Speaker 1: A difficult problem by Anna Catherine Greene.
Speaker 2: A lady to see you, sir. I looked up and
Speaker 2: was at once impressed by the grace and beauty of
Speaker 2: the person thus introduced to me. Is there anything I
Speaker 2: can do to serve you? I asked, rising. She cast
Speaker 2: me a childlike look, full of trust and candor, as
Speaker 2: she seated herself in the chair.
Speaker 3: I pointed out to her, I believe so, I hope so.
Speaker 2: She earnestly assured me.
Speaker 1: I I am in great trouble. I've just lost my husband.
Speaker 1: But it is not that. It's the slip of paper
Speaker 1: I found on my dresser, and.
Speaker 2: Which which she was trembling violently, and her words were
Speaker 2: fast becoming incoherent. I calmed her and asked her to
Speaker 2: relate her story just as it had happened, and after
Speaker 2: a few minutes of silent struggle, she succeeded in collecting
Speaker 2: herself sufficiently to respond with some degree of connection and
Speaker 2: self possession.
Speaker 1: I have been married six months. My name is Lucy Holmes.
Speaker 1: For the last few weeks, my husband and myself have
Speaker 1: been living in an apartment house on fifty ninth Street,
Speaker 1: and as we had not a care in the world.
Speaker 1: We were very happy till mister Holmes was called away
Speaker 1: on business to Philadelphia. This was two weeks ago. Five
Speaker 1: days later I received an affectionate letter from him, in
Speaker 1: which he promised to come back the next day, and
Speaker 1: the news so delighted me that I accepted an invitation
Speaker 1: to the theater from some intimate friends of ours. The
Speaker 1: next morning. I naturally felt fatigued and rose late, but
Speaker 1: I was very cheerful, for I expected my husband at noon.
Speaker 1: And now comes the perplexing mystery. In the course of
Speaker 1: dressing myself, I stepped to my bureau, and, seeing a
Speaker 1: small newspaper slip attached to the cushion by a pin,
Speaker 1: I drew it off and read it. It was a
Speaker 1: death notice, and my hair rose and my limbs failed
Speaker 1: me as I took in its fatal and incredible words.
Speaker 1: Died this day at the Colonnade. James Forsyth de Witt Holmes,
Speaker 1: New York Papers, Please copy. James Forsyth de Wit Holmes
Speaker 1: was my husband, and his last letter, which was at
Speaker 1: that very moment lying beside the cushion, had been dated
Speaker 1: from the Colonnade. Was I dreaming or under the spell
Speaker 1: of some frightful hallucination, which led me to misread the
Speaker 1: name on the slip of paper before me I could
Speaker 1: not determine. My head, throat, and chest seemed bound about
Speaker 1: with iron, so that I could neither speak nor breathe
Speaker 1: with freedom and suffering. Thus I stood staring at this
Speaker 1: demoniacal piece of paper, which in an instant had brought
Speaker 1: the shadow of death upon my happy life. Nor was
Speaker 1: I at all relieved when a little later I flew
Speaker 1: with the notice into a neighbor's apartment, and, praying her
Speaker 1: to read it for me, found that my eyes had
Speaker 1: not deceived me, and that the name was indeed my husband's,
Speaker 1: and the notice one of death. Not from my own mind,
Speaker 1: but from hers. Came the first suggestion of comfort. It
Speaker 1: cannot be your husband who is meant, said she, but
Speaker 1: some one of the same name. Your husband wrote to
Speaker 1: you yesterday. And this person must have been dead at
Speaker 1: least two days for the printed notice of his decease
Speaker 1: to have reached New York. Some one has remarked the
Speaker 1: striking similarity of names, and, wishing to startle you, cut
Speaker 1: the slip out and pinned it on your cushion. I
Speaker 1: certainly knew of no one inconsiderate enough to do this.
Speaker 1: But the explanation was so plausible I at once embraced
Speaker 1: it and sobbed aloud in my relief. But in the
Speaker 1: midst of my rejoicing, I heard the bell ring in
Speaker 1: my apartment, and running thither, encountered a telegraph boy holding
Speaker 1: in his outstretched hand the yellow envelope which so often
Speaker 1: bespeaks death or disaster. The sight took my breath away.
Speaker 1: Summoning my maid, whom I saw hastening towards me from
Speaker 1: an inn room, I begged her to open the telegram
Speaker 1: for me. Sir, I saw in her face before she
Speaker 1: had read the first line a confirmation of my very
Speaker 1: worst fears. My husband was.
Speaker 2: The young widow, choked with her emotions, paused, recovered herself
Speaker 2: for the second time.
Speaker 1: And then went on, I had better show you the telegram.
Speaker 2: Taking it from her pocket book, she held it towards me.
Speaker 2: I read it at a glance. It was short, simple
Speaker 2: and direct. Come at once. Your husband found dead in
Speaker 2: his room this morning, doctor Sehart disease.
Speaker 3: Please telegraph you see it says this morning, she explained,
Speaker 3: placing her delicate finger on the word.
Speaker 2: She so eagerly quoted.
Speaker 1: That means a week ago Wednesday, the same day on
Speaker 1: which the printed slip recording his death was found on
Speaker 1: my cushion. Do you not see something very strange in this?
Speaker 2: I did, But before I ventured to express myself on
Speaker 2: this subject, I desired her to tell me what she
Speaker 2: had learned in her visit to Philadelphia. Her answer was
Speaker 2: simple and.
Speaker 1: Straightforward, but little more than you found in this telegram.
Speaker 1: He died in his room. He was found lying on
Speaker 1: the floor near the bell button, which he had evidently
Speaker 1: risen to touch. One hand was clenched on his chest,
Speaker 1: but his face wore a peaceful look, as if death
Speaker 1: had come too suddenly to cause him much suffering. His
Speaker 1: bed was undisturbed. He had died before retiring, possibly in
Speaker 1: the act of packing his trunk, for it was found
Speaker 1: nearly ready for the expressman. Indeed, there was every evidence
Speaker 1: of his intention to leave on an early morning train.
