Part 43

Young Overton’s face assumed the bothered look of the man who is more accustomed to using his muscles than his wits, but by degrees, with many repetitions and obscurities which I may omit from his narrative, he laid his strange story before us. “It’s this way, Mr. Holmes. As I have said, I am the skipper of the Rugger team of Cambridge ’Varsity, and Godfrey Staunton is my best man. To-morrow we play Oxford. Yesterday we all came up, and we settled at Bentley’s private hotel. At ten o’clock I went round and saw that all the fellows had gone to roost, for I believe in strict training and plenty of sleep to keep a team fit. I had a word or two with Godfrey before he turned in. He seemed to me to be pale and bothered. I asked him what was the matter. He said he was all right—just a touch of headache. I bade him good-night and left him. Half an hour later, the porter tells me that a rough-looking man with a beard called with a note for Godfrey. He had not gone to bed, and the note was taken to his room. Godfrey read it, and fell back in a chair as if he had been pole-axed. The porter was so scared that he was going to fetch me, but Godfrey stopped him, had a drink of water, and pulled himself together. Then he went downstairs, said a few words to the man who was waiting in the hall, and the two of them went off together. The last that the porter saw of them, they were almost running down the street in the direction of the Strand. This morning Godfrey’s room was empty, his bed had never been slept in, and his things were all just as I had seen them the night before. He had gone off at a moment’s notice with this stranger, and no word has come from him since. I don’t believe he will ever come back. He was a sportsman, was Godfrey, down to his marrow, and he wouldn’t have stopped his training and let in his skipper if it were not for some cause that was too strong for him. No: I feel as if he were gone for good, and we should never see him again.” Sherlock Holmes listened with the deepest attention to this singular narrative. “What did you do?” he asked. “I wired to Cambridge to learn if anything had been heard of him there. I have had an answer. No one has seen him.” “Could he have got back to Cambridge?” “Yes, there is a late train—quarter-past eleven.” “But, so far as you can ascertain, he did not take it?” “No, he has not been seen.” “What did you do next?” “I wired to Lord Mount-James.” “Why to Lord Mount-James?” “Godfrey is an orphan, and Lord Mount-James is his nearest relative—his uncle, I believe.” “Indeed. This throws new light upon the matter. Lord Mount-James is one of the richest men in England.” “So I’ve heard Godfrey say.” “And your friend was closely related?” “Yes, he was his heir, and the old boy is nearly eighty—cram full of gout, too. They say he could chalk his billiard-cue with his knuckles. He never allowed Godfrey a shilling in his life, for he is an absolute miser, but it will all come to him right enough.” “Have you heard from Lord Mount-James?” “No.” “What motive could your friend have in going to Lord Mount-James?” “Well, something was worrying him the night before, and if it was to do with money it is possible that he would make for his nearest relative, who had so much of it, though from all I have heard he would not have much chance of getting it. Godfrey was not fond of the old man. He would not go if he could help it.” “Well, we can soon determine that. If your friend was going to his relative, Lord Mount-James, you have then to explain the visit of this rough-looking fellow at so late an hour, and the agitation that was caused by his coming.” Cyril Overton pressed his hands to his head. “I can make nothing of it,” said he. “Well, well, I have a clear day, and I shall be happy to look into the matter,” said Holmes. “I should strongly recommend you to make your preparations for your match without reference to this young gentleman. It must, as you say, have been an overpowering necessity which tore him away in such a fashion, and the same necessity is likely to hold him away. Let us step round together to the hotel, and see if the porter can throw any fresh light upon the matter.” Sherlock Holmes was a past-master in the art of putting a humble witness at his ease, and very soon, in the privacy of Godfrey Staunton’s abandoned room, he had extracted all that the porter had to tell. The visitor of the night before was not a gentleman, neither was he a workingman. He was simply what the porter described as a “medium-looking chap,” a man of fifty, beard grizzled, pale face, quietly dressed. He seemed himself to be agitated. The porter had observed his hand trembling when he had held out the note. Godfrey Staunton had crammed the note into his pocket. Staunton had not shaken hands with the man in the hall. They had exchanged a few sentences, of which the porter had only distinguished the one word “time.” Then they had hurried off in the manner described. It was just half-past ten by the hall clock. “Let me see,” said Holmes, seating himself on Staunton’s bed. “You are the day porter, are you not?” “Yes, sir, I go off duty at eleven.” “The night porter saw nothing, I suppose?” “No, sir, one theatre party came in late. No one else.” “Were you on duty all day yesterday?” “Yes, sir.” “Did you take any messages to Mr. Staunton?” “Yes, sir, one telegram.” “Ah! that’s