It was an excellent hiding-plate which she had arranged. Themirror was so placed that, seated in the dark, we could very plainlysee the door opposite. We had hardly settled down in it, andMrs. Warren left us, when a distant tinkle announced that ourmysterious neighbour had rung. Presently the landlady appearedwith the tray, laid it down upon a chair beside the closed door, andthen, treading heavily, departed. Crouching together in the angleof the door, we kept our eyes fixed upon the mirror. Suddenly, asthe landlady’s footsteps died away, there was the creak of a turningkey, the handle revolved, and two thin hands darted out and liftedthe tray form the chair. An instant later it was hurriedly replaced,and I caught a glimpse of a dark, beautiful, horrified face glaringat the narrow opening of the box-room. Then the door crashed to,the key turned once more, and all was silence. Holmes twitchedmy sleeve, and together we stole down the stair.
“I will call again in the evening,” said he to the expectantlandlady. “I think, Watson, we can discuss this business better inour own quarters.”
“My surmise, as you saw, proved to be correct,” said he, speakingfrom the depths of his easy-chair. “There has been a substitutionof lodgers. What I did not foresee is that we should find a woman,and no ordinary woman, Watson.”
“She saw us.”
“Well, she saw something to alarm her. That is certain. Thegeneral sequence of events is pretty clear, is it not? A couple seekrefuge in London from a very terrible and instant danger. Themeasure of that danger is the rigour of their precautions. The man,who has some work which he must do, desires to leave the womanin absolute safety while he does it. It is not an easy problem,but he solved it in an original fashion, and so effectively thather presence was not even known to the landlady who suppliesher with food. The printed messages, as is now evident, were toprevent her sex being discovered by her writing. The man cannotcome near the woman, or he will guide their enemies to her. Sincehe cannot communicate with her direct, he has recourse to theagony column of a paper. So far all is clear.”
“But what is at the root of it?”
“Ah, yes, Watson—severely practical, as usual! What is at theroot of it all? Mrs. Warren’s whimsical problem enlarges somewhatand assumes a more sinister aspect as we proceed. This much wecan say: that it is no ordinary love escapade. You saw the woman’sface at the sign of danger. We have heard, too, of the attack uponthe landlord, which was undoubtedly meant for the lodger. Thesealarms, and the desperate need for secrecy, argue that the matteris one of life or death. The attack upon Mr. Warren further showsthat the enemy, whoever they are, are themselves not aware of thesubstitution of the female lodger for the male. It is very curiousand complex, Watson.”
“Why should you go further in it? What have you to gain fromit?”
“What, indeed? It is art for art’s sake, Watson. I suppose whenyou doctored you found yourself studying cases without thoughtof a fee?”
“For my education, Holmes.”
“Education never ends, Watson. It is a series of lessons with thegreatest for the last. This is an instructive case. There is neithermoney nor credit in it, and yet one would wish to tidy it up. Whendusk comes we should find ourselves one stage advanced in ourinvestigation.”
When we returned to Mrs. Warren’s rooms, the gloom of aLondon winter evening had thickened into one gray curtain, adead monotone of colour, broken only by the sharp yellow squaresof the windows and the blurred haloes of the gas-lamps. As wepeered from the darkened sitting-room of the lodging-house, onemore dim light glimmered high up through the obscurity.
“Someone is moving in that room,” said Holmes in a whisper, hisgaunt and eager face thrust forward to the window-pane. “Yes, Ican see his shadow. There he is again! He has a candle in his hand.
Now he is peering across. He wants to be sure that she is on thelookout. Now he begins to flash. Take the message also, Watson,that we may check each other. A single flash—that is A, surely.
Now, then. How many did you make it? Twenty. So did I. Thatshould mean T. AT—that’s intelligible enough! Another T. Surelythis is the beginning of a second word. Now, then—TENTA.
Dead stop. That can’t be all, Watson? ATTENTA gives no sense.
Nor is it any better as three words AT, TEN, TA, unless T. A. area person’s initials. There it goes again! What’s that? ATTE—why,it is the same message over again. Curious, Watson, very curious.
Now he is off once more! AT—why he is repeating it for the thirdtime. ATTENTA three times! How often will he repeat it? No,that seems to be the finish. He has withdrawn form the window.
What do you make of it, Watson?”
“A cipher message, Holmes.”
My companion gave a sudden chuckle of comprehension. “Andnot a very obscure cipher, Watson,” said he. “Why, of course, itis Italian! The A means that it is addressed to a woman. ‘Beware!
Beware! Beware!’ How’s that, Watson?
“I believe you have hit it.”
“Not a doubt of it. It is a very urgent message, thrice repeatedto make it more so. But beware of what? Wait a bit, he is comingto the window once more.”
Again we saw the dim silhouette of a crouching man and thewhisk of the small flame across the window as the signals wererenewed. They came more rapidly than before—so rapid that itwas hard to follow them.
“PERICOLO—pericolo—eh, what’s that, Watson? ‘Danger,’
isn’t it? Yes, by Jove, it’s a danger signal. There he goes again!
PERI. Halloa, what on earth—”
The light had suddenly gone out, the glimmering square ofwindow had disappeared, and the third floor formed a dark bandround the lofty building, with its tiers of shining casements. Thatlast warning cry had been suddenly cut short. How, and by whom?
The same thought occurred on the instant to us both. Holmessprang up from where he crouched by the window.