Miss Trelawny met me in the hall. She was not in any way shy. Sheseemed to rule all around her with a sort of high-bred dominance, allthe more remarkable as she was greatly agitated and as pale as snow.In the great hall were several servants, the men standing together nearthe hall door, and the women clinging together in the further cornersand doorways. A police superintendent had been talking to MissTrelawny; two men in uniform and one plain-clothes man stood near him.As she took my hand impulsively there was a look of relief in her eyes,and she gave a gentle sigh of relief. Her salutation was simple.
"I knew you would come!"
The clasp of the hand can mean a great deal, even when it is notintended to mean anything especially. Miss Trelawny's hand somehowbecame lost in my own. It was not that it was a small hand; it wasfine and flexible, with long delicate fingers--a rare and beautifulhand; it was the unconscious self-surrender. And though at the momentI could not dwell on the cause of the thrill which swept me, it cameback to me later.
She turned and said to the police superintendent:
"This is Mr. Malcolm Ross." The police officer saluted as he answered:
"I know Mr. Malcolm Ross, miss. Perhaps he will remember I had thehonour of working with him in the Brixton Coining case." I had not atfirst glance noticed who it was, my whole attention having been takenwith Miss Trelawny.
"Of course, Superintendent Dolan, I remember very well!" I said as weshook hands. I could not but note that the acquaintanceship seemed arelief to Miss Trelawny. There was a certain vague uneasiness in hermanner which took my attention; instinctively I felt that it would beless embarrassing for her to speak with me alone. So I said to theSuperintendent:
"Perhaps it will be better if Miss Trelawny will see me alone for a fewminutes. You, of course, have already heard all she knows; and I shallunderstand better how things are if I may ask some questions. I willthen talk the matter over with you if I may."
"I shall be glad to be of what service I can, sir," he answeredheartily.
Following Miss Trelawny, I moved over to a dainty room which openedfrom the hall and looked out on the garden at the back of the house.When we had entered and I had closed the door she said:
"I will thank you later for your goodness in coming to me in mytrouble; but at present you can best help me when you know the facts."
"Go on," I said. "Tell me all you know and spare no detail, howevertrivial it may at the present time seem to be." She went on at once:
"I was awakened by some sound; I do not know what. I only know that itcame through my sleep; for all at once I found myself awake, with myheart beating wildly, listening anxiously for some sound from myFather's room. My room is next Father's, and I can often hear himmoving about before I fall asleep. He works late at night, sometimesvery late indeed; so that when I wake early, as I do occasionally, orin the grey of the dawn, I hear him still moving. I tried once toremonstrate with him about staying up so late, as it cannot be good forhim; but I never ventured to repeat the experiment. You know how sternand cold he can be--at least you may remember what I told you abouthim; and when he is polite in this mood he is dreadful. When he isangry I can bear it much better; but when he is slow and deliberate,and the side of his mouth lifts up to show the sharp teeth, I think Ifeel--well, I don't know how! Last night I got up softly and stole tothe door, for I really feared to disturb him. There was not any noiseof moving, and no kind of cry at all; but there was a queer kind ofdragging sound, and a slow, heavy breathing. Oh! it was dreadful,waiting there in the dark and the silence, and fearing--fearing I didnot know what!
"At last I took my courage a deux mains, and turning the handle assoftly as I could, I opened the door a tiny bit. It was quite darkwithin; I could just see the outline of the windows. But in thedarkness the sound of breathing, becoming more distinct, was appalling.As I listened, this continued; but there was no other sound. I pushedthe door open all at once. I was afraid to open it slowly; I felt asif there might be some dreadful thing behind it ready to pounce out onme! Then I switched on the electric light, and stepped into the room.I looked first at the bed. The sheets were all crumpled up, so that Iknew Father had been in bed; but there was a great dark red patch inthe centre of the bed, and spreading to the edge of it, that made myheart stand still. As I was gazing at it the sound of the breathingcame across the room, and my eyes followed to it. There was Father onhis right side with the other arm under him, just as if his dead bodyhad been thrown there all in a heap. The track of blood went acrossthe room up to the bed, and there was a pool all around him whichlooked terribly red and glittering as I bent over to examine him. Theplace where he lay was right in front of the big safe. He was in hispyjamas. The left sleeve was torn, showing his bare arm, and stretchedout toward the safe. It looked--oh! so terrible, patched all withblood, and with the flesh torn or cut all around a gold chain bangle onhis wrist. I did not know he wore such a thing, and it seemed to giveme a new shock of surprise."
