Chapter: THE intelligence with which Lestrade greeted us was so momentous and so
unexpected, that we were all three fairly dumfoundered. Gregson sprang
out of his chair and upset the remainder of his whiskey and water. I
stared in silence at Sherlock Holmes, whose lips were compressed and his
brows drawn down over his eyes.

"Stangerson too!" he muttered. "The plot thickens."

"It was quite thick enough before," grumbled Lestrade, taking a chair.
"I seem to have dropped into a sort of council of war."

"Are you--are you sure of this piece of intelligence?" stammered
Gregson.

"I have just come from his room," said Lestrade. "I was the first to
discover what had occurred."

"We have been hearing Gregson's view of the matter," Holmes observed.
"Would you mind letting us know what you have seen and done?"

"I have no objection," Lestrade answered, seating himself. "I freely
confess that I was of the opinion that Stangerson was concerned in
the death of Drebber. This fresh development has shown me that I was
completely mistaken. Full of the one idea, I set myself to find out
what had become of the Secretary. They had been seen together at Euston
Station about half-past eight on the evening of the third. At two in the
morning Drebber had been found in the Brixton Road. The question which
confronted me was to find out how Stangerson had been employed between
8.30 and the time of the crime, and what had become of him afterwards.
I telegraphed to Liverpool, giving a description of the man, and warning
them to keep a watch upon the American boats. I then set to work calling
upon all the hotels and lodging-houses in the vicinity of Euston. You
see, I argued that if Drebber and his companion had become separated,
the natural course for the latter would be to put up somewhere in the
vicinity for the night, and then to hang about the station again next
morning."

"They would be likely to agree on some meeting-place beforehand,"
remarked Holmes.

"So it proved. I spent the whole of yesterday evening in making
enquiries entirely without avail. This morning I began very early, and
at eight o'clock I reached Halliday's Private Hotel, in Little George
Street. On my enquiry as to whether a Mr. Stangerson was living there,
they at once answered me in the affirmative.

"'No doubt you are the gentleman whom he was expecting,' they said. 'He
has been waiting for a gentleman for two days.'

"'Where is he now?' I asked.

"'He is upstairs in bed. He wished to be called at nine.'

"'I will go up and see him at once,' I said.

"It seemed to me that my sudden appearance might shake his nerves and
lead him to say something unguarded. The Boots volunteered to show me
the room: it was on the second floor, and there was a small corridor
leading up to it. The Boots pointed out the door to me, and was about to
go downstairs again when I saw something that made me feel sickish, in
spite of my twenty years' experience. From under the door there curled
a little red ribbon of blood, which had meandered across the passage and
formed a little pool along the skirting at the other side. I gave a cry,
which brought the Boots back. He nearly fainted when he saw it. The door
was locked on the inside, but we put our shoulders to it, and knocked it
in. The window of the room was open, and beside the window, all huddled
up, lay the body of a man in his nightdress. He was quite dead, and had
been for some time, for his limbs were rigid and cold. When we turned
him over, the Boots recognized him at once as being the same gentleman
who had engaged the room under the name of Joseph Stangerson. The cause
of death was a deep stab in the left side, which must have penetrated
the heart. And now comes the strangest part of the affair. What do you
suppose was above the murdered man?"

I felt a creeping of the flesh, and a presentiment of coming horror,
even before Sherlock Holmes answered.

"The word RACHE, written in letters of blood," he said.

"That was it," said Lestrade, in an awe-struck voice; and we were all
silent for a while.

There was something so methodical and so incomprehensible about the
deeds of this unknown assassin, that it imparted a fresh ghastliness to
his crimes. My nerves, which were steady enough on the field of battle
tingled as I thought of it.