Speaker 1: He had even desired to be awakened at six o'clock,
Speaker 1: and it was his failure to respond to the summons
Speaker 1: of the bell boy which led to so early a
Speaker 1: discovery of his death. He had never complained of any
Speaker 1: distress in breathing, and we had always considered him a
Speaker 1: perfectly healthy man. But there was no reason for assigning
Speaker 1: any other cause than heart failure to his sudden death,
Speaker 1: And so the burial certificate was made out to that effect,
Speaker 1: and I was allowed to bring him home and bury
Speaker 1: him in our vault at Woodlawn.
Speaker 2: But and here her earnestness dried up the tears which
Speaker 2: had been flowing freely during this recital of her husband's
Speaker 2: lonely death and sad burial.
Speaker 1: Do you not think an investigation should be made into
Speaker 1: a death preceded by a false obituary notice? For I
Speaker 1: found when I was in Philadelphia that no paragraph such
Speaker 1: as I had found pinned to my cushion had been
Speaker 1: inserted in any paper there, nor had any other man
Speaker 1: of the same name ever registered at the Colonnade, much
Speaker 1: less died there.
Speaker 2: Have you this notice with you, I asked. She immediately
Speaker 2: produced it, and, while I was glancing it over, remarked.
Speaker 1: Some persons would give a superstitious explanation to the whole matter.
Speaker 1: Think I had received a supernatural warning and been satisfied
Speaker 1: with what they would call a spiritual manifestation. But I
Speaker 1: have not a bit of such folly in my composition.
Speaker 1: Living hands set up the type and printed the words
Speaker 1: which gave me so deathly a shock, And hands with
Speaker 1: a real purpose in them cut it from the paper
Speaker 1: and pinned it to my cushion for me to see
Speaker 1: when I woke on that fatal morning. But whose hands?
Speaker 1: That is what I want you to discover.
Speaker 2: I had caught the fever of her suspicions long before this,
Speaker 2: and now felt justified in showing my interest. First, let
Speaker 2: me ask, said I, who has access to your rooms
Speaker 2: besides your maid?
Speaker 1: No one, absolutely no one?
Speaker 2: And what of her?
Speaker 1: She is innocence itself. She is no common housemaid, but
Speaker 1: a girl my mother brought up, who, for love of me,
Speaker 1: consents to do such work in the household as my
Speaker 1: simple needs require.
Speaker 2: I should like to see her.
Speaker 1: There is no objection to your doing so, but you
Speaker 1: will gain nothing by it. I have already talked the
Speaker 1: subject over with her a dozen times, and she is
Speaker 1: as much puzzled by it as I am myself. She
Speaker 1: says she cannot see how any one could have found
Speaker 1: an entrance to my room during my sleep, as the
Speaker 1: doors were all locked. Yet, as she very naturally observes,
Speaker 1: some one must have done so, for she was in
Speaker 1: my bedroom herself just before I returned from the theater,
Speaker 1: and can swear, if necessary, that no such slip of
Speaker 1: paper was to be seen on my cushion at that time,
Speaker 1: for her duty's letter directly to my bureau, and kept
Speaker 1: her there for full five minutes.
Speaker 2: And you believed her, I suggested.
Speaker 3: Implicitly, in what direction.
Speaker 2: Then do your suspicions.
Speaker 1: Turn alas in no direction? That's the trouble. I don't
Speaker 1: know whom to mistrust. It was because I was told
Speaker 1: that you had the credit of seeing light where others
Speaker 1: can see nothing but darkness, that I have sought your
Speaker 1: aid in this emergency, for the uncertainty surrounding this matter
Speaker 1: is killing me and will make my sorrow quite unendurable
Speaker 1: if I cannot obtain relief from it.
Speaker 2: I do not wonder. I began struck by the note
Speaker 2: of truth in her tones, and I shall certainly do
Speaker 2: what I can for you. But before we go any further,
Speaker 2: let us examine this scrap of newspaper and see what
Speaker 2: we can make out of it. I had already noted
Speaker 2: two or three points in connection with it, to which
Speaker 2: I now proceeded to direct her attention. Have you compared
Speaker 2: this notice I pursued with such others as you find
Speaker 2: every day in the papers. No, was her eager answer.
Speaker 1: Is it not like them?
Speaker 2: All? Read? Was my quiet interruption on this day at
Speaker 2: the Colonnade. On what day? The date is usually given
Speaker 2: in all the bonafida notices I have seen?
Speaker 4: Is it?
Speaker 2: She asked, her eyes moist with unshad tears opening widely
Speaker 2: in her astonishment. Look in the papers on your return
Speaker 2: home and see then the print. Observe that the type
Speaker 2: is identical on both sides of this make believe clipping
Speaker 2: which in fact there is always a perceptible difference between
Speaker 2: that used in the obituary column and that to be
Speaker 2: found in the columns devoted to other matter. Notice also,
Speaker 2: I continued, holding up the scrap of paper between her
Speaker 2: and the light, that the alignment on one side is not
Speaker 2: exactly parallel with that on the other, a discrepancy which
Speaker 2: would not exist if both sides had been printed on
Speaker 2: a newspaper press. These facts lead me to conclude, first
Speaker 2: that the effort to match the type exactly was the
Speaker 2: mistake of a man who tries to do too much.
Speaker 2: And secondly, that one of the sides, at least presumably
Speaker 2: that containing the obituary notice, was printed on a hand press,
Speaker 2: on the blank side of a piece of galley proof
Speaker 2: picked up in some newspaper office. Let me see, and,
Speaker 2: stretching out her hand with the utmost eagerness, she took
Speaker 2: the slip and turned it over. Instantly, a change took
Speaker 2: place in her countenance. She sank back in her seat,
Speaker 2: and a blush of manifest confusion suffused her cheeks.
Speaker 1: Oh, she exclaimed, what will you think of me? I
Speaker 1: brought this scrap of print into the house myself, and
Speaker 1: it was I who pinned it on the cushion with
Speaker 1: my own hands. I remember it now. The sight of
Speaker 1: those words recalls the whole occurrence.
Speaker 2: Then there is one mystery less for us to solve,
Speaker 2: I remarked, somewhat dryly. Do you think so, she protested
Speaker 2: with a deprecatory look.
