The Zoo 3: Sodden/The Zoo 3 - Sodden (Disk 2 of 2).adf/Edited_Articles/HolmesNorwood3.ZOO

Text File | 1993-06-07 | 9.3 KB | 241 lines

 0
roman
 16
 0
 1

 0
 529
 0
 9
bookman
 24
 0
 3

 0
 529
 0
 30
pearl
 8
 0
 1

 0
 529
 0
 55
pearl
 8
 0
 1

 0
 529
 0
 80
pearl
 8
 0
 1

 0
 529
 0
 105
pearl
 8
 0
 1

 0
 529
 0
 130
pearl
 8
 0
 1

 0
 529
 0
 155
pearl
 8
 0
 1

 0
 529
 0
*!EOM
 166
1614Y00F05roman16NTHE ADVENTURE OF THE NORWOOD BUILDER
2421Y00F07bookman24Y00C3N
1213Y00F04ruby12NExtracted from the novel:
1201NThe Return of Sherlock Holmes, A Collection of Holmes Adventures
2421Y00F07bookman24Y00C5N
2401Nby
2401NSIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
2401N
2401N
2406Y00C3N
1614Y00F05roman16NTHE ADVENTURE OF THE NORWOOD BUILDER
1606Y00C5NPart 3
0819Y00F05pearl08Y00C1N
0801N
0801NLestrade began to laugh.
0801N
0801N"You are too many for me when you begin to get on your theories, Mr. Holmes,"
0801Nsaid he.  "How does this bear on the case?"
0801N
0801N"Well, it corroborates the young man's story to the extent that the will was
0801Ndrawn up by Jonas Oldacre in his journey yesterday.  It is curious--is it
0801Nnot?--that a man should draw up so important a document in so haphazard a
0801Nfashion.  It suggests that he did not think it was going to be of much
0801Npractical importance.  If a man drew up a will which he did not intend ever
0801Nto be effective, he might do it so."
0801N
0801N"Well, he drew up his own death warrant at the same time," said Lestrade.
0801N
0801N"Oh, you think so?"
0801N
0801N"Don't you?"
0801N
0801N"Well, it is quite possible, but the case is not clear to me yet."
0801N
0801N"Not clear?  Well, if that isn't clear, what COULD be clear?  Here is a young
0801Nman who learns suddenly that, if a certain older man dies, he will succeed to
0801Na fortune.  What does he do?  He says nothing to anyone, but he arranges that
0801Nhe shall go out on some pretext to see his client that night.  He waits until
0801Nthe only other person in the house is in bed, and then in the solitude of a
0801Nman's room he murders him, burns his body in the wood-pile, and departs to a
0801Nneighbouring hotel.  The blood-stains in the room and also on the stick are
0801Nvery slight.  It is probable that he imagined his crime to be a bloodless
0801None, and hoped that if the body were consumed it would hide all traces of the
0801Nmethod of his death--traces which, for some reason, must have pointed to him.
0801NIs not all this obvious?"
0801N
0801N"It strikes me, my good Lestrade, as being just a trifle too obvious," said
0801NHolmes.  "You do not add imagination to your other great qualities, but if
0801Nyou could for one moment put yourself in the place of this young man, would
0801Nyou choose the very night after the will had been made to commit your crime?
0801NWould it not seem dangerous to you to make so very close a relation between
0801Nthe two incidents?  Again, would you choose an occasion when you are known to
0801Nbe in the house, when a servant has let you in?  And, finally, would you take
0801Nthe great pains to conceal the body, and yet leave your own stick as a sign
0801Nthat you were the criminal?  Confess, Lestrade, that all this is very
0801Nunlikely."
0801N
0801N"As to the stick, Mr. Holmes, you know as well as I do that a criminal is
0801Noften flurried, and does such things, which a cool man would avoid.  He was
0801Nvery likely afraid to go back to the room.  Give me another theory that would
0801Nfit the facts."
0801N
0801N"I could very easily give you half a dozen," said Holmes.  "Here for example,
0801Nis a very possible and even probable one.  I make you a free present of it.
0801NThe older man is showing documents which are of evident value.  A passing
0801Ntramp sees them through the window, the blind of which is only half down.
0801NExit the solicitor.  Enter the tramp!  He seizes a stick, which he observes
0801Nthere, kills Oldacre, and departs after burning the body."
0801N
0801N"Why should the tramp burn the body?"
0801N
0801N"For the matter of that, why should McFarlane?"
0801N
0801N"To hide some evidence."
0801N
0801N"Possibly the tramp wanted to hide that any murder at all had been
0801Ncommitted."
0801N
0801N"And why did the tramp take nothing?"
0801N
0801N"Because they were papers that he could not negotiate."
0801N
0801NLestrade shook his head, though it seemed to me that his manner was less
0801Nabsolutely assured than before.
0801N
0801N"Well, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, you may look for your tramp, and while you are
0801Nfinding him we will hold on to our man.  The future will show which is right.
0801NJust notice this point, Mr. Holmes: that so far as we know, none of the
