The Adventure of the Cardboard Box Read online

mycompanion's evident excitement.

  "There were one or two questions--"

  "Oh, I am weary of questions!" cried Miss Cushing impatiently.

  "You have two sisters, I believe."

  "How could you know that?"

  "I observed the very instant that I entered the room that you have aportrait group of three ladies upon the mantelpiece, one of whom isundoubtedly yourself, while the others are so exceedingly like you thatthere could be no doubt of the relationship."

  "Yes, you are quite right. Those are my sisters, Sarah and Mary."

  "And here at my elbow is another portrait, taken at Liverpool, of youryounger sister, in the company of a man who appears to be a steward byhis uniform. I observe that she was unmarried at the time."

  "You are very quick at observing."

  "That is my trade."

  "Well, you are quite right. But she was married to Mr. Browner a fewdays afterwards. He was on the South American line when that wastaken, but he was so fond of her that he couldn't abide to leave herfor so long, and he got into the Liverpool and London boats."

  "Ah, the Conqueror, perhaps?"

  "No, the May Day, when last I heard. Jim came down here to see meonce. That was before he broke the pledge; but afterwards he wouldalways take drink when he was ashore, and a little drink would send himstark, staring mad. Ah! it was a bad day that ever he took a glass inhis hand again. First he dropped me, then he quarrelled with Sarah,and now that Mary has stopped writing we don't know how things aregoing with them."

  It was evident that Miss Cushing had come upon a subject on which shefelt very deeply. Like most people who lead a lonely life, she was shyat first, but ended by becoming extremely communicative. She told usmany details about her brother-in-law the steward, and then wanderingoff on the subject of her former lodgers, the medical students, shegave us a long account of their delinquencies, with their names andthose of their hospitals. Holmes listened attentively to everything,throwing in a question from time to time.

  "About your second sister, Sarah," said he. "I wonder, since you areboth maiden ladies, that you do not keep house together."

  "Ah! you don't know Sarah's temper or you would wonder no more. I triedit when I came to Croydon, and we kept on until about two months ago,when we had to part. I don't want to say a word against my own sister,but she was always meddlesome and hard to please, was Sarah."

  "You say that she quarrelled with your Liverpool relations."

  "Yes, and they were the best of friends at one time. Why, she went upthere to live in order to be near them. And now she has no word hardenough for Jim Browner. The last six months that she was here shewould speak of nothing but his drinking and his ways. He had caughther meddling, I suspect, and given her a bit of his mind, and that wasthe start of it."

  "Thank you, Miss Cushing," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Yoursister Sarah lives, I think you said, at New Street, Wallington?Good-bye, and I am very sorry that you should have been troubled over acase with which, as you say, you have nothing whatever to do."

  There was a cab passing as we came out, and Holmes hailed it.

  "How far to Wallington?" he asked.

  "Only about a mile, sir."

  "Very good. Jump in, Watson. We must strike while the iron is hot.Simple as the case is, there have been one or two very instructivedetails in connection with it. Just pull up at a telegraph office asyou pass, cabby."

  Holmes sent off a short wire and for the rest of the drive lay back inthe cab, with his hat tilted over his nose to keep the sun from hisface. Our drive pulled up at a house which was not unlike the one whichwe had just quitted. My companion ordered him to wait, and had hishand upon the knocker, when the door opened and a grave young gentlemanin black, with a very shiny hat, appeared on the step.

  "Is Miss Cushing at home?" asked Holmes.

  "Miss Sarah Cushing is extremely ill," said he. "She has beensuffering since yesterday from brain symptoms of great severity. As hermedical adviser, I cannot possibly take the responsibility of allowinganyone to see her. I should recommend you to call again in ten days."He drew on his gloves, closed the door, and marched off down the street.

  "Well, if we can't we can't," said Holmes, cheerfully.

  "Perhaps she could not or would not have told you much."

  "I did not wish her to tell me anything. I only wanted to look at her.However, I think that I have got all that I want. Drive us to somedecent hotel, cabby, where we may have some lunch, and afterwards weshall drop down upon friend Lestrade at the police-station."

  We had a pleasant little meal together, during which Holmes would talkabout nothing but violins, narrating with great exultation how he hadpurchased his own Stradivarius, which was worth at least five hundredguineas, at a Jew broker's in Tottenham Court Road for fifty-fiveshillings. This led him to Paganini, and we sat for an hour over abottle of claret while he told me anecdote after anecdote of thatextraordinary man. The afternoon was far advanced and the hot glarehad softened into a mellow glow before we found ourselves at thepolice-station. Lestrade was waiting for us at the door.

  "A telegram for you, Mr. Holmes," said he.

  "Ha! It is the answer!" He tore it open, glanced his eyes over it,and crumpled it into his pocket. "That's all right," said he.

  "Have you found out anything?"

  "I have found out everything!"

  "What!" Lestrade stared at him in amazement. "You are joking."

  "I was never more serious in my life. A shocking crime has beencommitted, and I think I have now laid bare every detail of it."

  "And the criminal?"

  Holmes scribbled a few words upon the back of one of his visiting cardsand threw it over to Lestrade.

  "That is the name," he said. "You cannot effect an arrest untilto-morrow night at the earliest. I should prefer that you do notmention my name at all in connection with the case, as I choose to beonly associated with those crimes which present some difficulty intheir solution. Come on, Watson." We strode off together to thestation, leaving Lestrade still staring with a delighted face at thecard which Holmes had thrown him.

  "The case," said Sherlock Holmes as we chatted over our cigars thatnight in our rooms at Baker Street, "is one where, as in theinvestigations which you have chronicled under the names of 'A Study inScarlet' and of 'The Sign of Four,' we have been compelled to reasonbackward from effects to causes. I have written to Lestrade asking himto supply us with the details which are now wanting, and which he willonly get after he had secured his man. That he may be safely trustedto do, for although he is absolutely devoid of reason, he is astenacious as a bulldog when he once understands what he has to do, andindeed, it is just this tenacity which has brought him to the top atScotland Yard."

  "Your case is not complete, then?" I asked.

  "It is fairly complete in essentials. We know who the author of therevolting business is, although one of the victims still escapes us.Of course, you have formed your own conclusions."

  "I presume that this Jim Browner, the steward of a Liverpool boat, isthe man whom you suspect?"

  "Oh! it is more than a suspicion."

  "And yet I cannot see anything save very vague indications."

  "On the contrary, to my mind nothing could be more clear. Let me runover the principal steps. We approached the case, you remember, withan absolutely blank mind, which is always an advantage. We had formedno theories. We were simply there to observe and to draw inferencesfrom our observations. What did we see first? A very placid andrespectable lady, who seemed quite innocent of any secret, and aportrait which showed me that she had two younger sisters. Itinstantly flashed across my mind that the box might have been meant forone of these. I set the idea aside as one which could be disproved orconfirmed at our leisure. Then we went to the garden, as you remember,and we saw the very singular contents of the little yellow box.

  "The string was of the quality which is used by sail-makers aboardship, and at onc
e a whiff of the sea was perceptible in ourinvestigation. When I observed that the knot was one which is popularwith sailors, that the parcel had been posted at a port, and that themale ear was pierced for an earring which is so much more common amongsailors than landsmen, I was quite certain that all the actors in thetragedy were to be found among our seafaring classes.

  "When I came to examine the address of the packet I observed that itwas to Miss S. Cushing. Now, the oldest sister would, of course, beMiss Cushing, and although her initial was 'S' it might belong to oneof the others as well. In that case we should have to commence ourinvestigation from a fresh basis altogether. I therefore