Speaker 1: For me, the mystery deepens and becomes every minute more serious.
Speaker 1: It is true that I brought this scrap of newspaper
Speaker 1: into the house, and that it had then, as now,
Speaker 1: the notice of my husband's death upon it. But the
Speaker 1: time of my bringing it in was Tuesday night, and
Speaker 1: he was not found dead till Wednesday morning.
Speaker 2: A discrepancy worth noting, I.
Speaker 1: Remarked, involving a mystery of some importance.
Speaker 2: She concluded, I agreed to that, and since we have
Speaker 2: discovered how the slip came into your room, we can
Speaker 2: now proceed to the clearing up of this mystery. I observed.
Speaker 2: You can, of course inform me where you procured this clipping,
Speaker 2: which you say you brought into the house.
Speaker 1: Yes, you may think it strange, but when I alighted
Speaker 1: from the carriage that night, a man on the sidewalk
Speaker 1: put this tiny scrap of paper into my hand. It
Speaker 1: was done so mechanically that it made no more impression
Speaker 1: on my mind than the thrusting of an advertisement upon me. Indeed,
Speaker 1: I supposed it was an advertisement, And I only wonder
Speaker 1: that I retained it in my hand at all, But
Speaker 1: that I did so, and that in a moment of abstraction,
Speaker 1: I went so far as to pin it to my
Speaker 1: cushion is evident from the fact that a vague memory
Speaker 1: remains in my mind of having read this recipe, which
Speaker 1: you see printed on the reverse side of the paper.
Speaker 2: It was the recipe, then, and not the obituary. Notice
Speaker 2: that attracted your attention the night before.
Speaker 1: Probably, but in pinning it to the cushion, it was
Speaker 1: the obituary notice that chanced to come uppermost. Oh, why
Speaker 1: should I not have remembered this till now? Can you
Speaker 1: understand my forgetting a matter of so much importance?
Speaker 2: Yes, I allowed, after a momentary consideration of her ingenuous countenance.
Speaker 2: The words you read in the morning were so startling
Speaker 2: that they disconnected themselves from those who had carelessly glanced
Speaker 2: at the night before.
Speaker 1: That is it, she replied, And since then I have
Speaker 1: had eyes for the one side only. How could I
Speaker 1: think of the other? But who could have printed this thing?
Speaker 1: And who was the man who put it into my hand?
Speaker 1: He looked like a beggar.
Speaker 2: But oh, she suddenly exclaimed, her cheeks flushing scarlet and
Speaker 2: her eyes flashing with a feverish, almost alarming glitter. What
Speaker 2: is it now, I asked, another recollection. Yes, she spoke
Speaker 2: so low I could hardly hear her.
Speaker 3: He coughed, And and what I encouragingly suggested, seeing that
Speaker 3: she was under some new and overwhelming.
Speaker 1: Emotion, That cough had a familiar sound now that I
Speaker 1: think of it, it was like that of a friend
Speaker 1: who But no, no, I will not wrong him by
Speaker 1: any false surmises. He would stoop too much, but not
Speaker 1: to that.
Speaker 2: Yet the flush on her cheeks had died away, but
Speaker 2: the two vivid spots which remained showed the depth of
Speaker 2: her excitement.
Speaker 3: Do you think she suddenly.
Speaker 1: Asked that a man out of revenge might play and
Speaker 1: to frighten me by a false notice of my husband's death,
Speaker 1: and that God to punish him made the notice a prophecy.
Speaker 2: I think a man influenced by the spirit of revenge
Speaker 2: might do almost anything, I answered, purposely, ignoring the latter
Speaker 2: part of her question.
Speaker 1: But I always considered him a good man, at least,
Speaker 1: I never looked upon him as a wicked one. Every
Speaker 1: other beggar we meet has a cough.
Speaker 2: And yet, she added, after a moment's pause, if it was.
Speaker 1: Not he who gave me this mortal shock, who was it?
Speaker 1: He is the only person in the world I ever wronged.
Speaker 2: Had you not better tell me his name?
Speaker 3: I suggested, No, I am in too great doubt.
Speaker 1: I should hate to do him a second injury.
Speaker 2: You cannot injure him if he is innocent. My methods
Speaker 2: are very safe.
Speaker 1: If I could forget his cough, but it had that
Speaker 1: peculiar catch in it that I remembered so well in
Speaker 1: the cough of John Gray. I did not pay any
Speaker 1: especial heed to it. At the time, old days and
Speaker 1: old troubles were far enough from my thoughts. But now
Speaker 1: that my suspicions are raised, that low choking sound comes
Speaker 1: back to me in a strangely persistent way, and I
Speaker 1: seemed to see a well remembered form in the stooping
Speaker 1: figure of this beggar. Oh, I hope the good God
Speaker 1: will forgive me if I attribute to this disappointed man
Speaker 1: a wickedness he never committed.
Speaker 2: Who is John Graham? I urged? And what was the
Speaker 2: nature of the wrong you did him? She rose, cast
Speaker 2: me one appealing glance, and, perceiving that I meant to
Speaker 2: have her whole story, turned towards the fire, and stood
Speaker 2: warming her feet before the hearth, with her face turned
Speaker 2: away from my gaze.
Speaker 1: I was once engaged to marry him. She began, not
Speaker 1: because I loved him, but because we were very poor,
Speaker 1: I mean my mother and myself, and he had a
Speaker 1: home and seemed both good and generous. The day came
Speaker 1: when we were to be married. This was in the west,
Speaker 1: way out in Kansas, and I was even dressed for
Speaker 1: the wedding when a letter came from my uncle here,
Speaker 1: a rich uncle, very rich, who had never had anything
Speaker 1: to do with my mother since her marriage, And in
Speaker 1: it he promised me fortune and everything else desirable in
Speaker 1: life if I would come to him, unencumbered by any
Speaker 1: foolish ties. Think of it, and I within half an
Speaker 1: hour of marriage with a man I had never loved
Speaker 1: and now suddenly hated. The temptation was overwhelming and heartless,
Speaker 1: as my conduct may appear to you, I succumbed to it,
Speaker 1: telling my lover that I had changed my mind. I
Speaker 1: dismissed the minister when he came and announced my intention
Speaker 1: of proceeding east as soon as possible. Mister Graham was
Speaker 1: simply paralyzed by his disappointment, and during the few days
Speaker 1: which intervened before my departure, I was haunted by his face,
Speaker 1: which was like that of a man who had died
Speaker 1: from some overwhelming shock. But when I was once free
Speaker 1: of the town, especially after I arrived in New York,
Speaker 1: I forgot alike his misery and himself. Everything I saw
Speaker 1: was so beautiful, life was so full of charm, and
Speaker 1: my uncle so delighted with me and everything I did.