"The man was seen," continued Lestrade. "A milk boy, passing on his way
to the dairy, happened to walk down the lane which leads from the mews
at the back of the hotel. He noticed that a ladder, which usually lay
there, was raised against one of the windows of the second floor, which
was wide open. After passing, he looked back and saw a man descend the
ladder. He came down so quietly and openly that the boy imagined him to
be some carpenter or joiner at work in the hotel. He took no particular
notice of him, beyond thinking in his own mind that it was early for him
to be at work. He has an impression that the man was tall, had a reddish
face, and was dressed in a long, brownish coat. He must have stayed in
the room some little time after the murder, for we found blood-stained
water in the basin, where he had washed his hands, and marks on the
sheets where he had deliberately wiped his knife."

I glanced at Holmes on hearing the description of the murderer, which
tallied so exactly with his own. There was, however, no trace of
exultation or satisfaction upon his face.

"Did you find nothing in the room which could furnish a clue to the
murderer?" he asked.

"Nothing. Stangerson had Drebber's purse in his pocket, but it seems
that this was usual, as he did all the paying. There was eighty odd
pounds in it, but nothing had been taken. Whatever the motives of these
extraordinary crimes, robbery is certainly not one of them. There were
no papers or memoranda in the murdered man's pocket, except a single
telegram, dated from Cleveland about a month ago, and containing
the words, 'J. H. is in Europe.' There was no name appended to this
message."

"And there was nothing else?" Holmes asked.

"Nothing of any importance. The man's novel, with which he had read
himself to sleep was lying upon the bed, and his pipe was on a chair
beside him. There was a glass of water on the table, and on the
window-sill a small chip ointment box containing a couple of pills."

Sherlock Holmes sprang from his chair with an exclamation of delight.

"The last link," he cried, exultantly. "My case is complete."

The two detectives stared at him in amazement.

"I have now in my hands," my companion said, confidently, "all the
threads which have formed such a tangle. There are, of course, details
to be filled in, but I am as certain of all the main facts, from the
time that Drebber parted from Stangerson at the station, up to the
discovery of the body of the latter, as if I had seen them with my own
eyes. I will give you a proof of my knowledge. Could you lay your hand
upon those pills?"

"I have them," said Lestrade, producing a small white box; "I took them
and the purse and the telegram, intending to have them put in a place of
safety at the Police Station. It was the merest chance my taking these
pills, for I am bound to say that I do not attach any importance to
them."

"Give them here," said Holmes. "Now, Doctor," turning to me, "are those
ordinary pills?"

They certainly were not. They were of a pearly grey colour, small,
round, and almost transparent against the light. "From their lightness
and transparency, I should imagine that they are soluble in water," I
remarked.

"Precisely so," answered Holmes. "Now would you mind going down and
fetching that poor little devil of a terrier which has been bad so long,
and which the landlady wanted you to put out of its pain yesterday."

I went downstairs and carried the dog upstair in my arms. It's laboured
breathing and glazing eye showed that it was not far from its end.
Indeed, its snow-white muzzle proclaimed that it had already exceeded
the usual term of canine existence. I placed it upon a cushion on the
rug.

"I will now cut one of these pills in two," said Holmes, and drawing his
penknife he suited the action to the word. "One half we return into the
box for future purposes. The other half I will place in this wine glass,
in which is a teaspoonful of water. You perceive that our friend, the
Doctor, is right, and that it readily dissolves."

"This may be very interesting," said Lestrade, in the injured tone of
one who suspects that he is being laughed at, "I cannot see, however,
what it has to do with the death of Mr. Joseph Stangerson."

"Patience, my friend, patience! You will find in time that it has
everything to do with it. I shall now add a little milk to make the
mixture palatable, and on presenting it to the dog we find that he laps
it up readily enough."

As he spoke he turned the contents of the wine glass into a saucer and
placed it in front of the terrier, who speedily licked it dry. Sherlock
Holmes' earnest demeanour had so far convinced us that we all sat in
silence, watching the animal intently, and expecting some startling
effect. None such appeared, however. The dog continued to lie stretched
upon tho [16] cushion, breathing in a laboured way, but apparently
neither the better nor the worse for its draught.

