The Washington herald., 1912-02-04
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NN"iy sP'dHB u MS rect win an cN-
clamation of surprise and dismay. His
face was haggard with anxiety.
We have let this affair go far
enough" said he. rs there a train to
North Walsham tonight"
l turned up the timetable. The last
had just gone.
Then We shall breakfast early and
take the very first in the morning"
said Holmes Our presence is most
urgently needed. Ali here is out ex-
pected cablegram. One moment, Mrs.
Hudson; there may be an answer. No.
that IS quite as / expected. This mes
sage makes It even more essential that
we should not lose an hour in letting
Hilton Cubitt know how matters stand,
for il is a singular and a dangerous
web in which our simple Norfolk
squire is entangled"
So, indeed, it proved, and as | come
TO the dark conclusion of a story which
had seemed TO me to be only childish
and bizarre, ] experience once again
the dismay and horror with which |
was filled. Would that / had some
brighter ending to communicate 10 my
readers, but these are the chronicles Of
fact, and i must follow 10 their dark
crisis the strange chain OF events which
for some days made Riding Thorpe
Manor a household word through the
length and breadth Of England.
We had hardly alighted at North
Walsham, and mentioned the name of
our destination, when the station
master hurried toward US. II suppose
that you are the detectives from Lon
don said he.
A look of annoyance passed over
Holmes face
Whit makes you think such a
thingl"
Because Inspector Martin. from
Norwich. has just passed through. But
maybe you are the surgeons. She's not
dead-or wasn't by last accounts. You
may be in time TO save her yet-though
It be for the gallows"
Holmes brow was dark with anxiety.
We are going TO Riding Thorpe
Manor, said he, but we have heard
nothing OF what has passed there
Its a terrible business" said the
station=master, They are shot, both
Mr.. Hilton Cubitt and his wife. She
shot him and then herself-so the
servants say. He's dead and her life is
despaired OF. Dear, dear, one Of the
Oldest families in the county of Nor
folk, and one Of the most honored."
Without a word Holmes hurried to
a carriage, and during the long seven
miles drive he never opened his mouth.
seldom have l seen him so utterly
respondent. He had been uneasy dur
ing all our journey from town, and I
had observed that he had turned over
the morning papers with anxious atten-
tion, but now this sudden realization of
his, worst fears left him in a blank
melancholy He leaned back in his
seat, lost in gloomy speculation. Yet
there was much around to interest us,
Tor we were passing through as singu-
lar countryside as any in England,
where a few scattered cottages repre-,
sented the population of to-day. while
on every hand enormous SQUARE
lowered churches bristled up from the
fiat green landscape and told of the
glory and prosperity Of old East Anglia.
Al last the violet rim of the German
Ocean appeared over the green edge of
the Norfolk coast, and the driver
pointed with his whip to two old brick
and timber gables which projected from
a grove OF trees. That's Riding
Thorpe Manor" said he.
AS we drove up to the porticoed
front door, observed in front of il,
beside the tennis lawn, the black tool
house and the pedestaled sun-dial with
which we had such strange associa-
tions. A dapper little man, with a
quick, alert manner and a waxed mus
tache, had just descended from a high
dog-cart. He introduced himself as In
spector Martin, of the Norfolk Con-
stabulary, and he was considerably as
tonished when he heard the name of
my companion.
Why Mr., Holmes, the crime was
only committed at three this morning.
How could you hear Of it in London
and get TO the spot as soon as | 7"
II anticipated it. | came in the hope
of preventing it,"
Then you must have important evi-
dence, of which we are ignorant, for
they were said to be a most united
couple"
Il have only the evidence of the
dancing men" said Holmes. 81 will