Part 27 (1/2)
The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out towards the blaze
”My name,” said he, ”is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful business It is a hereditary o back to the corandfather had two sons-my uncle Elias and my father Joseph My father had a sed at the ti He was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire upon a handsorated to A man and became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done very well At the tiht in Jackson's army, and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel When Lee22 laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where he remained for three or four years About 1869 or 1870 he came back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his reason for leaving theroes, and his dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to theular man, fierce and quick-tery, and of aall the years that he lived at Horshaarden and two or three fields round his house, and there he would take his exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave his rooreat deal of brandy and smoked very heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any friends, not even his own brother laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where he remained for three or four years About 1869 or 1870 he came back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his reason for leaving theroes, and his dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to theular man, fierce and quick-tery, and of aall the years that he lived at Horshaarden and two or three fields round his house, and there he would take his exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave his rooreat deal of brandy and smoked very heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any friends, not even his own brother
”He didn't mind me; in fact he took a fancy to ster of twelve or so This would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years in England He begged my father to let me live with him, and he was very kind tobackgahts with me and he would make me his representative both with the servants and with the tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite o where I liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb hiular exception, however, for he had a single roo the attics, which was invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or anyone else to enter With a boy's curiosity I have peeped through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such a roon stamp lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate It was not a co for him to receive letters, for his bills were all paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort 'From India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry post it hurriedly, out there jue pips, which pattered down upon his plate I began to laugh at this, but the laugh was struck froht of his face His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he still held in his tre hand, 'K K K!' he shrieked, and then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!'
” 'What is it, uncle?' I cried
” 'Death,' said he, and rising fro with horror I took up the envelope and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the gu else save the five dried pips What could be the reason of his overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I ascended the stair Idoith an old rusty key, which ed to the attic, in one hand, and a small brass box, like a cashbox, in the other
” 'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' said he with an oath 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer'
”I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to step up to the roorate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned paper, while the brass box stood open and elanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was printed the treble K which I had read in theupon the envelope
” 'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness es and all its disadvantages, to my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to you If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you cannot, take my advice, ive you such a two-edged thing, but I can't say what turn things are going to take Kindly sign the paper where Mr Fordhaned the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it aith hiular incident made, as you may think, the deepest impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every way inof it Yet I could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed, and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives I could see a change in my uncle, however He drank more than ever, and he was less inclined for any sort of society Most of his time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the inside, but soe in a sort of drunken frenzy and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a revolver in his hand, screa out that he was afraid of no man, and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by man or devil When these hot fits were over, however, he would rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind hiainst the terror which lies at the roots of his soul At such tilisten with h it were new raised from a basin
”Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr Holht when he made one of those drunken sallies from which he never came back We found hireen-scuarden There was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, brought in a verdict of 'suicide' But I, who kneinced froht of death, had one out of his way to meet it The matter passed, however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and of some 14,000, which lay to his credit at the bank”
”One moment,” Holmes interposed, ”your statement is, I foresee, one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened Let me have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and the date of his supposed suicide”
”The letter arrived on March 10, 1883 His death was seven weeks later, upon the night of May 2d”
”Thank you Pray proceed”
”When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been always locked up We found the brass box there, although its contents had been destroyed On the inside of the cover was a paper label, with the initials of K K K repeated upon it, and 'Letters, ister' written beneath These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw For the rest, there was nothing of reatupon my uncle's life in America Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag politicians who had been sent down fro of '84 when my father came to live at Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the January of '85 On the fourth day after the new year I heard ether at the breakfast-table There he was, sitting with a newly opened envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the outstretched palhed at what he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked very scared and puzzled now that the sa had come upon himself
” 'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered
”My heart had turned to lead 'It is K K K,' said I
”He looked inside the envelope 'So it is,' he cried 'Here are the very letters But what is this written above the over his shoulder
” 'What papers? What sundial?' he asked
” 'The sundial in the garden There is no other,' said I; 'but the papers ripping hard at his courage 'We are in a civilized land here, and we can't have to co at the postmark
” 'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he 'What have I to do with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such nonsense'
” 'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said
” 'And be laughed at forof the sort'
” 'Then let me do so?'
” 'No, I forbid you I won't have a fuss ue with him, for he was a very obstinate man I went about, however, with a heart which was full of forebodings
”On the third day after the co of the letter my father went from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is in colad that he should go, for it seeer when he ay from home In that, however, I was in error Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegra me to come at once My father had fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull I hurried to hi ever recovered his consciousness He had, as it appears, been returning froht, and as the country was unknown to him, and the chalk-pit un-fenced, the jury had no hesitation in bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes' Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of ns of violence, no foot been seen upon the roads And yet I need not tell you that h certain that some foul plot had been woven round him
”In this sinister way I came into my inheritance You will ask me why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I ell convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an incident inin one house as in another
”It was in January, '85, that htthat tiun to hope that this curse had passed way froeneration I had begun to take co the blow fell in the very shape in which it had coto the table he shook out upon it five little dried orange pips
”This is the envelope,” he continued ”The postmark is London-eastern division Within are the very words which were upon e: 'K K K'; and then 'Put the papers on the sundial' ”
”What have you done?” asked Hol?”
”To tell the truth”-he sank his face into his thin, white hands-”I have felt helpless I have felt like one of those poor rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it I seerasp of soht and no precautions can guard against”
”Tut! tut!” cried Sherlock Holy can save you This is no time for despair”
”I have seen the police”
”Ah!”
”But they listened to my story with a smile I am convinced that the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with the warnings”
Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air ”Incredible imbecility!” he cried
”They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may reht?”
”No His orders were to stay in the house”
Again Holmes raved in the air
”Why did you come to me,” he cried ”and, above all, why did you not come at once?”
”I did not know It was only to-day that I spoke to Major Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to you”
”It is really two days since you had the letter We should have acted before this You have no further evidence, I suppose, than that which you have placed before us-no suggestive detail which ,” said John Openshaw He ru out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted paper, he laid it out upon the table ”I have some remembrance,” said he, ”that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I observed that the sins which lay amid the ashes were of this particular colour I found this single sheet upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out fro the others, and in that way has escaped destruction Beyond the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us e fro is undoubtedly my uncle's”