Speaker 1: Then there was James Holmes, and after I had seen him,
Speaker 1: but I cannot talk of that, we loved each other.
Speaker 1: And under the surprise of this new delight, how could
Speaker 1: I be expected to remember the man I had left
Speaker 1: behind me in that barren region in which I had
Speaker 1: spent my youth. But he did not forget the misery
Speaker 1: I had caused him. He followed me to New York,
Speaker 1: and on the morning I was married, found his way
Speaker 1: into the house, and, mixing with the wedding guests, suddenly
Speaker 1: appeared before me, just as I was receiving the congratulations
Speaker 1: of my friends. At sight of him, I experienced all
Speaker 1: the terror he had called upon causing, But remembering at
Speaker 1: whose side I stood, I managed to hide my confusion
Speaker 1: under an aspect of apparent haughtiness. This irritated John Graham,
Speaker 1: flushing with anger and ignoring my imploring look, he cried, peremptorily,
Speaker 1: present me to your husband, and I felt forced to
Speaker 1: present him. But his name produced no effect upon mister Holmes.
Speaker 1: I had never told him of my early experience with
Speaker 1: this man, and John Graham, perceiving this cast me a
Speaker 1: bitter glance of disdain, and passed on, muttering between his teeth,
Speaker 1: false to me and false to him. Your punishment will
Speaker 1: be upon you, and I felt as if I had
Speaker 1: been cursed.
Speaker 2: She stopped here, moved by emotions readily to be understood. Then,
Speaker 2: with quick impetuosity, she caught up the thread of her story.
Speaker 1: And went on, that was six months ago, And again
Speaker 1: I forgot My mother died, and my husband soon absorbed
Speaker 1: my every thought. How could I dream that this man,
Speaker 1: who was little more than a memory to me, and
Speaker 1: scarcely that was secretly planning mischief against me? Yet this
Speaker 1: scrap about which we have talked so much may have
Speaker 1: been the work of his hands, and even my husband's death.
Speaker 2: She did not finish, but her face, which was turned
Speaker 2: towards me, spoke volumes. Your husband's death shall be inquired into,
Speaker 2: I assured her, and she, exhausted by the excitement of
Speaker 2: her discoveries, asked that she might be excused from further
Speaker 2: discussion of the subject at that time, as I had
Speaker 2: no wish myself to enter any more fully into the matter.
Speaker 2: Just then I readily acceded to her request, and the
Speaker 2: pretty widow left me two. Obviously, the first fact to
Speaker 2: be settled was whether mister Holmes had died from purely
Speaker 2: natural causes. I accordingly busied myself the next few days
Speaker 2: with this question, and was fortunate enough to so interest
Speaker 2: the proper authorities that an order was issued for the
Speaker 2: exhimation and examination of the body. The result was disappointing.
Speaker 2: No traces of poison were to be found in the stomach,
Speaker 2: nor was there to be seen on the body any
Speaker 2: mark of violence, with the exception of a minute prick
Speaker 2: upon one of his thumbs. This speck was so small
Speaker 2: that it escaped every eye but my own. The authorities
Speaker 2: assuring the widow that the doctor's certificate given her in
Speaker 2: Philadelphia was correct, he was again interred. But I was
Speaker 2: not satisfied, neither do I think she was. I was
Speaker 2: confident that this death was not a natural one, and
Speaker 2: entered upon one of those secret and prolonged investigations which
Speaker 2: have constituted the pleasure of my life for so many years. First,
Speaker 2: I visited the Colonnade in Philadelphia, and, being allowed to
Speaker 2: see the room in which mister Holmestead, went through it carefully,
Speaker 2: as it had not been used since that time. I
Speaker 2: had some hopes of coming upon a clue, but it
Speaker 2: was a vain hope, and the only result of my
Speaker 2: journey to this place was the assurance I received that
Speaker 2: the gentleman had spent the entire evening preceding his death
Speaker 2: in his own room, where he had been brought several
Speaker 2: letters and one small package, the latter coming by mail.
Speaker 2: With this one point gained. If it was a point,
Speaker 2: I went back to New York. Calling on missus Holmes.
Speaker 2: I asked her if while her husband was away she
Speaker 2: had sent him anything besides letters, and, upon her replying
Speaker 2: to the contrary, requested to know if in her visit
Speaker 2: to Philadelphia she had noted among her husband's effects anything
Speaker 2: that was new or unfamiliar to her. For he received
Speaker 2: a package while there, I explained, And though its contents
Speaker 2: may have been perfectly harmless, it is just as well
Speaker 2: for us to be assured of this before going any further.
Speaker 1: Oh you think then he was really the victim of
Speaker 1: some secret violence.
Speaker 2: We have no proof of it, I said. On the contrary,
Speaker 2: we are assured that he died from natural causes. But
Speaker 2: the incident of the newspaper slip outweighs in my mind
Speaker 2: the doctor's conclusions, and until the mystery surrounding that obituary
Speaker 2: notice has been satisfactorily explained by its author, I shall
Speaker 2: hold to the theory that your husband has been made away
Speaker 2: with in some strange and seemingly unaccountable manner, which it
Speaker 2: is our duty to bring to light.
Speaker 1: You are right, You are right, oh John Graham.
Speaker 2: She was so carried away by this plain expression of
Speaker 2: my belief that she forgot the question I had put
Speaker 2: to her. You have not told whether or not you
Speaker 2: found anything among your husband's effects that can explain this mystery,
Speaker 2: I suggested. She at once became attentive.
Speaker 4: Nothing, said she.
