“ ‘My dear man,’ said he. ‘you will only ruin your own welldeservedreputation. It is not a case in which you can possiblysucceed. You will have barren work, to say nothing of incurringsome danger. Let me very strongly advise you to draw off at once.’
“ ‘It is curious,’ I answered, ‘but that was the very advice whichI had intended to give you. I have a respect for your brains,Baron, and the little which I have seen of your personality has notlessened it. Let me put it to you as man to man. No one wantsto rake up your past and make you unduly uncomfortable. It isover, and you are now in smooth waters, but if you persist in thismarriage you will raise up a swarm of powerful enemies who willnever leave you alone until they have made England too hot tohold you. Is the game worth it? Surely you would be wiser if youleft the lady alone. It would not be pleasant for you if these factsof your past were brought to her notice.’
“The Baron has little waxed tips of hair under his nose, like theshort antennae of an insect. These quivered with amusement as helistened, and he finally broke into a gentle chuckle.
“ ‘Excuse my amusement, Mr. Holmes,’ said he, ‘but it is reallyfunny to see you trying to play a hand with no cards in it. I don’tthink anyone could do it better, but it is rather pathetic all thesame. Not a colour card there, Mr. Holmes, nothing but thesmallest of the small.’
“ ‘So you think.’
“ ‘So I know, let me make the thing clear to you, for myown hand is so strong that I can afford to show it. I have beenfortunate enough to win the entire affection of this lady. This wasgiven to me in spite of the fact that I told her very clearly of allthe unhappy incidents in my past life. I also told her that certainwicked and designing persons—I hope you recognize yourself—would come to her and tell her these things, and I warned her howto treat them. You have heard of post-hypnotic suggestion. Mr.
Holmes? Well, you will see how it works, for a man of personalitycan use hypnotism without any vulgar passes or tomfoolery. Soshe is ready for you and, I have no doubt, would give you anappointment, for she is quite amenable to her father’s will—saveonly in the one little matter.’
“Well, Watson, there seemed to be no more to say, so I took myleave with as much cold dignity as I could summon, but, as I hadmy hand on the door-handle, he stopped me.
“ ‘By the way, Mr. Holmes,’ said he, ‘did you know Le Brun, theFrench agent?’
“ ‘Yes,’ said I.
“ ‘Do you know what befell him?’
“ ‘I heard that he was beaten by some Apaches in theMontmartre district and crippled for life.’
“ ‘Quite true, Mr. Holmes. By a curious coincidence he hadbeen inquiring into my affairs only a week before. Don’t do it,Mr. Holmes; it’s not a lucky thing to do. Several have found thatout. My last word to you is, go your own way and let me go mine.
Good-bye!’
“So there you are, Watson. You are up to date now.”
“The fellow seems dangerous.”
“Mighty dangerous. I disregard the blusterer, but this is the sortof man who says rather less than he means.”
“Must you interfere? Does it really matter if he marries the girl?”
“Considering that he undoubtedly murdered his last wife, Ishould say it mattered very much. Besides, the client! Well, well,we need not discuss that. When you have finished your coffee youhad best come home with me, for the blithe Shinwell will be therewith his report.”
We found him sure enough, a huge, coarse, red-faced, scorbuticman, with a pair of vivid black eyes which were the only externalsign of the very cunning mind within. It seems that he had diveddown into what was peculiarly his kingdom, and beside him on thesettee was a brand which he had brought up in the shape of a slim,flame-like young woman with a pale, intense face, youthful, andyet so worn with sin and sorrow that one read the terrible yearswhich had left their leprous mark upon her.
“This is Miss Kitty Winter,” said Shinwell Johnson, waving hisfat hand as an introduction. “What she don’t know—well, there,she’ll speak for herself. Put my hand right on her, Mr. Holmes,within an hour of your message.”
“I’m easy to find,” said the young woman. “Hell, London, getsme every time. Same address for Porky Shinwell. We’re old mates,Porky, you and I. But, by cripes! there is another who ought to bedown in a lower hell than we if there was any justice in the world!
That is the man you are after, Mr. Holmes.”
Holmes smiled. “I gather we have your good wishes, MissWinter.”
“If I can help to put him where he belongs, I’m yours to therattle,” said our visitor with fierce energy. There was an intensityof hatred in her white, set face and her blazing eyes such aswoman seldom and man never can attain. “You needn’t go intomy past, Mr. Holmes. That’s neither here nor there. But whatI am Adelbert Gruner made me. If I could pull him down!” Sheclutched frantically with her hands into the air. “Oh, if I couldonly pull him into the pit where he has pushed so many!”
“You know how the matter stands?”
“Porky Shinwell has been telling me. He’s after some other poorfool and wants to marry her this time. You want to stop it. Well,you surely know enough about this devil to prevent any decent girlin her senses wanting to be in the same parish with him.”
“She is not in her senses. She is madly in love. She has been toldall about him. She cares nothing.”
“Told about the murder?”
“Yes.”
“My Lord, she must have a nerve!”
“She puts them all down as slanders.”
“Couldn’t you lay proofs before her silly eyes?”
“Well, can you help us do so?”
“Ain’t I a proof myself? If I stood before her and told her howhe used me——”
“Would you do this?”
“Would I? Would I not!”
“Well, it might be worth trying. But he has told her most ofhis sins and had pardon from her, and I understand she will notreopen the question.”
“I’ll lay he didn’t tell her all,” said Miss Winter. “I caught aglimpse of one or two murders besides the one that made sucha fuss. He would speak of someone in his velvet way and thenlook at me with a steady eye and say: ‘He died within a month.’