She paused a moment; and as I wished to relieve her by a moment'sdivergence of thought, I said:
"Oh, that need not surprise you. You will see the most unlikely menwearing bangles. I have seen a judge condemn a man to death, and thewrist of the hand he held up had a gold bangle." She did not seem toheed much the words or the idea; the pause, however, relieved hersomewhat, and she went on in a steadier voice:
"I did not lose a moment in summoning aid, for I feared he might bleedto death. I rang the bell, and then went out and called for help asloudly as I could. In what must have been a very short time--though itseemed an incredibly long one to me--some of the servants came runningup; and then others, till the room seemed full of staring eyes, anddishevelled hair, and night clothes of all sorts.
"We lifted Father on a sofa; and the housekeeper, Mrs. Grant, whoseemed to have her wits about her more than any of us, began to lookwhere the flow of blood came from. In a few seconds it became apparentthat it came from the arm which was bare. There was a deep wound--notclean-cut as with a knife, but like a jagged rent or tear--close to thewrist, which seemed to have cut into the vein. Mrs. Grant tied ahandkerchief round the cut, and screwed it up tight with a silverpaper-cutter; and the flow of blood seemed to be checked at once. Bythis time I had come to my senses--or such of them as remained; and Isent off one man for the doctor and another for the police. When theyhad gone, I felt that, except for the servants, I was all alone in thehouse, and that I knew nothing--of my Father or anything else; and agreat longing came to me to have someone with me who could help me.Then I thought of you and your kind offer in the boat under thewillow-tree; and, without waiting to think, I told the men to get acarriage ready at once, and I scribbled a note and sent it on to you."
She paused. I did not like to say just then anything of how I felt. Ilooked at her; I think she understood, for her eyes were raised to minefor a moment and then fell, leaving her cheeks as red as peony roses.With a manifest effort she went on with her story:
"The Doctor was with us in an incredibly short time. The groom had methim letting himself into his house with his latchkey, and he came hererunning. He made a proper tourniquet for poor Father's arm, and thenwent home to get some appliances. I dare say he will be back almostimmediately. Then a policeman came, and sent a message to the station;and very soon the Superintendent was here. Then you came."
There was a long pause, and I ventured to take her hand for an ins
tant.Without a word more we opened the door, and joined the Superintendentin the hall. He hurried up to us, saying as he came:
"I have been examining everything myself, and have sent off a messageto Scotland Yard. You see, Mr. Ross, there seemed so much that was oddabout the case that I thought we had better have the best man of theCriminal Investigation Department that we could get. So I sent a noteasking to have Sergeant Daw sent at once. You remember him, sir, inthat American poisoning case at Hoxton."
"Oh yes," I said, "I remember him well; in that and other cases, for Ihave benefited several times by his skill and acumen. He has a mindthat works as truly as any that I know. When I have been for thedefence, and believed my man was innocent, I was glad to have himagainst us!"
"That is high praise, sir!" said the Superintendent gratified: "I amglad you approve of my choice; that I did well in sending for him."
I answered heartily:
"Could not be better. I do not doubt that between you we shall get atthe facts--and what lies behind them!"
We ascended to Mr. Trelawny's room, where we found everything exactlyas his daughter had described.
There came a ring at the house bell, and a minute later a man was showninto the room. A young man with aquiline features, keen grey eyes, anda forehead that stood out square and broad as that of a thinker. Inhis hand he had a black bag which he at once opened. Miss Trelawnyintroduced us: "Doctor Winchester, Mr. Ross, Superintendent Dolan."We bowed mutually, and he, without a moment's delay, began his work.We all waited, and eagerly watched him as he proceeded to dress thewound. As he went on he turned now and again to call theSuperintendent's attention to some point about the wound, the latterproceeding to enter the fact at once in his notebook.
"See! several parallel cuts or scratches beginning on the left side ofthe wrist and in some places endangering the radial artery.