The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1894-06-29
Scarlet.
BY CONAN DOYLE.

y
man with some amount. of self-iI
lance and certain mir Of conn
You must have observed the W
which he held his head and swu;
cane. A steady, respectable. NJ
aged mNn, too, on the face of III
facts which led me to believe THAT he
had been Il sergeant"
"WOndcrful!" calculated.
Commonplace" said Holmes, though
thought from his expression that lie
was pleased at my evident surprise and
admiration. II said just now that
| there We're no criminals. 1t appears
that I am wrong-loOk Mt this!" He
threw me over the note which the COM
! missiOnairc had brought.
Why" l cried. as l cast my eyes
over it. this is terrible.
ut does seem to be Il little out of the
common" he remarked calmly. Would
you mind reading It to me aloud?'
This is the letter which read to him:
My. dear Mr.. Sherlock Holmes:
There has been Il bad business during
the night ut 3 Laurlston Gardens off
! the BriXton Road. Our man ON the
beat saw Il light there about two in the
morning. and as the house WAS an emp
ty one, suspected that something was
amiss. He found the door open. and in
the front room. which is bare of furni
ture, discovered the body of Il gentle
man, we'll dressed. and having cards in
his pocket bearing the name of 'Enocl
i. Drebbcr. Cleveland. Ohio. U. S. A.
There had been no robbery. nor is there
any evidence as to how the man met
his death. There are marks of blood i'm
the room, but there is no wound upon
the person. We are ut Il loss as to law
he came into the empty house; indeed.
the whole thing is Il prlZzler. If you
can come round to the house any time
before twelve. you will find me there.
have left everything in statu quo until
| hear from you. II You are unable To
come shall give YOU fuller details. and
would esteem it Il great kindness if You
would favor me with your opinion.
Yours faithfully,
TOBIAS ERICSSON"
'Gregson is the smartcst of the Scot
land Yarders," my friend remarked;
''he and Lcstradc are the pick of Il bad
lot. They are both quick and energetic,
but Observation-Disclosures SO. They
have their knives into one another, too.
They are as jealous as Il pair of pro-
fessiOnal beauties. There will be some
fun over the case if they both put upon
the scent.
was amazed at the calm way in
which he ripplctl on. Surely there is
not II moment to be lost" cried;
shall go and order you y cab?'
II am not sure about whether shall
so. am the most incurably lazy devil,
that ever stood in shoe lcathcr-tllat is,
when the lit is on me, for can be spry
enough at times"
why, it is just such n chance as you
have been longing for.''
MY dear fellow, what does it matter
to me? Surprising unravel the whole
matter, you may be sure that Grcgson,
Lestrade u Co., will pocket all the cred
1t. That comes Of being an unofficial
parsonage"
But he bcgs you to help him."
Yes. He knows that 1 am his ST.
pcrior, and acknowledges 1t before me;
but he would cut his tongue out before
he would own it to any third person.
However. we may as well go and have
a look. may have laugh at them,
- AASNS hoeAAAA65 VASCs SOLlG I'LL.
He hustled ON his overcoat, and bus
tied about in way that showed that
an energetic fit had superseded the apa-
thetic one.
Get your hat" he said.
You wish me to Gomez
Eyes, If you have nothing better to
do" A minute later we were both in
a hanson, driving furiously for the
BrlXtOn Road.
1t was a foggy, cloudy morning, and
tops, looking like the reflections of the
panfon was in the best of spirits. and
and the difference between Il Stradi-
was silent, for the dull weather and the
melancholy business upon which we
were engaged depressed my spirits"
You don't seem to give some thought
to the matter in hand" said ut last,
interrupting Holiness musical disquisi-
NO data yet" he answered. "It. is
you have oil the evidence. 1t biascs
the judgment"
You will have your data soon," 1
remarked, pointing with my finger;
this Is the Brixton Road, and that is
the house, II am not very much mis-
taken"
$50 1t is. Stop, driver, stop" We
We're still a hundred yards or so from it.
but he insisted upon our alighting, and
we finished our journey OH foot.
Number I4auriston Gardens Wore
ill-omened and minatory look. 1t
",ds one Of our four which stood back
some little way from the street, two be-
ing occupied and two being empty.
The latter looked out with three tiers
Of vacant, melancholy windows, which
were blank and dreary, save that here
and there a '"ro Let" card had develop
cd like n cataract upon the blcarcd
pancs. A small garden sprinkled over
with q scattered eruption Of sickly
plants separated each of these houses
from the street, and was traversed by IL
narrow pathway, yellowish in color,
and consisting apparently Of IL mixture
Of clay and Of gravel. The whole place
was very sloppy from the rain which
had fallen through the night. The gar
den was bounded by a three-foot brick
wall with fringe of wood rails upon
the top, and against this wall was lean
ing a stalwart police constable, sur
rounded by a small knot Of loafcrs,
who Grained their necks and strained
their eyes in the vain hope Of catching
some glimpse Of the proceedings with
in.
had imagined that Sherlock Holmes
would at once have hurried into the
house and plunged into n study of the
mystery. Nothing appeared to be fur
ther from his intention. With an air of
nOnchalance which, under the circum.
stances, seemed to me to border upon
affectation, lie lounged up and down
the pavement and gazed vacantly Mt
tho ground, the sky, the opposite
houses. and the lines of ratings. Hav
ing finished his scrutiny, he proceeded
slowly down the path, or rather down
the fringe of grass which thanked the
path, keeping his eye rivetcd upon the
ground. Twice he stopped and once
saw him smile, and heard him utter an
exclamation Of satisfaction. There
were many marks of footsteps upon the
wet, clayey soil, but since the police had
been coming and going over it. l was
unable to see how my companion could
hope to learn anything from 1t. Still
had had such extraordinary evidence of
the quickness of his pcrccptive facul.
| ties that I had no 1Olllt thar no cnI,ll