0801Npapers were removed, and that the prisoner is the one man in the world who
0801Nhad no reason for removing them, since he was heir-at-law, and would come
0801Ninto them in any case."
0801N
0801NMy friend seemed struck by this remark.
0801N
0801N"I don't mean to deny that the evidence is in some ways very strongly in
0801Nfavour of your theory," said he.  "I only wish to point out that there are
0801Nother theories possible.  As you say, the future will decide.  Good-morning!
0801NI dare say that in the course of the day I shall drop in at Norwood and see
0801Nhow you are getting on."
0801N
0801NWhen the detective departed, my friend rose and made his preparations for the
0801Nday's work with the alert air of a man who has a congenial task before him.
0801N
0801N"My first movement Watson," said he, as he bustled into his frockcoat, "must,
0801Nas I said, be in the direction of Blackheath."
0801N
0801N"And why not Norwood?"
0801N
0801N"Because we have in this case one singular incident coming close to the heels
0801Nof another singular incident.  The police are making the mistake of
0801Nconcentrating their attention upon the second, because it happens to be the
0801None which is actually criminal.  But it is evident to me that the logical way
0801Nto approach the case is to begin by trying to throw some light upon the first
0801Nincident--the curious will, so suddenly made, and to so unexpected an heir.
0801NIt may do something to simplify what followed.  No, my dear fellow, I don't
0801Nthink you can help me.  There is no prospect of danger, or I should not dream
0801Nof stirring out without you.  I trust that when I see you in the evening, I
0801Nwill be able to report that I have been able to do something for this
0801Nunfortunate youngster, who has thrown himself upon my protection."
0801N
0801NIt was late when my friend returned, and I could see, by a glance at his
0801Nhaggard and anxious face, that the high hopes with which be had started had
0801Nnot been fulfilled.  For an hour he droned away upon his violin, endeavouring
0801Nto soothe his own ruffled spirits.  At last he flung down the instrument, and
0801Nplunged into a detailed account of his misadventures.
0801N
0801N"It's all going wrong, Watson--all as wrong as it can go.  I kept a bold face
0801Nbefore Lestrade, but, upon my soul, I believe that for once the fellow is on
0801Nthe right track and we are on the wrong.  All my instincts are one way, and
0801Nall the facts are the other, and I much fear that British juries have not yet
0801Nattained that pitch of intelligence when they will give the preference to my
0801Ntheories over Lestrade's facts."
0801N
0801N"Did you go to Blackheath?"
0801N
0801N"Yes, Watson, I went there, and I found very quickly that the late lamented
0801NOldacre was a pretty considerable blackguard.  The father was away in search
0801Nof his son.  The mother was at home--a little, fluffy, blue-eyed person, in a
0801Ntremor of fear and indignation.  Of course, she would not admit even the
0801Npossibility of his guilt.  But she would not express either surprise or
0801Nregret over the fate of Oldacre.  On the contrary, she spoke of him with such
0801Nbitterness that she was unconsciously considerably strengthening the case of
0801Nthe police for, of course, if her son had heard her speak of the man in this
0801Nfashion, it would predispose him towards hatred and violence.  `He was more
0801Nlike a malignant and cunning ape than a human being,' said she, `and he
0801Nalways was, ever since he was a young man.'
0801N
0801N"`You knew him at that time?' said I.
0801N
0801N"`Yes, I knew him well, in fact, he was an old suitor of mine.  Thank heaven
0801Nthat I had the sense to turn away from him and to marry a better, if poorer,
0801Nman.  I was engaged to him, Mr. Holmes, when I heard a shocking story of how
0801Nhe had turned a cat loose in an aviary, and I was so horrified at his brutal
0801Ncruelty that I would have nothing more to do with him.'  She rummaged in a
0801Nbureau, and presently she produced a photograph of a woman, shamefully
0801Ndefaced and mutilated with a knife.  `That is my own photograph,' she said.
0801N`He sent it to me in that state, with his curse, upon my wedding morning.'
0801N
0801N"`Well,' said I, `at least he has forgiven you now, since he has left all his
0801Nproperty to your son.'
0801N
0801N"`Neither my son nor I want anything from Jonas Oldacre, dead or alive!' she
0801Ncried, with a proper spirit.  `There is a God in heaven, Mr. Holmes, and that
0801Nsame God who has punished that wicked man will show, in His own good time,
0801Nthat my son's hands are guiltless of his blood.'
*!EOF