by L. E. Smart
"I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered her room. An inspection of her chair showed me that she had been in the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary in order that she should reach the ventilator. The sight of the safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic clang heard by Mister Stoner was obviously caused by his stepmother hastily closing the door of her safe upon its terrible occupant. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the light and attacked it."
"With the result of driving it through the ventilator."
"And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its mistress at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. Griselda Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon my conscience."
IX - The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Ms. Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, there were only two which I was the means of introducing to her notice -- that of Ms. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of reasoning by which she achieved such remarkable results. The story has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly served to weaken the effect.
It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in her Baker Street rooms, although I continually visited her and occasionally even persuaded her to forgo her Bohemian habits so far as to come and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send me on every sufferer over whom she might have any influence.
One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by the manservant tapping at the door to announce that two women had come from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door tightly behind her.
"I've got her here," she whispered, jerking her thumb over her shoulder; "she's all right."
"What is it, then?" I asked, for her manner suggested that it was some strange creature which she had caged up in my room.
"It's a new patient," she whispered. "I thought I'd bring her round myself; then she couldn't slip away. There she is, all safe and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my duties, just the same as you." And off she went, this trusty tout, without even giving me time to thank her.
I entered my consulting-room and found a lady seated by the table. She was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a soft cloth cap which she had laid down upon my books. Round one of her hands she had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all over with bloodstains. She was young, not more than five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, feminine face; but she was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a woman who was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all her strength of mind to control.
"I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said she, "but I have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I might find a doctor, a worthy lady very kindly escorted me here. I gave the manservant a card, but I see that he has left it upon the side-table."
I took it up and glanced at it. "Ms. Victoria Hatherley, hydraulic engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself a monotonous occupation."
"Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said she, and laughed. She laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, leaning back in her chair and shaking her sides. All my medical instincts rose up against that laugh.
"Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out some water from a caraffe.
It was useless, however. She was off in one of those hysterical outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis is over and gone. Presently she came to herself once more, very weary and pale-looking.
"I have been making a fool of myself," she gasped.
"Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, and the colour began to come back to her bloodless cheeks.
"That's better!" said she. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb used to be."
She unwound the handkerchief and held out her hand. It gave even my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from the roots.
"Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have bled considerably."
"Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig."
"Excellent! You should have been a surgeon."
"It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own province."
"This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very heavy and sharp instrument."
"A thing like a cleaver," said she.
"An accident, I presume?"
"By no means."
"What! a murderous attack?"
"Very murderous indeed."
"You horrify me."
I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. She lay back without wincing, though she bit her lip from time to time.
"How is that?" I asked when I had finished.
"Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new woman. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through."
"Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently trying to your nerves."
"Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so vague that it is a question whether justice will be done."
"Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you to come to my friend, Ms. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the official police."
"Oh, I have heard of that lady," answered my visitor, "and I should be very glad if she would take the matter up, though of course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me an introduction to her?"
"I'll do
better. I'll take you round to her myself."
"I should be immensely obliged to you."
"We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to have a little breakfast with her. Do you feel equal to it?"
"Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story."
"Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my husband, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my new acquaintance to Baker Street.
Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about her sitting-room in her dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The Times and smoking her before-breakfast pipe, which was composed of all the plugs and dottles left from her smokes of the day before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the mantelpiece. She received us in her quietly genial fashion, ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. When it was concluded she settled our new acquaintance upon the sofa, placed a pillow beneath her head, and laid a glass of brandy and water within her reach.
"It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, Ms. Hatherley," said she. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant."
"Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another woman since the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar experiences."
Holmes sat in her big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded expression which veiled her keen and eager nature, while I sat opposite to her, and we listened in silence to the strange story which our visitor detailed to us.
"You must know," said she, "that I am an orphan and a spinster, residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of money through my poor mother's death, I determined to start in business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria Street.
"I suppose that everyone finds her first independent start in business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. During two years I have had three consultations and one small job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to believe that I should never have any practice at all.
"Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the office, my clerk entered to say there was a lady waiting who wished to see me upon business. She brought up a card, too, with the name of 'Colonel Lysandra Stark' engraved upon it. Close at her heels came the colonel herself, a woman rather over the middle size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have ever seen so thin a woman. Her whole face sharpened away into nose and chin, and the skin of her cheeks was drawn quite tense over her outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be her natural habit, and due to no disease, for her eye was bright, her step brisk, and her bearing assured. She was plainly but neatly dressed, and her age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than thirty.
"'Ms. Hatherley?' said she, with something of a German accent. 'You have been recommended to me, Ms. Hatherley, as being a woman who is not only proficient in her profession but is also discreet and capable of preserving a secret.'
"I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young woman would at such an address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?'
"'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both an orphan and a spinster and are residing alone in London.'
"'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter that you wished to speak to me?'
"'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute secrecy is quite essential -- absolute secrecy, you understand, and of course we may expect that more from a woman who is alone than from one who lives in the bosom of her family.'
"'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely depend upon my doing so.'
"She looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye.
"'Do you promise, then?' said she at last.
"'Yes, I promise.'
"'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?'
"'I have already given you my word.'
"'Very good.' She suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning across the room she flung open the door. The passage outside was empty.
"'That's all right,' said she, coming back. 'I know that clerks are sometimes curious as to their mistress’s affairs. Now we can talk in safety.' She drew up her chair very close to mine and began to stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look.
"A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless woman. Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from showing my impatience.
"'I beg that you will state your business, madam,' said I; 'my time is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the words came to my lips.
"'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' she asked.
"'Most admirably.'
"'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as that?'
"'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.'
"'Precisely so. We shall want you to come tonight by the last train.'
"'Where to?'
"'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a train from Paddington which would bring you there at about 11:15.'
"'Very good.'
"'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.'
"'There is a drive, then?'
"'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good seven miles from Eyford Station.'
"'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop the night.'
"'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.'
"'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient hour?'
"'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a young and unknown woman, a fee which would buy an opinion from the very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do so.'
"I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to do.'
"'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from eavesdroppers?'
"'Entirely.'
"'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found in one or two places in England?'
"'I have heard so.'
"'Some little time ago I bought
a small place -- a very small place -- within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two very much larger ones upon the right and left -- both of them, however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are going to Eyford tonight. I hope that I make it all plain?'
