“Well, it is not for me to judge you,” said Holmes as the old man

signed the statement which had been drawn out. “I pray that we may never

be exposed to such a temptation.”


“I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?”


“In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you will

soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the Assizes. I will

keep your confession, and if McCarthy is condemned I shall be forced to use it.

If not, it shall never be seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be

alive or dead, shall be safe with us.”


“Farewell, then,” said the old man solemnly. “Your own

deathbeds, when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace

which you have given to mine.” Tottering and shaking in all his giant

frame, he stumbled slowly from the room.


“God help us!” said Holmes after a long silence. “Why does

fate play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such a case as

this that I do not think of Baxter’s words, and say, ‘There, but

for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.’”


James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a number of

objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and submitted to the defending

counsel. Old Turner lived for seven months after our interview, but he is now

dead; and there is every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live

happily together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their past.


V.THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS

When I glance over my

notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes cases between the years ’82 and

’90, I am faced by so many which present strange and interesting features

that it is no easy matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some,

however, have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have not

offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend possessed in so

high a degree, and which it is the object of these papers to illustrate. Some,