"'So your son was gone at least two hours?'
"'Yes.'
"'Possibly four or five?'
"'Yes.'
"'What was he doing during that time?'
"'I do not know,' she answered, turning white to her very lips.
"Of course after that there was nothing more to be done. I foundout where Lieutenant Charpentier was, took two officers with me, andarrested him. When I touched him on the shoulder and warned him to comequietly with us, he answered us as bold as brass, 'I suppose youare arresting me for being concerned in the death of that scoundrelDrebber,' he said. We had said nothing to him about it, so that hisalluding to it had a most suspicious aspect."
"Very," said Holmes.
"He still carried the heavy stick which the mother described him ashaving with him when he followed Drebber. It was a stout oak cudgel."
"What is your theory, then?"
"Well, my theory is that he followed Drebber as far as the Brixton Road.When there, a fresh altercation arose between them, in the course ofwhich Drebber received a blow from the stick, in the pit of the stomach,perhaps, which killed him without leaving any mark. The night was sowet that no one was about, so Charpentier dragged the body of his victiminto the empty house. As to the candle, and the blood, and the writingon the wall, and the ring, they may all be so many tricks to throw thepolice on to the wrong scent."
"Well done!" said Holmes in an encouraging voice. "Really, Gregson, youare getting along. We shall make something of you yet."
"I flatter myself that I have managed it rather neatly," the detectiveanswered proudly. "The young man volunteered a statement, in which hesaid that after following Drebber some time, the latter perceived him,and took a cab in order to get away fro
m him. On his way home he met anold shipmate, and took a long walk with him. On being asked where thisold shipmate lived, he was unable to give any satisfactory reply. Ithink the whole case fits together uncommonly well. What amuses me is tothink of Lestrade, who had started off upon the wrong scent. I am afraidhe won't make much of [15] Why, by Jove, here's the very man himself!"
It was indeed Lestrade, who had ascended the stairs while we weretalking, and who now entered the room. The assurance and jauntinesswhich generally marked his demeanour and dress were, however, wanting.His face was disturbed and troubled, while his clothes were disarrangedand untidy. He had evidently come with the intention of consultingwith Sherlock Holmes, for on perceiving his colleague he appeared to beembarrassed and put out. He stood in the centre of the room, fumblingnervously with his hat and uncertain what to do. "This is a mostextraordinary case," he said at last--"a most incomprehensible affair."
"Ah, you find it so, Mr. Lestrade!" cried Gregson, triumphantly. "Ithought you would come to that conclusion. Have you managed to find theSecretary, Mr. Joseph Stangerson?"
"The Secretary, Mr. Joseph Stangerson," said Lestrade gravely, "wasmurdered at Halliday's Private Hotel about six o'clock this morning."
CHAPTER VII. LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS.
THE intelligence with which Lestrade greeted us was so momentous and sounexpected, that we were all three fairly dumfoundered. Gregson sprangout of his chair and upset the remainder of his whiskey and water. Istared in silence at Sherlock Holmes, whose lips were compressed and hisbrows 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?" stammeredGregson.
"I have just come from his room," said Lestrade. "I was the first todiscover 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 freelyconfess that I was of the opinion that Stangerson was concerned inthe death of Drebber. This fresh development has shown me that I wascompletely mistaken. Full of the one idea, I set myself to find outwhat had become of the Secretary. They had been seen together at EustonStation about half-past eight on the evening of the third. At two in themorning Drebber had been found in the Brixton Road. The question whichconfronted me was to find out how Stangerson had been employed between8.30 and the time of the crime, and what had become of him afterwards.I telegraphed to Liverpool, giving a description of the man, and warningthem to keep a watch upon the American boats. I then set to work callingupon all the hotels and lodging-houses in the vicinity of Euston. Yousee, I argued that if Drebber and his companion had become separated,the natural course for the latter would be to put up somewhere in thevicinity for the night, and then to hang about the station again nextmorning."
"They would be likely to agree on some meeting-place beforehand,"remarked Holmes.
"So it proved. I spent the whole of yesterday evening in makingenquiries entirely without avail. This morning I began very early, andat eight o'clock I reached Halliday's Private Hotel, in Little GeorgeStreet. 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. 'Hehas 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.'