Holmes had taken out his watch, and as minute followed minute without
result, an expression of the utmost chagrin and disappointment appeared
upon his features. He gnawed his lip, drummed his fingers upon the
table, and showed every other symptom of acute impatience. So great
was his emotion, that I felt sincerely sorry for him, while the two
detectives smiled derisively, by no means displeased at this check which
he had met.

"It can't be a coincidence," he cried, at last springing from his chair
and pacing wildly up and down the room; "it is impossible that it should
be a mere coincidence. The very pills which I suspected in the case of
Drebber are actually found after the death of Stangerson. And yet they
are inert. What can it mean? Surely my whole chain of reasoning cannot
have been false. It is impossible! And yet this wretched dog is none the
worse. Ah, I have it! I have it!" With a perfect shriek of delight he
rushed to the box, cut the other pill in two, dissolved it, added milk,
and presented it to the terrier. The unfortunate creature's tongue
seemed hardly to have been moistened in it before it gave a convulsive
shiver in every limb, and lay as rigid and lifeless as if it had been
struck by lightning.

Sherlock Holmes drew a long breath, and wiped the perspiration from his
forehead. "I should have more faith," he said; "I ought to know by
this time that when a fact appears to be opposed to a long train of
deductions, it invariably proves to be capable of bearing some other
interpretation. Of the two pills in that box one was of the most deadly
poison, and the other was entirely harmless. I ought to have known that
before ever I saw the box at all."

This last statement appeared to me to be so startling, that I could
hardly believe that he was in his sober senses. There was the dead dog,
however, to prove that his conjecture had been correct. It seemed to me
that the mists in my own mind were gradually clearing away, and I began
to have a dim, vague perception of the truth.

"All this seems strange to you," continued Holmes, "because you failed
at the beginning of the inquiry to grasp the importance of the single
real clue which was presented to you. I had the good fortune to seize
upon that, and everything which has occurred since then has served to
confirm my original supposition, and, indeed, was the logical sequence
of it. Hence things which have perplexed you and made the case more
obscure, have served to enlighten me and to strengthen my conclusions.
It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery. The most
commonplace crime is often the most mysterious because it presents no
new or special features from which deductions may be drawn. This murder
would have been infinitely more difficult to unravel had the body of
the victim been simply found lying in the roadway without any of
those _outre_ and sensational accompaniments which have rendered
it remarkable. These strange details, far from making the case more
difficult, have really had the effect of making it less so."

Mr. Gregson, who had listened to this address with considerable
impatience, could contain himself no longer. "Look here, Mr. Sherlock
Holmes," he said, "we are all ready to acknowledge that you are a smart
man, and that you have your own methods of working. We want something
more than mere theory and preaching now, though. It is a case of taking
the man. I have made my case out, and it seems I was wrong. Young
Charpentier could not have been engaged in this second affair. Lestrade
went after his man, Stangerson, and it appears that he was wrong too.
You have thrown out hints here, and hints there, and seem to know more
than we do, but the time has come when we feel that we have a right to
ask you straight how much you do know of the business. Can you name the
man who did it?"

"I cannot help feeling that Gregson is right, sir," remarked Lestrade.
"We have both tried, and we have both failed. You have remarked more
than once since I have been in the room that you had all the evidence
which you require. Surely you will not withhold it any longer."

"Any delay in arresting the assassin," I observed, "might give him time
to perpetrate some fresh atrocity."

Thus pressed by us all, Holmes showed signs of irresolution. He
continued to walk up and down the room with his head sunk on his chest
and his brows drawn down, as was his habit when lost in thought.

