Reading Help The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Ch.V-VIII

ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS `
` `
` When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes `
` cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which `
` present strange and interesting features that it is no easy `
` matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, `
` have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have `
` not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend `
` possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of `
` these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his `
` analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without `
` an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and `
` have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and `
` surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to `
` him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable `
` in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted `
` to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are `
` points in connection with it which never have been, and probably `
` never will be, entirely cleared up. `
` `
` The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater `
` or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my `
` headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the `
` adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant `
` Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a `
` furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the `
` British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the `
` Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the `
` Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, `
` Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to `
` prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that `
` therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a `
` deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the `
` case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of `
` them present such singular features as the strange train of `
` circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. `
` `
` It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales `
` had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had `
` screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that `
` even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced `
` to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and `
` to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which `
` shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like `
` untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew `
` higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in `
` the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the `
` fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the `
` other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until `
` the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, `
` and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of `
` the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a `
` few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker `
` Street. `
` `
` "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the `
` bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" `
` `
` "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage `
` visitors." `
` `
` "A client, then?" `
` `
` "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out `
` on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more `
` likely to be some crony of the landlady's." `
` `
` Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there `
` came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He `
` stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and `
` towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. `
` `
` "Come in!" said he. `
` `
` The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the `
` outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of `
` refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella `
` which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told `
` of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about `
` him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his `
` face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is `
` weighed down with some great anxiety. `
` `
` "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to `
` his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have `
` brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug `
` chamber." `
` `
` "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest `
` here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from `
` the south-west, I see." `
` `
` "Yes, from Horsham." `
` `
` "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is `
` quite distinctive." `
` `
` "I have come for advice." `
` `
` "That is easily got." `
` `
` "And help." `
` `
` "That is not always so easy." `
` `
` "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast `
` how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." `
` `
` "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." `
` `
` "He said that you could solve anything." `
` `
` "He said too much." `
` `
` "That you are never beaten." `
` `
` "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a `
` woman." `
` `
` "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" `
` `
` "It is true that I have been generally successful." `
` `
` "Then you may be so with me." `
` `
` "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me `
` with some details as to your case." `
` `
` "It is no ordinary one." `
` `
` "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of `
` appeal." `
` `
` "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you `
` have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of `
` events than those which have happened in my own family." `
` `
` "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the `
` essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards `
` question you as to those details which seem to me to be most `
` important." `
` `
` The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out `
` towards the blaze. `
` `
` "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, `
` as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful `
` business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an `
` idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the `
` affair. `
` `
` "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias `
` and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, `
` which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He `
` was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business `
` met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire `
` upon a handsome competence. `
` `
` "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and `
` became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done `
` very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, `
` and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When `
` Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where `
` he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came `
` back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. `
` He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his `
` reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his `
` dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to `
` them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very `
` foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring `
` disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I `
` doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or `
` three fields round his house, and there he would take his `
` exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave `
` his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very `
` heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any `
` friends, not even his own brother. `
` `
` "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the `
` time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This `
` would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years `
` in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he `
` was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be `
` fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would `
` make me his representative both with the servants and with the `
` tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite `
` master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I `
` liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in `
` his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he `
` had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was `
` invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or `
` anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped `
` through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a `
` collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such `
` a room. `
` `
` "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp `
` lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a `
` common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all `
` paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From `
` India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can `
`