Our proceedings of that first morning did little to advancethe investigation. It was marked, however, at the outset by anincident which left the most sinister impression upon my mind.
The approach to the spot at which the tragedy occurred is down anarrow, winding, country lane. While we made our way along it weheard the rattle of a carriage coming towards us and stood asideto let it pass. As it drove by us I caught a glimpse through theclosed window of a horribly contorted, grinning face glaring outat us. Those staring eyes and gnashing teeth flashed past us like adreadful vision.
“My brothers!” cried Mortimer Tregennis, white to his lips. “Theyare taking them to Helston.”
We looked with horror after the black carriage, lumbering uponits way. Then we turned our steps towards this ill-omened house inwhich they had met their strange fate.
It was a large and bright dwelling, rather a villa than a cottage,with a considerable garden which was already, in that Cornish air,well filled with spring flowers. Towards this garden the windowof the sitting-room fronted, and from it, according to MortimerTregennis, must have come that thing of evil which had by sheerhorror in a single instant blasted their minds. Holmes walkedslowly and thoughtfully among the flower-plots and along thepath before we entered the porch. So absorbed was he in histhoughts, I remember, that he stumbled over the watering-pot,upset its contents, and deluged both our feet and the gardenpath. Inside the house we were met by the elderly Cornishhousekeeper, Mrs. Porter, who, with the aid of a young girl, lookedafter the wants of the family. She readily answered all Holmes’squestions. She had heard nothing in the night. Her employershad all been in excellent spirits lately, and she had never knownthem more cheerful and prosperous. She had fainted with horrorupon entering the room in the morning and seeing that dreadfulcompany round the table. She had, when she recovered, thrownopen the window to let the morning air in, and had run down tothe lane, whence she sent a farm-lad for the doctor. The lady wason her bed upstairs if we cared to see her. It took four strong mento get the brothers into the asylum carriage. She would not herselfstay in the house another day and was starting that very afternoonto rejoin her family at St. Ives.
We ascended the stairs and viewed the body. Miss BrendaTregennis had been a very beautiful girl, though now verging uponmiddle age. Her dark, clear-cut face was handsome, even in death,but there still lingered upon it something of that convulsionof horror which had been her last human emotion. From herbedroom we descended to the sitting-room, where this strangetragedy had actually occurred. The charred ashes of the overnightfire lay in the grate. On the table were the four guttered andburned-out candles, with the cards scattered over its surface. Thechairs had been moved back against the walls, but all else was asit had been the night before. Holmes paced with light, swift stepsabout the room; he sat in the various chairs, drawing them up andreconstructing their positions. He tested how much of the gardenwas visible; he examined the floor, the ceiling, and the fireplace;but never once did I see that sudden brightening of his eyes andtightening of his lips which would have told me that he saw somegleam of light in this utter darkness.
“Why a fire?” he asked once. “Had they always a fire in thissmall room on a spring evening?”
Mortimer Tregennis explained that the night was cold anddamp. For that reason, after his arrival, the fire was lit. “What areyou going to do now, Mr. Holmes?” he asked.
My friend smiled and laid his hand upon my arm. “I think,Watson, that I shall resume that course of tobacco-poisoningwhich you have so often and so justly condemned,” said he. “Withyour permission, gentlemen, we will now return to our cottage, forI am not aware that any new factor is likely to come to our noticehere. I will turn the facts over in my mind, Mr. Tregennis, andshould anything occur to me I will certainly communicate with youand the vicar. In the meantime I wish you both good-morning.”
It was not until long after we were back in Poldhu Cottage thatHolmes broke his complete and absorbed silence. He sat coiled inhis armchair, his haggard and ascetic face hardly visible amid theblue swirl of his tobacco smoke, his black brows drawn down, hisforehead contracted, his eyes vacant and far away. Finally he laiddown his pipe and sprang to his feet.
“It won’t do, Watson!” said he with a laugh. “Let us walk alongthe cliffs together and search for flint arrows. We are more likelyto find them than clues to this problem. To let the brain workwithout sufficient material is like racing an engine. It racks itselfto pieces. The sea air, sunshine, and patience, Watson—all else willcome.
“Now, let us calmly define our position, Watson,” he continuedas we skirted the cliffs together. “Let us get a firm grip of the verylittle which we do know, so that when fresh facts arise we maybe ready to fit them into their places. I take it, in the first place,that neither of us is prepared to admit diabolical intrusions intothe affairs of men. Let us begin by ruling that entirely out of ourminds. Very good. There remain three persons who have beengrievously stricken by some conscious or unconscious humanagency. That is firm ground. Now, when did this occur? Evidently,assuming his narrative to be true, it was immediately after Mr.
Mortimer Tregennis had left the room. That is a very importantpoint. The presumption is that it was within a few minutesafterwards. The cards still lay upon the table. It was already pasttheir usual hour for bed. Yet they had not changed their positionor pushed back their chairs. I repeat, then, that the occurrencewas immediately after his departure, and not later than eleveno’clock last night.