Speaker 1: His trunks were already packed, and his bag nearly so.
Speaker 1: There were a few things lying about the room which
Speaker 1: were put into the latter, But I saw nothing but
Speaker 1: what was familiar to me among them, at least I
Speaker 1: think not. Perhaps we had better look through his trunk
Speaker 1: and see. I have not had the heart to open
Speaker 1: it since I came back.
Speaker 2: As this was exactly what I wished. I said as much,
Speaker 2: and she led me into a small room, against the
Speaker 2: wall of which stood a trunk with a traveling bag
Speaker 2: on top of it. Opening the ladder she spread the
Speaker 2: contents out on the trunk.
Speaker 1: I know all these things.
Speaker 2: She sadly murmured, the tears welling in her eyes. This
Speaker 2: I inquired, lifting up a bit of coiled wire with
Speaker 2: two or three little rings dangling from it.
Speaker 1: No, why what is that?
Speaker 2: It looks like a puzzle of some kind.
Speaker 1: Then it is of no consequence. My husband was forever
Speaker 1: amusing himself over some such contrivance. All his friends knew
Speaker 1: how well he liked these toys, and frequently sent them
Speaker 1: to him. This one evidently reached him in Philadelphia.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, I was eyeing the bit of wire curiously. It
Speaker 2: was undoubtedly a puzzle, but it had appendages to it
Speaker 2: that I did not understand. It is more than ordinarily complicated.
Speaker 2: I observed moving the rings up and down in a
Speaker 2: vain endeavor to work them off.
Speaker 1: The better he would like it, said she.
Speaker 2: I kept on working with the rings. Suddenly I gave
Speaker 2: a painful start. A little prong in the handle of
Speaker 2: the toy had started out and pricked me. You had
Speaker 2: better not handle it, said I, and laid it down.
Speaker 2: But the next minute I took it up again and
Speaker 2: put it in my pocket. The prick made by This
Speaker 2: treacherous bit of mechanism was in or near the same
Speaker 2: place on my thumb as the one I had noticed
Speaker 2: on the hand of the deceased mister Holmes. There was
Speaker 2: a fire in the room, and before proceeding further, I
Speaker 2: cauterized that prick with the end of a red hot poker.
Speaker 2: Then I made my adieu to missus Holmes, and went
Speaker 2: immediately to a chemist friend of mine test the end
Speaker 2: of this bit of steel for me, said I, I
Speaker 2: have reason to believe it carries with it a deadly poison.
Speaker 2: He took the toy, promised to subject it to every
Speaker 2: test possible and let me know the result. Then I
Speaker 2: went home. I felt ill, or imagined that I did,
Speaker 2: which under the circumstances, was almost as bad. Next day, however,
Speaker 2: I was quite well, with the exception of a certain
Speaker 2: inconvenience in my thumb. But not till the following week
Speaker 2: did I receive the chemist's report. It overthrew my whole theory.
Speaker 2: He had found nothing and returned me the bit of steel.
Speaker 2: But I was not convinced. I will hunt up this
Speaker 2: John Graham, thought, I and study him. But this was
Speaker 2: not so easy attack as it may appear, as Missus
Speaker 2: Holmes possessed no clue to the whereabouts of her quondam lover.
Speaker 2: I had nothing to aid me in my search for him,
Speaker 2: save her rather vague description of his personal appearance and
Speaker 2: the fact that he was constantly interrupted in speaking by
Speaker 2: a low, choking cough. However, my natural perseverance carried me through.
Speaker 2: After seeing and interviewing a dozen John Grahams without result,
Speaker 2: I at last lit upon a man of that name,
Speaker 2: who presented a figure of such vivid unrest and showed
Speaker 2: such desperate hatred of his fellows that I began to
Speaker 2: entertain hopes of his being the person I was in
Speaker 2: search of. But determined to be sure of this before
Speaker 2: proceeding further, I confided my suspicions to Missus Holmes and
Speaker 2: induced her to accompany me down to a certain spot
Speaker 2: on the elevated from which I had more than once
Speaker 2: seen this man go by to his usual lounging place
Speaker 2: in printing house square. She showed great courage in doing this,
Speaker 2: for she had such a dread of him that she
Speaker 2: was in a state of nervous excitement from the moment
Speaker 2: she left her house, feeling sure that she would attract
Speaker 2: his attention and thus risk a disagreeable encounter. But she
Speaker 2: might have spared herself these fears. He did not even
Speaker 2: glance up in passing us, and it was mainly by
Speaker 2: his walk she recognized him. But she did recognize him,
Speaker 2: and this nerved me at once to set about the
Speaker 2: formidable task of fixing upon him a crime which was
Speaker 2: not even admitted as a fact by the authorities. He
Speaker 2: was a man about town, living, to all appearances by
Speaker 2: his wits. He was to be seen mostly in the
Speaker 2: downtown portions of the city, standing for hours in front
Speaker 2: of some newspaper office, gnawing at his finger ends and
Speaker 2: staring at the passers by with a hungry look. But
Speaker 2: alarmed the timid and provoked alms from the benevolent. Needless
Speaker 2: to say that he rejected the latter express of sympathy
Speaker 2: with angry contempt. His face was long and pallid, his
Speaker 2: cheek bones high, and his mouth bitter and resolute in expression.
Speaker 2: He wore neither beard nor mustache, but made up for
Speaker 2: their lack by an abundance of light brown hair, which
Speaker 2: hung very nearly to his shoulders. He stooped in standing,
Speaker 2: but as soon as he moved, showed decision and a
Speaker 2: certain sort of pride, which caused him to hold his
Speaker 2: head high and his body more than usually erect. With
Speaker 2: all these good points, his appearance was decidedly sinister, and
Speaker 2: I did not wonder that missus Holmes feared him. My
Speaker 2: next move was to accost him. Pausing before the doorway
Speaker 2: in which he stood, I addressed him some trivial question.
