“You have done well, sir, from first to last,” said he. “It ispossible that we may be able to make you some small return bythrowing some light upon that which is still dark to you. But, asMiss Morstan remarked just now, it is late, and we had best putthe matter through without delay.”
Our new acquaintance very deliberately coiled up the tube of hishookah and produced from behind a curtain a very long befroggedtopcoat with Astrakhan collar and cuffs. This he buttoned tightlyup in spite of the extreme closeness of the night, and finished hisattire by putting on a rabbit-skin cap with hanging lappets whichcovered the ears, so that no part of him was visible save his mobileand peaky face.
“My health is somewhat fragile,” he remarked as he led the waydown the passage. “I am compelled to be a valetudinarian.”
Our cab was awaiting us outside, and our programme wasevidently prearranged, for the driver started off at once at a rapidpace. Thaddeus Sholto talked incessantly in a voice which rosehigh above the rattle of the wheels.
“Bartholomew is a clever fellow,” said he. “How do you think hefound out where the treasure was? He had come to the conclusionthat it was somewhere indoors, so he worked out all the cubicspace of the house and made measurements everywhere so thatnot one inch should be unaccounted for. Among other things, hefound that the height of the building was seventy-four feet, but onadding together the heights of all the separate rooms and makingevery allowance for the space between, which he ascertained byborings, he could not bring the total to more than seventy feet.
There were four feet unaccounted for. These could only be at thetop of the building. He knocked a hole, therefore, in the lath andplaster ceiling of the highest room, and there, sure enough, hecame upon another little garret above it, which had been sealed upand was known to no one. In the centre stood the treasure-chestresting upon two rafters. He lowered it through the hole, andthere it lies. He computes the value of the jewels at not less thanhalf a million sterling.”
At the mention of this gigantic sum we all stared at one anotheropen-eyed. Miss Morstan, could we secure her rights, wouldchange from a needy governess to the richest heiress in England.
Surely it was the place of a loyal friend to rejoice at such news,yet I am ashamed to say that selfishness took me by the soul andthat my heart turned as heavy as lead within me. I stammeredout some few halting words of congratulation and then satdowncast, with my head drooped, deaf to the babble of our newacquaintance. He was clearly a confirmed hypochondriac, and Iwas dreamily conscious that he was pouring forth interminabletrains of symptoms, and imploring information as to thecomposition and action of innumerable quack nostrums, some ofwhich he bore about in a leather case in his pocket. I trust thathe may not remember any of the answers which I gave him thatnight. Holmes declares that he overheard me caution him againstthe great danger of taking more than two drops of castor-oil, whileI recommended strychnine in large doses as a sedative. Howeverthat may be, I was certainly relieved when our cab pulled up witha jerk and the coachman sprang down to open the door.
“This, Miss Morstan, is Pondicherry Lodge,” said Mr. ThaddeusSholto as he handed her out.
The Tragedy of Pondicherry Lodge
It was nearly eleven o’clock when we reached this final stage ofour night’s adventures. We had left the damp fog of the great citybehind us, and the night was fairly fine. A warm wind blew fromthe westward, and heavy clouds moved slowly across the sky, withhalf a moon peeping occasionally through the rifts. It was clearenough to see for some distance, but Thaddeus Sholto took downone of the side-lamps from the carriage to give us a better lightupon our way.
Pondicherry Lodge stood in its own grounds, and was girt roundwith a very high stone wall topped with broken glass. A singlenarrow iron-clamped door formed the only means of entrance. Onthis our guide knocked with a peculiar postman-like rat-tat.
“Who is there?” cried a gruff voice from within.
“It is I, McMurdo. You surely know my knock by this time.”
There was a grumbling sound and a clanking and jarring of keys.
The door swung heavily back, and a short, deep-chested manstood in the opening, with the yellow light of the lantern shiningupon his protruded face and twinkling distrustful eyes.
“That you, Mr. Thaddeus? But who are the others? I had noorders about them from the master.”
“No, McMurdo? You surprise me! I told my brother last nightthat I should bring some friends.”
“He ain’t been out o’ his room to-day, Mr. Thaddeus, and I haveno orders. You know very well that I must stick to regulations.
I can let you in, but your friends they must just stop where theyare.”
This was an unexpected obstacle. Thaddeus Sholto looked abouthim in a perplexed and helpless manner.
“This is too bad of you, McMurdo!” he said. “If I guaranteethem, that is enough for you. There is the young lady, too. Shecannot wait on the public road at this hour.”
“Very sorry, Mr. Thaddeus,” said the porter inexorably. “Folkmay be friends o’ yours, and yet no friends o’ the master’s. He paysme well to do my duty, and my duty I’ll do. I don’t know none o’your friends.”
“Oh, yes you do, McMurdo,” cried Sherlock Holmes genially. “Idon’t think you can have forgotten me. Don’t you remember thatamateur who fought three rounds with you at Alison’s rooms onthe night of your benefit four years back?”
“Not Mr. Sherlock Holmes!” roared the prize-fighter. “God’struth! how could I have mistook you? If instead o’ standin’ thereso quiet you had just stepped up and given me that cross-hit ofyours under the jaw, I’d ha’ known you without a question. Ah,You’re one that has wasted your gifts, you have! You might haveaimed high, if you had joined the fancy.”