The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Regendered

by L. E. Smart

  "'Oh, yes,' said she, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to you, Mister Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue shirt will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should both be extremely obliged.'

  "The shirt which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Ms. and Mr. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching along the entire front of the house, with three long windows reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was asked to sit, and then Ms. Rucastle, walking up and down on the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how comical she was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mr. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so much as smiled, but sat with his hands in his lap, and a sad, anxious look upon his face. After an hour or so, Ms. Rucastle suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the day, and that I might change my shirt and go to little Edward in the nursery.

  "Two days later this same performance was gone through under exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my shirt, again I sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which she told inimitably. Then she handed me a yellow-backed novel, and moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not fall upon the page, she begged me to read aloud to her. I read for about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, she ordered me to cease and to change my shirt.

  "You can easily imagine, Ms. Holmes, how curious I became as to what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I perceived that there was a woman standing in the Southampton Road, a small, short haired woman in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are usually people there. This woman, however, was leaning against the railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mr. Rucastle to find his eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. He said nothing, but I am convinced that he had divined that I had a mirror in my hand and had seen what was behind me. He rose at once.

  "'Jess,' said he, 'there is an impertinent lady upon the road there who stares up at Mister Hunter.'

  "'No friend of yours, Mister Hunter?' she asked.

  "'No, I know no one in these parts.'

  "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to her to go away.'

  "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.'

  "'No, no, we should have her loitering here always. Kindly turn round and wave her away like that.'

  "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mr. Rucastle drew down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue shirt, nor seen the woman in the road."

  "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a most interesting one."

  "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may prove to be little relation between the different incidents of which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper Beeches, Ms. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving about.

  "'Look in here!' said Ms. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two planks. 'Is she not a beauty?'

  "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a vague figure huddled up in the darkness.

  "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call her mine, but really old Toller, my groom, is the only woman who can do anything with her. We feed her once a day, and not too much then, so that she is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets her loose every night, and God help the trespasser whom she lays her fangs upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life is worth.'

  "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not think that any burglar could have done.

  "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never guess what it was. It was my coil of hair.

  "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had locked.

  "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Ms. Holmes, and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Ms. Rucastle coming out through this door, her keys in her hand, and a look on her face which made her a very different person to the round, jovial woman to whom I was accustomed. Her cheeks were red, her brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at her temples with passion. She locked the door and hurried past me without a word or a look.

  "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I could see the windows of this part of the house. Th
ere were four of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Ms. Rucastle came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever.

  "'Ah!' said she, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you without a word, my dear young gentleman. I was preoccupied with business matters.'

  "I assured her that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one of them has the shutters up.'

  "She looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled at my remark.

  "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said she. 'I have made my dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young gentleman we have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever believed it?' She spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest in her eyes as she looked at me. I read suspicion there and annoyance, but no jest.

  "Well, Ms. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty -- a feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this place. They talk of man's instinct; perhaps it was man's instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the forbidden door.

  "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, besides Ms. Rucastle, both Toller and her husband find something to do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw her carrying a large black linen bag with her through the door. Recently she has been drinking hard, and yesterday evening she was very drunk; and when I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at all that she had left it there. Ms. and Mr. Rucastle were both downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, opened the door, and slipped through.

  "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Ms. Holmes. My overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran -- ran as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the hem of my shirt. I rushed down the passage, through the door, and straight into the arms of Ms. Rucastle, who was waiting outside.

  "'So,' said she, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it must be when I saw the door open.'

  "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted.

  "'My dear young gentleman! my dear young gentleman!' -- you cannot think how caressing and soothing her manner was -- 'and what has frightened you, my dear young gentleman?'

  "But her voice was just a little too coaxing. She overdid it. I was keenly on my guard against her.

  "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in there!'

  "'Only that?' said she, looking at me keenly.

  "'Why, what did you think?' I asked.

  "'Why do you think that I lock this door?'

  "'I am sure that I do not know.'

  "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you see?' She was still smiling in the most amiable manner.

  "'I am sure if I had known -- '

  "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over that threshold again' -- here in an instant the smile hardened into a grin of rage, and she glared down at me with the face of a demon -- 'I'll throw you to the mastiff.'

  "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that I must have rushed past her into my room. I remember nothing until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I thought of you, Ms. Holmes. I could not live there longer without some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the woman, of the man, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I remembered that Toller had drunk herself into a state of insensibility that evening, and I knew that she was the only one in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, or who would venture to set her free. I slipped in in safety and lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Ms. and Mr. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you all my adventures, Ms. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should do."

  Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, her hands in her pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon her face.

  "Is Toller still drunk?" she asked.

  "Yes. I heard her husband tell Mr. Rucastle that he could do nothing with her."

  "That is well. And the Rucastles go out tonight?"

  "Yes."

  "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?"

  "Yes, the wine-cellar."

  "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very brave and sensible boy, Mister Hunter. Do you think that you could perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not think you a quite exceptional man."

  "I will try. What is it?"

  "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mr. Toller, who might give the alarm. If you could send him into the cellar on some errand, and then turn the key upon him, you would facilitate matters immensely."

  "I will do it."

  "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been brought there to personate someone, and the real person is imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the son, Mister Alec Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling him in height, figure, and the colour of your hair. His had been cut off, very possibly in some illness through which he has passed, and so, of course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you came upon his tresses. The woman in the road was undoubtedly some friend of his -- possibly his fiancee -- and no doubt, as you wore the boy's shirt and were so like him, she was convinced from your laughter, whenever she saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, that Mister Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that he no longer desired her attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent her from endeavouring to communicate with him. So much is fairly cle
ar. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of the child."

  "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated.

  "My dear Watson, you as a medical woman are continually gaining light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have frequently gained my first real insight into the character of parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether she derives this from her smiling mother, as I should suspect, or from her father, it bodes evil for the poor boy who is in their power."

  "I am sure that you are right, Ms. Holmes," cried our client. "A thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to this poor creature."

  "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning woman. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the mystery."

  We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were sufficient to mark the house even had Mister Hunter not been standing smiling on the door-step.

  "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes.

  A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is Mr. Toller in the cellar," said he. "His wife lies snoring on the kitchen rug. Here are her keys, which are the duplicates of Ms. Rucastle's."

  "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black business."

  We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Mister Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the transverse bar. Then she tried the various keys in the lock, but without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence Holmes' face clouded over.