"There will be no more murders," he said at last, stopping abruptly and
facing us. "You can put that consideration out of the question. You have
asked me if I know the name of the assassin. I do. The mere knowing of
his name is a small thing, however, compared with the power of laying
our hands upon him. This I expect very shortly to do. I have good hopes
of managing it through my own arrangements; but it is a thing which
needs delicate handling, for we have a shrewd and desperate man to deal
with, who is supported, as I have had occasion to prove, by another who
is as clever as himself. As long as this man has no idea that anyone
can have a clue there is some chance of securing him; but if he had the
slightest suspicion, he would change his name, and vanish in an instant
among the four million inhabitants of this great city. Without meaning
to hurt either of your feelings, I am bound to say that I consider these
men to be more than a match for the official force, and that is why I
have not asked your assistance. If I fail I shall, of course, incur all
the blame due to this omission; but that I am prepared for. At present
I am ready to promise that the instant that I can communicate with you
without endangering my own combinations, I shall do so."

Gregson and Lestrade seemed to be far from satisfied by this assurance,
or by the depreciating allusion to the detective police. The former had
flushed up to the roots of his flaxen hair, while the other's beady eyes
glistened with curiosity and resentment. Neither of them had time to
speak, however, before there was a tap at the door, and the spokesman
of the street Arabs, young Wiggins, introduced his insignificant and
unsavoury person.

"Please, sir," he said, touching his forelock, "I have the cab
downstairs."

"Good boy," said Holmes, blandly. "Why don't you introduce this pattern
at Scotland Yard?" he continued, taking a pair of steel handcuffs from
a drawer. "See how beautifully the spring works. They fasten in an
instant."

"The old pattern is good enough," remarked Lestrade, "if we can only
find the man to put them on."

"Very good, very good," said Holmes, smiling. "The cabman may as well
help me with my boxes. Just ask him to step up, Wiggins."

I was surprised to find my companion speaking as though he were about
to set out on a journey, since he had not said anything to me about it.
There was a small portmanteau in the room, and this he pulled out and
began to strap. He was busily engaged at it when the cabman entered the
room.

"Just give me a help with this buckle, cabman," he said, kneeling over
his task, and never turning his head.

The fellow came forward with a somewhat sullen, defiant air, and put
down his hands to assist. At that instant there was a sharp click, the
jangling of metal, and Sherlock Holmes sprang to his feet again.

"Gentlemen," he cried, with flashing eyes, "let me introduce you to Mr.
Jefferson Hope, the murderer of Enoch Drebber and of Joseph Stangerson."

The whole thing occurred in a moment--so quickly that I had no time
to realize it. I have a vivid recollection of that instant, of Holmes'
triumphant expression and the ring of his voice, of the cabman's
dazed, savage face, as he glared at the glittering handcuffs, which had
appeared as if by magic upon his wrists. For a second or two we might
have been a group of statues. Then, with an inarticulate roar of fury,
the prisoner wrenched himself free from Holmes's grasp, and hurled
himself through the window. Woodwork and glass gave way before him; but
before he got quite through, Gregson, Lestrade, and Holmes sprang upon
him like so many staghounds. He was dragged back into the room, and then
commenced a terrific conflict. So powerful and so fierce was he, that
the four of us were shaken off again and again. He appeared to have the
convulsive strength of a man in an epileptic fit. His face and hands
were terribly mangled by his passage through the glass, but loss of
blood had no effect in diminishing his resistance. It was not until
Lestrade succeeded in getting his hand inside his neckcloth and
half-strangling him that we made him realize that his struggles were of
no avail; and even then we felt no security until we had pinioned his
feet as well as his hands. That done, we rose to our feet breathless and
panting.

"We have his cab," said Sherlock Holmes. "It will serve to take him to
Scotland Yard. And now, gentlemen," he continued, with a pleasant smile,
"we have reached the end of our little mystery. You are very welcome to
put any questions that you like to me now, and there is no danger that I
will refuse to answer them."