Speaker 2: He answered me with sufficient politeness, but with a grudging
Speaker 2: attention which betrayed the hold which his own thoughts had
Speaker 2: upon him. He coughed while speaking, and his eye, which
Speaker 2: for a moment rested on mine, produced upon me an
Speaker 2: impression for which I was hardly prepared. Great as was
Speaker 2: my prejudice against him, there was such an icy composure
Speaker 2: in it, the composure of an envenomed nature, conscious of
Speaker 2: its superiority to all surprise. As I lingered to study
Speaker 2: him more closely, the many dangerous qualities of the man
Speaker 2: became more and more apparent to me. And convinced that
Speaker 2: to proceed further without deep and careful thought would be
Speaker 2: to court failure, where triumph would set me up for life,
Speaker 2: I gave up all present attempt at enlisting him in conversation,
Speaker 2: and went my way in an inquiring and serious mood.
Speaker 2: In fact, my position was a peculiar one, and the
Speaker 2: problem I had set for myself one of unusual difficulty.
Speaker 2: Only by means of some extraordinary device, such as is
Speaker 2: seldom resorted to by the police of this or any
Speaker 2: other nation, could I hope to arrive at the secret
Speaker 2: of this man's conduct and triumph in a manner which,
Speaker 2: to all appearance was beyond human penetration. But what device
Speaker 2: I knew of? None, Nor through two days and nights
Speaker 2: of strenuous thought, did I receive the least light on
Speaker 2: the subject. Indeed, my mind seemed to grow more and
Speaker 2: more confused the more I urged it into action. I
Speaker 2: failed to get inspiration indoors or out, and, feeling my
Speaker 2: health suffer from the constant irritation of my recurring disappointment,
Speaker 2: I resolved to take a day off and carry myself
Speaker 2: and my perplexities into the country. I did so, governed
Speaker 2: by an impulse which I did not then understand. I
Speaker 2: went to a small town in New Jersey and entered
Speaker 2: the first house on which I saw the sign room
Speaker 2: to let. The result was most fortunate. No sooner had
Speaker 2: I crossed the threshold of the neat and homely apartment
Speaker 2: thrown open to my use, than it recalled a room
Speaker 2: in which I had slept two years before, and in
Speaker 2: which I had read a little book I was only
Speaker 2: too glad to remember at this moment. Indeed, it seemed
Speaker 2: as if a veritable inspiration had come to me through
Speaker 2: this recollection. For though the tale to which I allude
Speaker 2: was a simple child's story written for moral purposes, it
Speaker 2: contained an idea which promised to be invaluable to me
Speaker 2: at this juncture. Indeed, by means of it, I believed
Speaker 2: myself to have solved the problem that was puzzling me,
Speaker 2: and relieved beyond expression. I paid for the night's lodging
Speaker 2: I had now determined to forego, and returned immediately to
Speaker 2: New York, having spent just fifteen minutes in the town
Speaker 2: where I had received this happy inspiration. My first step
Speaker 2: on entering the city was to order a dozen steel
Speaker 2: coils made similar to the one which I still believed
Speaker 2: answerable for James Holmes's death. My next to learn, as
Speaker 2: far as possible, all of John Graham's haunts and habits.
Speaker 2: At a week's end, I had the springs, and knew
Speaker 2: almost as well as he did himself where he was
Speaker 2: likely to be found at all times of the day
Speaker 2: and night. I immediately acted upon this knowledge. Assuming a
Speaker 2: slight disguise, I repeated my former stroll through printing house square,
Speaker 2: looking into each doorway as I passed. John Graham was
Speaker 2: in one of them, staring in his old way at
Speaker 2: the passing crowd, but evidently seeing nothing but the images
Speaker 2: formed by his own disordered brain. A manuscript roll stuck
Speaker 2: out of his breast pocket, and from the way his
Speaker 2: nervous fingers fumbled with it. I began to understand the
Speaker 2: restless glitter of his eyes, which were as full of
Speaker 2: wretchedness as any eyes I have ever seen. Entering the
Speaker 2: doorway where he stood, I dropped at his feet one
Speaker 2: of the small steel coils with which I was provided.
Speaker 2: He did not see it. Stopping near him, I directed
Speaker 2: his attention to it by saying, pardon me, but did
Speaker 2: I not see something drop out of your hand? He
Speaker 2: started glanced at the seeming inoffensive toy at which I pointed,
Speaker 2: and altered so suddenly and so vividly that it became
Speaker 2: instantly apparent that the surprise I had planned for him,
Speaker 2: was fully as keen and searching a one as I
Speaker 2: had anticipated. Recoiling sharply, he gave me a quick look,
Speaker 2: then glanced down again at his feet, as if half
Speaker 2: expecting to find the object vanished which had startled him,
Speaker 2: but perceiving it still lying there, he crushed it viciously
Speaker 2: with his heel, and, uttering some incoherent words, dashed impetuously
Speaker 2: from the building, Confident that he would regret this hasty
Speaker 2: impulse and return. I withdrew a few steps and waited,
Speaker 2: and sure enough, in less than five minutes he came
Speaker 2: slinking back, picking up the coil. With more than one
Speaker 2: sly look about, he examined it closely. Suddenly he gave
Speaker 2: a sharp cry and went staggering out. Had he discovered
Speaker 2: that the seeming puzzle possessed the same invisible spring which
Speaker 2: had made the one handled by James Holmes so dangerous.
Speaker 2: Certain as to the place he would be found in, next,
Speaker 2: I made a short cut to an obscure little saloon
Speaker 2: in Nassau Street, where I took up my stand in
Speaker 2: a spot convenient for seeing without being seen. In ten
Speaker 2: minutes he was standing at the bar, asking for a
Speaker 2: drink whiskey, he cried straight it was given him. But
Speaker 2: as he set the empty glass down on the counter,
Speaker 2: he saw lying before him another of the steel springs,
Speaker 2: and was so confounded by the sight that the proprietor,
Speaker 2: who had put it there at my instigation, thrust out
Speaker 2: his hand toward him, as if half afraid he would fall.
Speaker 4: Where did that that thing come from?
Speaker 2: Stammered John Graham, ignoring the other's gesture, and pointing with
Speaker 2: a trembling hand at this seemingly insignificant bit of wire
Speaker 2: between them.
Speaker 4: Didn't it drop from your coat pocket.
