The unfortunate young man staggered back and cast a look full of horrorand reproach at Bannister.
"No, no, Mr. Gilchrist, sir; I never said a word--never one word!" criedthe servant.
"No, but you have now," said Holmes. "Now, sir, you must see that afterBannister's words your position is hopeless, and that your only chancelies in a frank confession."
For a moment Gilchrist, with upraised hand, tried to control hiswrithing features. The next he had thrown himself on his knees besidethe table and, burying his face in his hands, he had burst into a stormof passionate sobbing.
"Come, come," said Holmes, kindly; "it is human to err, and at leastno one can accuse you of being a callous criminal. Perhaps it would beeasier for you if I were to tell Mr. Soames what occurred, and you cancheck me where I am wrong. Shall I do so? Well, well, don't trouble toanswer. Listen, and see that I do you no injustice.
"From the moment, Mr. Soames, that you said to me that no one, not evenBannister, could have told that the papers were in your room, the casebegan to take a definite shape in my mind. The printer one could, ofcourse, dismiss. He could examine the papers in his own office. TheIndian I also thought nothing of. If the proofs were in a roll hecould not possibly know what they were. On the other hand, it seemed anunthinkable coincidence that a man should dare to enter the room,and that by chance on that very day the papers were on the table. Idismissed that. The man who entered knew that the papers were there. Howdid he know?
"When I approached your room I examined the window. You amused me bysupposing that I was contemplating the possibility of someone havingin broad daylight, under the eyes of all these opposite rooms, forcedhimself through it. Such an idea was absurd. I was measuring how talla man would need to be in order to see as he passed what papers were onthe central table. I am six feet high, and I could do it with an effort.No one less than that would have a chance. Already you see I had reasonto think that if one of your three students was a man of unusual heighthe was the most worth watching of the three.
"I entered and I took you into my confidence as to the suggestions ofthe side table. Of the centre table I could make nothing, until inyour description of Gilchrist you mentioned that he was a long-distancejumper. Then the whole thing came to me in an instant, and I only neededcertain corroborative proofs, which I speedily obtained.
"What happened was this. This young fellow had employed his afternoon atthe athletic grounds, where he had been practising the jump. He returnedcarrying his jumping shoes, which are provided, as you are aware, withseveral sharp spikes. As he passed your window he saw, by means of hisgreat height, these proofs upon your table, and conjectured what theywere. No harm would have been done had it not been that as he passedyour door he perceived the key which had been left by the carelessnessof your servant. A sudden impulse came over him to enter and see if theywere indeed the proofs. It was not a dangerous exploit, for he couldalways pretend that he had simply looked in to ask a question.
"Well, when he saw that they were indeed the proofs, it was then thathe yielded to temptation. He put his shoes on the table. What was it youput on that chair near the window?"
"Gloves," said the young man.
Holmes looked triumphantly at Bannister. "He put his gloves on thechair, and he took the proofs, sheet by sheet, to copy them. He thoughtthe tutor must return by the main gate, and that he would see him. As weknow, he came back by the side gate. Suddenly he heard him at the verydoor. There was no possible escape. He forgot his gloves, but he caughtup his shoes and darted into the bedroom. You observe that the scratchon that table is slight at one side, but deepens in the direction of thebedroom door. That in itself is enough to show us that the shoe had beendrawn in that direction and that the culprit had taken refuge there. Theearth round the spike had been left on the table, and a second samplewas loosened and fell in the bedroom. I may add that I walked out to theathletic grounds this morning, saw that tenacious black clay is used inthe jumping-pit, and carried away a specimen of it, together withsome of the fine tan or sawdust which is strewn over it to prevent theathlete from slipping. Have I told the truth, Mr. Gilchrist?"
The student had drawn himself erect.
"Yes, sir, it is true," said he.
"Good heavens, have you nothing to add?" cried Soames.
"Yes, sir, I have, b
ut the shock of this disgraceful exposure hasbewildered me. I have a letter here, Mr. Soames, which I wrote to youearly this morning in the middle of a restless night. It was before Iknew that my sin had found me out. Here it is, sir. You will see that Ihave said, 'I have determined not to go in for the examination. I havebeen offered a commission in the Rhodesian Police, and I am going out toSouth Africa at once."'