interesting. What o’clock was this?” “About six.” “Where was Mr. Staunton when he received it?” “Here in his room.” “Were you present when he opened it?” “Yes, sir, I waited to see if there was an answer.” “Well, was there?” “Yes, sir, he wrote an answer.” “Did you take it?” “No, he took it himself.” “But he wrote it in your presence.” “Yes, sir. I was standing by the door, and he with his back turned at that table. When he had written it, he said: ‘All right, porter, I will take this myself.’” “What did he write it with?” “A pen, sir.” “Was the telegraphic form one of these on the table?” “Yes, sir, it was the top one.” Holmes rose. Taking the forms, he carried them over to the window and carefully examined that which was uppermost. “It is a pity he did not write in pencil,” said he, throwing them down again with a shrug of disappointment. “As you have no doubt frequently observed, Watson, the impression usually goes through—a fact which has dissolved many a happy marriage. However, I can find no trace here. I rejoice, however, to perceive that he wrote with a broad-pointed quill pen, and I can hardly doubt that we will find some impression upon this blotting-pad. Ah, yes, surely this is the very thing!” He tore off a strip of the blotting-paper and turned towards us the following hieroglyphic: hieroglyphic Cyril Overton was much excited. “Hold it to the glass!” he cried. “That is unnecessary,” said Holmes. “The paper is thin, and the reverse will give the message. Here it is.” He turned it over, and we read: the reverse “So that is the tail end of the telegram which Godfrey Staunton dispatched within a few hours of his disappearance. There are at least six words of the message which have escaped us; but what remains—‘Stand by us for God’s sake!’—proves that this young man saw a formidable danger which approached him, and from which someone else could protect him. ‘_Us_,’ mark you! Another person was involved. Who should it be but the pale-faced, bearded man, who seemed himself in so nervous a state? What, then, is the connection between Godfrey Staunton and the bearded man? And what is the third source from which each of them sought for help against pressing danger? Our inquiry has already narrowed down to that.” “We have only to find to whom that telegram is addressed,” I suggested. “Exactly, my dear Watson. Your reflection, though profound, had already crossed my mind. But I daresay it may have come to your notice that, counterfoil of another man’s message, there may be some disinclination on the part of the officials to oblige you. There is so much red tape in these matters. However, I have no doubt that with a little delicacy and finesse the end may be attained. Meanwhile, I should like in your presence, Mr. Overton, to go through these papers which have been left upon the table.” There were a number of letters, bills, and notebooks, which Holmes turned over and examined with quick, nervous fingers and darting, penetrating eyes. “Nothing here,” he said, at last. “By the way, I suppose your friend was a healthy young fellow—nothing amiss with him?” “Sound as a bell.” “Have you ever known him ill?” “Not a day. He has been laid up with a hack, and once he slipped his knee-cap, but that was nothing.” “Perhaps he was not so strong as you suppose. I should think he may have had some secret trouble. With your assent, I will put one or two of these papers in my pocket, in case they should bear upon our future inquiry.” “One moment—one moment!” cried a querulous voice, and we looked up to find a queer little old man, jerking and twitching in the doorway. He was dressed in rusty black, with a very broad-brimmed top-hat and a loose white necktie—the whole effect being that of a very rustic parson or of an undertaker’s mute. Yet, in spite of his shabby and even absurd appearance, his voice had a sharp crackle, and his manner a quick intensity which commanded attention. “Who are you, sir, and by what right do you touch this gentleman’s papers?” he asked. “I am a private detective, and I am endeavouring to explain his disappearance.” “Oh, you are, are you? And who instructed you, eh?” “This gentleman, Mr. Staunton’s friend, was referred to me by Scotland Yard.” “Who are you, sir?” “I am Cyril Overton.” “Then it is you who sent me a telegram. My name is Lord Mount-James. I came round as quickly as the Bayswater bus would bring me. So you have instructed a detective?” “Yes, sir.” “And are you prepared to meet the cost?” “I have no doubt, sir, that my friend Godfrey, when we find him, will be prepared to do that.” “But if he is never found, eh? Answer me that!” “In that case, no doubt his family——” “Nothing of the sort, sir!” screamed the little man. “Don’t look to me for a penny—not a penny! You understand that, Mr. Detective! I am all the family that this young man has got, and I tell you that I am not responsible. If he has any expectations it is due to the fact that I have never wasted money, and I do not propose to begin to do so now. As to those papers with which you are making so free, I may tell you that in case there should be anything of any value among them, you will be held strictly to account for what you do with them.” “Very good, sir,” said Sherlock Holmes. “May I ask, in the meanwhile, whether you have yourself any theory to account for this young man’s disappearance?”