Speaker 2: Inquired the proprietor.
Speaker 4: It wasn't lyne here before you came in with a
Speaker 4: horrible oath.
Speaker 2: The unhappy man turned and fled from the place. I
Speaker 2: lost sight of him after that for three hours. Then
Speaker 2: I suddenly came upon him again. He was walking up
Speaker 2: town with a set purpose in his face that made
Speaker 2: him look more dangerous than ever. Of course, I followed him,
Speaker 2: expecting him to turn towards fifty ninth Street, but at
Speaker 2: the corner of Madison Avenue and forty seventh Street, he
Speaker 2: changed his mind and dashed toward Third Avenue. At Park Avenue,
Speaker 2: he faltered and again turned north, walking for several blocks
Speaker 2: as if the fiends were behind him. I began to
Speaker 2: think that he was but attempting to walk off his excitement,
Speaker 2: when at a sudden rushing sound in the cut beside us,
Speaker 2: he stopped and trembled. An express train was shooting by.
Speaker 2: As it disappeared in the tunnel beyond. He looked about
Speaker 2: him with a blanched face and wandering eye, but his
Speaker 2: glance did not turn my way, or if it did,
Speaker 2: he failed to attach any meaning to my near presence.
Speaker 2: He began to move on again, and this time towards
Speaker 2: the bridge spanning the cut. I followed him very closely.
Speaker 2: In the center of it, he paused and looked down
Speaker 2: at the track beneath him. Another train was approaching. As
Speaker 2: it came near, he trembled from head to foot, and
Speaker 2: catching at the railing against which he leaned. Was about
Speaker 2: to make a quick move forward when a puff of
Speaker 2: smoke arose from below and sent him staggering backward, gasping
Speaker 2: with a terror I could hardly understand till I saw
Speaker 2: that the smoke had taken the form of a spiral
Speaker 2: and was sailing away before him. In what to his
Speaker 2: disordered imagination must have looked like a gigantic image of
Speaker 2: the coil with which twice before on this day he
Speaker 2: had found himself confronted. It may have been chance, and
Speaker 2: it may have been providence, but whichever it was, it
Speaker 2: saved him. He could not face that semblance of his
Speaker 2: haunting thought, and turning away, he cowered down on the
Speaker 2: neighboring kerbstone, where he sat for several minutes with his
Speaker 2: head buried in his hands. When he rose again, he
Speaker 2: was his own daring and sinister self. Knowing that he
Speaker 2: was now too much master of his faculties to ignore
Speaker 2: me any longer, I walked quickly away and left him.
Speaker 2: I knew where he would be at six o'clock, and
Speaker 2: had already engaged a table at the same restaurant. It
Speaker 2: was seven, however, before he put in an appearance, and
Speaker 2: by this time he was looking more composed. There was
Speaker 2: a reckless air about him, however, which was perhaps only
Speaker 2: noticeable to me, for none of the habitues of this
Speaker 2: especial restaurant were entirely without it. Wild eyes and unkempt
Speaker 2: Haire being in the majority, I let him eat. The
Speaker 2: dinner he ordered was simple, and I had not the
Speaker 2: heart to interrupt his enjoyment of it. But when he
Speaker 2: had finished and came to pay, then I allowed the
Speaker 2: shock to come. Under the bill, which the waiter laid
Speaker 2: at the side of his plate, was the inevitable steel coil,
Speaker 2: and it produced even more than its usual effect. I
Speaker 2: own I felt sorry for him. He did not dash
Speaker 2: from the place, however, as he had from the liquor saloon.
Speaker 2: A spirit of resistance had seized him, and he demanded
Speaker 2: to know where this object of his fear had come from.
Speaker 2: No one could tell him or would Whereupon he began
Speaker 2: to rave, and would certainly have done himself or somebody
Speaker 2: else an injury if he had not been calmed by
Speaker 2: a man almost as wild looking as himself. Paying his bill,
Speaker 2: but vowing he would never enter the place again, he
Speaker 2: went out clay white, but with the swaggering air of
Speaker 2: a man who had just asserted himself. He drooped, however,
Speaker 2: as soon as he reached the street, and I had
Speaker 2: no difficulty in following him to a certain gambling den,
Speaker 2: where he gave three dollars and lost five. From there
Speaker 2: he went to his lodgings in West tenth Street. I
Speaker 2: did not follow him in. He had passed through many
Speaker 2: deep and wearing emotions since noon, and I had not
Speaker 2: the heart to add another to them. But late the
Speaker 2: next day I returned to this house and rang the bell.
Speaker 2: It was already dusk, but there was light enough for
Speaker 2: me to notice the unrepaired condition of the iron railings
Speaker 2: on either side of the old stone stoop, and to
Speaker 2: compare this abode of decayed grandeur with the spacious and
Speaker 2: elegant apartment in which pretty Missus Holmes mourned the loss
Speaker 2: of her young husband. Had any such comparison ever been
Speaker 2: made by the unhappy John Graham as he hurried up
Speaker 2: these decayed steps into the dismal halls beyond In answer
Speaker 2: to my summons, There came to the door a young
Speaker 2: woman to whom I had but to intimate my wish
Speaker 2: to see mister Graham for her to let me in
Speaker 2: with the short announcement.
Speaker 1: Top floor back room door opens, out door shut.
Speaker 2: He's in, as an open door meant liberty to enter.
Speaker 2: I lost no time in following the direction of her
Speaker 2: pointing finger, and presently found myself in a low attic
Speaker 2: chamber overlooking an acre of roofs A fire had been
Speaker 2: lighted in the open grate, and the flickering red beams
Speaker 2: danced on ceiling and walls with a cheeriness, greatly in
Speaker 2: contrast to the nature of the business which had led
Speaker 2: me there, as they also served to light the room.
Speaker 2: I proceeded to make myself at home, and, drawing up
Speaker 2: a chair, sat down at the fireplace in such a
Speaker 2: way as to conceal myself from any one entering the door.
Speaker 2: In less than half an hour he came in. He
Speaker 2: was in a state of high emotion, his face was
Speaker 2: flushed and his eyes burning. Stepping rapidly forward, he flung
Speaker 2: his hat on the table in the middle of the
Speaker 2: room with a curse that was half cry and half groan.