"I am indeed pleased to hear that you did not intend to profit by yourunfair advantage," said Soames. "But why did you change your purpose?"
Gilchrist pointed to Bannister.
"There is the man who set me in the right path," said he.
"Come now, Bannister," said Holmes. "It will be clear to you from whatI have said that only you could have let this young man out, since youwere left in the room, and must have locked the door when you went out.As to his escaping by that window, it was incredible. Can you not clearup the last point in this mystery, and tell us the reasons for youraction?"
"It was simple enough, sir, if you only had known; but with all yourcleverness it was impossible that you could know. Time was, sir, whenI was butler to old Sir Jabez Gilchrist, this young gentleman's father.When he was ruined I came to the college as servant, but I never forgotmy old employer because he was down in the world. I watched his son allI could for the sake of the old days. Well, sir, when I came into thisroom yesterday when the alarm was given, the very first thing I saw wasMr. Gilchrist's tan gloves a-lying in that chair. I knew those gloveswell, and I understood their message. If Mr. Soames saw them the gamewas up. I flopped down into that chair, and nothing would budge me untilMr. Soames he went for you. Then out came my poor young master, whom Ihad dandled on my knee, and confessed it all to me. Wasn't it natural,sir, that I should save him, and wasn't it natural also that I shouldtry to speak to him as his dead father would have done, and make himunderstand that he could not profit by such a deed? Could you blame me,sir?"
"No, indeed," said Holmes, heartily, springing to his feet. "Well,Soames, I think we have cleared your little problem up, and ourbreakfast awaits us at home. Come, Watson! As to you, sir, I trust thata bright future awaits you in Rhodesia. For once you have fallen low.Let us see in the future how high you can rise."
*****
THE STRAND MAGAZINE Vol. 28 JULY, 1904 THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
X.--The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez.
WHEN I look at the three massive manuscript volumes which contain ourwork for the year 1894 I confess that it is very difficult for me,out of such a wealth of material, to select the cases which are mostinteresting in themselves and at the same time most conducive to adisplay of those peculiar powers for which my friend was famous. As Iturn over the pages I see my notes upon the repulsive story of the redleech and the terrible death of Crosby the banker. Here also I find anaccount of the Addleton tragedy and the singular contents of the ancientBritish barrow. The famous Smith-Mortimer succession case comes alsowithin this period, and so does the tracking and arrest of Huret, theBoulevard assassin--an exploit which won for Holmes an autograph letterof thanks from the French President and the Order of the Legion ofHonour. Each of these would furnish a narrative, but on the whole I amof opinion that none of them unite so many singular points of interestas the episode of Yoxley Old Place, which includes not only thelamentable death of young Willoughby Smith, but also those subsequentdevelopments which threw so curious a light upon the causes of thecrime.
It was a wild, tempestuous night towards the close of November. Holmesand I sat together in silence all the evening, he engaged with apowerful lens deciphering the remains of the original inscription upona palimpsest, I deep in a recent treatise upon surgery. Outside thewind howled down Baker Street, while the rain beat fiercely against thewindows. It was strange there in the very depths of the town, with tenmiles of man's handiwork on every side of us, to feel the iron grip ofNature, and to be conscious that to the huge elemental forces all Londonwas no more than the molehills that dot the fields. I walked to thewindow and looked out on the deserted street. The occasional lampsgleamed on the expanse of muddy road and shining pavement. A single cabwas splashing its way from the Oxford Street end.
"Well, Watson, it's as well we have not to turn out to-night," saidHolmes, laying aside his lens and rolling up the palimpsest. "I've doneenough for one sitting. It is trying work for the eyes. So far as I canmake out it is nothing more exciting than an Abbey's accounts datingfrom the second half of the fifteenth century. Halloa! halloa! halloa!What's this?"
Amid the droning of the wind there had come the stamping of a horse'shoofs and the long grind of a wheel as it rasped against the kerb. Thecab which I had seen had pulled up at our door.