'Has Ms. S
hyrlock Holmes?'
The words took away my breath for an instant, but a glance at the placid face and steadfast eyes of my companion showed that no surprise was intended.
'It is useless for us to pretend that we do not know you, Dr. Watson,' said she. 'The records of your detective have reached us here, and you could not celebrate her without being known yourself. When Mortimer told me your name she could not deny your identity. If you are here, then it follows that Ms. Shyrlock Holmes is interesting herself in the matter, and I am naturally curious to know what view she may take.'
'I am afraid that I cannot answer that question.'
'May I ask if she is going to honour us with a visit herself?'
'She cannot leave town at present. She has other cases which engage her attention.'
'What a pity! She might throw some light on that which is so dark to us. But as to your own researches, if there is any possible way in which I can be of service to you I trust that you will command me. If I had any indication of the nature of your suspicions or how you propose to investigate the case, I might perhaps even now give you some aid or advice.'
'I assure you that I am simply here upon a visit to my friend, Lady Henrietta, and that I need no help of any kind.'
'Excellent!' said Stapleton. 'You are perfectly right to be wary and discreet. I am justly reproved for what I feel was an unjustifiable intrusion, and I promise you that I will not mention the matter again.'
We had come to a point where a narrow grassy path struck off from the road and wound away across the moor. A steep, boulder-sprinkled hill lay upon the right which had in bygone days been cut into a granite quarry. The face which was turned towards us formed a dark cliff, with ferns and brambles growing in its niches. From over a distant rise there floated a gray plume of smoke.
'A moderate walk along this moor-path brings us to Merripit House,' said she. 'Perhaps you will spare an hour that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to my brother.'
My first thought was that I should be by Lady Henrietta's side. But then I remembered the pile of papers and bills with which her study table was littered. It was certain that I could not help with those. And Holmes had expressly said that I should study the neighbours upon the moor. I accepted Stapleton's invitation, and we turned together down the path.
'It is a wonderful place, the moor,' said she, looking round over the undulating downs, long green rollers, with crests of jagged granite foaming up into fantastic surges. 'You never tire of the moor. You cannot think the wonderful secrets which it contains. It is so vast, and so barren, and so mysterious.'
'You know it well, then?'
'I have only been here two years. The residents would call me a newcomer. We came shortly after Lady Charlotte settled. But my tastes led me to explore every part of the country round, and I should think that there are few women who know it better than I do.'
'Is it hard to know?'
'Very hard. You see, for example, this great plain to the north here with the queer hills breaking out of it. Do you observe anything remarkable about that?'
'It would be a rare place for a gallop.'
'You would naturally think so and the thought has cost several their lives before now. You notice those bright green spots scattered thickly over it?'
'Yes, they seem more fertile than the rest.'
Stapleton laughed.
'That is the great Grimpen Mire,' said she. 'A false step yonder means death to woman or beast. Only yesterday I saw one of the moor ponies wander into it. She never came out. I saw her head for quite a long time craning out of the bog-hole, but it sucked her down at last. Even in dry seasons it is a danger to cross it, but after these autumn rains it is an awful place. And yet I can find my way to the very heart of it and return alive. By George, there is another of those miserable ponies!'
Something brown was rolling and tossing among the green sedges. Then a long, agonized, writhing neck shot upward and a dreadful cry echoed over the moor. It turned me cold with horror, but my companion's nerves seemed to be stronger than mine.
'It's gone!' said she. 'The mire has her. Two in two days, and many more, perhaps, for they get in the way of going there in the dry weather, and never know the difference until the mire has them in its clutches. It's a bad place, the great Grimpen Mire.'
'And you say you can penetrate it?'
'Yes, there are one or two paths which a very active woman can take. I have found them out.'
'But why should you wish to go into so horrible a place?'
'Well, you see the hills beyond? They are really islands cut off on all sides by the impassable mire, which has crawled round them in the course of years. That is where the rare plants and the butterflies are, if you have the wit to reach them.'
'I shall try my luck some day.'