Speaker 2: Then he stood silent, and I had an opportunity of
Speaker 2: noting how haggard he had grown in the short time
Speaker 2: which had elapsed since I had seen him last. But
Speaker 2: the interval of his inaction was short, and in a
Speaker 2: moment he flung up his arms with a loud curse
Speaker 2: her that rang through the narrow room and betrayed the
Speaker 2: source of his present frenzy. Then he again stood still,
Speaker 2: grating his teeth and working his hands in a way
Speaker 2: terribly suggestive of the murderer's instinct. But not for long.
Speaker 2: He saw something that attracted his attention on the table,
Speaker 2: a something upon which my eyes had long before been fixed.
Speaker 2: And starting forward with a fresh and quite different display
Speaker 2: of emotion, he caught up what looked like a roll
Speaker 2: of manuscript and began to tear it open.
Speaker 4: Back again always back.
Speaker 2: Wailed from his lips, and he gave the roll a
Speaker 2: toss that sent from its midst a small object, which
Speaker 2: he no sooner saw than he became speechless and reeled back.
Speaker 2: It was another of the.
Speaker 4: Steel good God fell.
Speaker 2: At last from his stiff and working lips. Am I
Speaker 2: mad or.
Speaker 4: Has the devil joined in the pursuit against me? I
Speaker 4: cannot eat, I cannot drink. But this diabolical spring starts
Speaker 4: up before me. It is here, there, everywhere, the visible
Speaker 4: sign of my guilt.
Speaker 2: The the He had stumbled back upon my chair, and
Speaker 2: turning saw me. I was on my feet at once,
Speaker 2: and noting that he was dazed by the shock of
Speaker 2: my presence, I slid quietly between him and the door.
Speaker 2: The movement roused him, turning upon me with a sarcastic smile,
Speaker 2: in which was concentrated the bitterness of years. He briefly said,
Speaker 2: so I am caught. Well.
Speaker 4: There has to be an end to men as well
Speaker 4: as to things, and I am ready for mine. She
Speaker 4: turned me away from her door to day, and after
Speaker 4: the hell of that moment, I don't much fear any other.
Speaker 2: You had better not talk, I admonished him. All that
Speaker 2: falls from you now will only tell against you on
Speaker 2: your trial. He broke into a harsh laugh.
Speaker 4: And do you think I care for that, that, having
Speaker 4: been driven by a woman's perfidy into crime. I am
Speaker 4: going to bridle my tongue and keep down the words
Speaker 4: which are my only safeguard from insanity. No, No, while
Speaker 4: my miserable breath lasts, I will curse her, And if
Speaker 4: the halter is to cut short my words, it shall
Speaker 4: be with her name blistering my lips.
Speaker 2: I attempted to speak, but he would not give me
Speaker 2: the opportunity. The passion of weeks had found vent, and
Speaker 2: he rushed on recklessly.
Speaker 4: I went to her house to day. I wanted to
Speaker 4: see her in her widow's weeds. I wanted to see
Speaker 4: her eyes red with weeping over a grief which owed
Speaker 4: its bitterness to me. But she would not grant me
Speaker 4: an admittance. She had me thrust from her door, and
Speaker 4: I shall never know how deeply the iron has sunk
Speaker 4: into her soul. But and here his face showed a
Speaker 4: sudden change. I shall see her if I'm tried for murder.
Speaker 4: She will be in the court room, on the witness stand.
Speaker 2: Doubtless, I interjected. But his interruption came quickly and with
Speaker 2: vehement passion.
Speaker 4: Then I am ready welcome trial, conviction, death. Even to
Speaker 4: confront her eye to eye is all I wish. She
Speaker 4: shall never forget it. Never.
Speaker 2: Then you do not deny, I began.
Speaker 4: I deny nothing. He returned and held out his hands
Speaker 4: with a grim gesture. How can I when there falls
Speaker 4: from everything I touch, the devilish thing which took away
Speaker 4: the life I hated? Have you anything more to say
Speaker 4: or do before you leave these rooms? I asked?
Speaker 2: He shook his head, and then, bethinking himself, pointed to
Speaker 2: the roll of paper which he had flung on the table.
Speaker 2: Burn that he cried. I took up the roll and
Speaker 2: looked at it. It was the manuscript of a poem
Speaker 2: in blank verse. I have been with it into a
Speaker 2: dozen newspaper and magazine offices, he explained, with great bitterness.
Speaker 4: Had I succeeded in getting a publisher for it, I
Speaker 4: might have forgotten my wrongs and tried to build up
Speaker 4: a new life on the ruins of the old. But
Speaker 4: they would not have it, none of them. So I
Speaker 4: say burn it, that no memory of me may remain
Speaker 4: in this miserable world.
Speaker 2: Keep to the facts, I severely retorted. It was while
Speaker 2: carrying this poem from one newspaper to another that you
Speaker 2: secured that bit of print, upon the blank side of
Speaker 2: which you yourself printed the obituary notice with which you
Speaker 2: savored your revenge upon the woman who had disappointed you.
Speaker 4: You know that, then you know where I got the
Speaker 4: poison with which I tipped the silly toy with which
Speaker 4: that weak man fooled away his life.
Speaker 2: No, said I, I do not know where you got it.
Speaker 2: I merely know it was no common poison bought at
Speaker 2: a druggist's or from any ordinary chemist.
Speaker 4: It was war all Eye, the deadly secret war All Eye.
Speaker 4: I got it from. But that's another man's secret. You'll
Speaker 4: never hear from me anything that will compromise a friend.
Speaker 4: I got it, that is all one drop. But it
Speaker 4: killed my man. The satisfaction, the delight which he threw
Speaker 4: into these words are beyond description. As they left his lips,
Speaker 4: a jet of flame from the neglected fire shot up
Speaker 4: and threw his figure for one instant into bold relief
Speaker 4: upon the lowering ceiling. Then it died out, and nothing
Speaker 4: but the twilight dusk remained in the room, and on
Speaker 4: the countenance of this doomed and despairing man, end of
Speaker 4: a difficult problem.