 All three men were utterly dumbfounded by Lestrade's pronouncement that Stangerson was murdered. Lestrade sat down, and Holmes asked him to tell of what he had discovered. Lestrade began by explaining that he was sure Stangerson had been involved in the murderer of Drebber, and set about figuring out more about him. It was clear that Stangerson and Drebber had been together earlier in the day of Drebber's murder, but Stangerson's whereabouts were unknown from 8:30 to the time of the murder. Lestrade called on hotels and lodging-houses and finally lucked out when he questioned the proprietor at Halliday's Private Hotel on Little George Street. The man told Lestrade Stangerson had been expecting another man for two days now, and assumed Lestrade was he. Lestrade and the man went upstairs to Stangerson's quarters and prepared to knock on the door when Lestrade suddenly glimpsed a rivulet of blood coming from under Stangerson's door. The men burst into the room and espied Stangerson lying dead and cold on the floor, with the cause of death a deep stab on the man's left side that had entered the heart. Most terrifying, however, was that the word RACHE was written in blood upon the wall. All the men in the Baker Street apartments were quiet and shocked. Lestrade continued his tale, saying that he spoke with a young boy who had witnessed a man leaving by ladder from the window of Stangerson's apartment, but assumed that he was a carpenter or joiner at the hotel. The boy said the man was "tall, had a reddish face, and was dressed in a long brownish coat." He had clearly stayed in the room for a bit after the murder because there was bloody water in the wash basin and marks of the bloody knife on the sheets. The only things found in the room were Drebber's purse with money that was unmolested, a telegram that said "J.H. is in Europe," and a small box with a few pills in them next to a glass of water on the table. At this news of the pills Holmes jumped from his seat and loudly exclaimed, "The last link... my case is complete." Holmes excitedly told the group that he now had all the threads of the case to make a tangle, and even though there may be some small details lacking, he had the main facts. He asked if Lestrade had the pills, and when the latter said yes, picked them up and examined them. Watson noted that they were small, light gray, round, almost transparent, and clearly water-soluble. Holmes asked Watson to go downstairs and retrieve a dog that their landlady told them was very sick and needed to be put out of its misery. Watson returned with the dog, Holmes took a pill and cut it in half, dissolved one half in water with some milk to make it palatable, and placed it before the dog. The dog lapped it up but nothing happened, and Holmes grew frustrated. After a few moments of consternation understanding dawned upon his face and he took the other pill from the container and did the same thing. This time, the dog had only barely licked the water when he gave a shiver and died suddenly. At this Holmes said exultantly, "I ought to know by this time that when a fact appears to be opposed to a long train of deductions, it invariably proves to be capable of bearing some other interpretation." One of the pills was poison, the other a placebo. Holmes told his nonplussed companions that they were no doubt all perplexed because none of them seized upon the one important fact from the case that he had; "hence things which have perplexed you and made the case more obscure have served to enlighten me and to strengthen my conclusions. It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery. The most commonplace crime is often the most mysterious, because it presents no new or special features from which deductions may be drawn." After listening impatiently to this speech Gregson demanded Holmes to tell him what he had discovered, conceding that Holmes did have a special gift for deduction. Holmes replied that the man would commit no more murders in the interim, that he was shrewd and desperate, that he had no idea the law was after him, and that Holmes could not yet tell them who the man was and that the others needed to trust Holmes on the matter. Young Wiggins knocked on the door and informed Holmes the cab was ready for him. Holmes thanked him and took out a pair of handcuffs, showing them to his companions for their admiration. Watson narrated that he knew nothing regarding Holmes going on a trip, and wondered at the cab's presence. The driver entered the room and Holmes asked him to assist him with his luggage. As soon as the man, grumbling, bent over, Holmes clamped the handcuffs on him and triumphantly announced that this man, Mr. Jefferson Hope, was the murderer of Stangerson and Drebber. Jefferson Hope mightily struggled with all four men, whose combined strength was barely enough to subdue him. Holmes suggested taking the cab to Scotland Yard to deliver the captive, and told the other men they could now ask him any questions they wanted about the case and his deductive process.

