"And what became of the bust?" asked Holmes, after a careful study ofthis picture.
"We had news of it just before you came. It has been found in the frontgarden of an empty house in Campden House Road. It was broken intofragments. I am going round now to see it. Will you come?"
"Certainly. I must just take one look round." He examined the carpet andthe window. "The fellow had either very long legs or was a most activeman," said he. "With an area beneath, it was no mean feat to reachthat window-ledge and open that window. Getting back was comparativelysimple. Are you coming with us to see the remains of your bust, Mr.Harker?"
The disconsolate journalist had seated himself at a writing-table.
"I must try and make something of it," said he, "though I have no doubtthat the first editions of the evening papers are out already withfull details. It's like my luck! You remember when the stand fell atDoncaster? Well, I was the only journalist in the stand, and my journalthe only one that had no account of it, for I was too shaken to writeit. And now I'll be too late with a murder done on my own doorstep."
As we left the room we heard his pen travelling shrilly over thefoolscap.
The spot where the fragments of the bust had been found was only afew hundred yards away. For the first time our eyes rested upon thispresentment of the great Emperor, which seemed to raise such franticand destructive hatred in the mind of the unknown. It lay scattered insplintered shards upon the grass. Holmes picked up several of them andexamined them carefully. I was convinced from his intent face and hispurposeful manner that at last he was upon a clue.
"Well?" asked Lestrade.
Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
"We have a long way to go yet," said he. "And yet--and yet--well, wehave some suggestive facts to act upon. The possession of this triflingbust was worth more in the eyes of this strange criminal than a humanlife. That is one point. Then there is the singular fact that he did notbreak it in the house, or immediately outside the house, if to break itwas his sole object."
"He was rattled and bustled by meeting this other fellow. He hardly knewwhat he was doing."
"Well, that's likely enough. But I wish to call your attention veryparticularly to the position of this house in the garden of which thebust was destroyed."
Lestrade looked about him.
"It was an empty house, and so he knew that he would not be disturbed inthe garden."
"Yes, but there is another empty house farther up the street which hemust have passed before he came to this one. Why did he not break itthere, since it is evident that every yard that he carried it increasedthe risk of someone meeting him?"
"I give it up," said Lestrade.
Holmes pointed to the street lamp above our heads.
"He could see what he was doing here and he could not there. That washis reason."
"By Jove! that's true," said the detective. "Now that I come to think ofit, Dr. Barnicot's bust was broken not far from his red lamp. Well, Mr.Holmes, what are we to do with that fact?"
"To remember it--to docket it. We may come on something later which willbear upon it. What steps do you propose to take now, Lestrade?"
"The most practical way of getting at it, in my opinion, is to identifythe dead man. There should be no difficulty about that. When we havefound who he is and who his associates are, we should have a good startin learning what he was doing in Pitt Street last night, and who it waswho met him and killed him on the doorstep of Mr. Horace Harker. Don'tyou think so?"
"No doubt; and yet it is not quite the way in which I should approachthe case."
"What would you do, then?"
"Oh, you must not let me influence you in any way! I suggest that yougo on your line and I on mine. We can compare notes afterwards, and eachwill supplement the other."
"Very good," said Lestrade.
"If you are going back to Pitt Street you might see Mr. Horace Harker.Tell him from me that I have quite made up my mind, and that it iscertain that a dangerous homicidal lunatic with Napoleonic delusions wasin his house last night. It will be useful for his article."
Lestrade stared.
"You don't seriously believe that?"
Holmes smiled.
"Don't I? Well, perhaps I don't. But I am sure that it will interest Mr.Horace Harker and the s