room.
The candles and the fire must have burned out hours before, andthey had been sitting there in the dark until dawn had broken.
The doctor said Brenda must have been dead at least six hours.
There were no signs of violence. She just lay across the arm of thechair with that look on her face. George and Owen were singingsnatches of songs and gibbering like two great apes. Oh, it wasawful to see! I couldn’t stand it, and the doctor was as white as asheet. Indeed, he fell into a chair in a sort of faint, and we nearlyhad him on our hands as well.”
“Remarkable—most remarkable!” said Holmes, rising and takinghis hat. “I think, perhaps, we had better go down to TredannickWartha without further delay. I confess that I have seldom knowna case which at first sight presented a more singular problem.”