"'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could notquite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic pressin excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug outlike gravel from a pit.'
"'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compressthe earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealingwhat they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fullyinto my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how Itrust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, atEyford at 11:15.'
"'I shall certainly be there.'
"'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long,questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dankgrasp, he hurried from the room.
"Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was verymuch astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commissionwhich had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I wasglad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have askedhad I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible thatthis order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the faceand manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression uponme, and I could not think that his explanation of thefuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for mycoming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tellanyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, atea hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, havingobeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue.
"At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station.However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and Ireached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was theonly passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon theplatform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passedout through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance ofthe morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without aword he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the doorof which was standing open. He drew up the windows on eitherside, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as thehorse could go."
"One horse?" interjected Holmes.
"Yes, only one."
"Did you observe the colour?"
"Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into thecarriage. It was a chestnut."
"Tired-looking or fresh?"
"Oh, fresh and glossy."
"Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continueyour most interesting statement."
"Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. ColonelLysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but Ishould think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from thetime that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He satat my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more thanonce when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at mewith great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very goodin that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. Itried to look out of the windows to see something of where wewere, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make outnothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Nowand then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of thejourney, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and theconversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of theroad was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive,and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprangout, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porchwhich gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out ofthe carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch themost fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant thatI had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us,and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriagedrove away.
"It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbledabout looking for matches and muttering under his breath.Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and along, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grewbroader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which sheheld above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us.I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with whichthe light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a richmaterial. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone asthough asking a question, and when my companion answered in agruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearlyfell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whisperedsomething in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the roomfrom whence she had come, he walked towards me again with thelamp in his hand.
"'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for afew minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was aquiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in thecentre, on which several German books were scattered. ColonelStark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside thedoor. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, andvanished into the darkness.
"I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of myignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatiseson science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walkedacross to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse ofthe country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was foldedacross it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an oldclock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwiseeverything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness beganto steal over me. Who were these German people, and what werethey doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? Andwhere was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that wasall I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had noidea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns,were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded,after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness,that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room,humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feelingthat I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee.
"Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of theutter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The womanwas standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behindher, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager andbeautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick withfear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up oneshaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a fewwhispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back,like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her.
"'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, tospeak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is nogood for you to do.'
"'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. Icannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.'
"'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can passthrough the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiledand shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint andmade a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the loveof Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is toolate!'
"But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready toengage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. Ithought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and ofthe unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all togo for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carriedout my commission, and without the payment which was my due? Thiswoman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stoutbearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than Icared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intentionof remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreatieswhen a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footstepswas heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw upher hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly andas noiselessly as she had come.
"The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick manwith a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his doublechin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson.
"'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'B
y theway, I was under the impression that I left this door shut justnow. I fear that you have felt the draught.'
"'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because Ifelt the room to be a little close.'
"He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we hadbetter proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and Iwill take you up to see the machine.'
"'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.'
"'Oh, no, it is in the house.'
"'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?'