“The string is exceedingly interesting,” he remarked, holding itup to the light and sniffing at it. “What do you make of this string,Lestrade?”
“It has been tarred.”
“Precisely. It is a piece of tarred twine. You have also, no doubt,remarked that Miss Cushing has cut the cord with a scissors, as canbe seen by the double fray on each side. This is of importance.”
“I cannot see the importance,” said Lestrade.
“The importance lies in the fact that the knot is left intact, andthat this knot is of a peculiar character.”
“It is very neatly tied. I had already made a note to that effect,”
said Lestrade complacently.
“So much for the string, then,” said Holmes, smiling, “now forthe box wrapper. Brown paper, with a distinct smell of coffee.
What, did you not observe it? I think there can be no doubtof it. Address printed in rather straggling characters: ‘Miss S.
Cushing, Cross Street, Croydon.’ Done with a broad-pointed pen,probably a J, and with very inferior ink. The word ‘Croydon’ hasbeen originally spelled with an ‘i’, which has been changed to ‘y’.
The parcel was directed, then, by a man--the printing is distinctlymasculine--of limited education and unacquainted with the townof Croydon. So far, so good! The box is a yellow, half-poundhoneydew box, with nothing distinctive save two thumb marksat the left bottom corner. It is filled with rough salt of the qualityused for preserving hides and other of the coarser commercialpurposes. And embedded in it are these very singular enclosures.”
He took out the two ears as he spoke, and laying a board acrosshis knee he examined them minutely, while Lestrade and I,bending forward on each side of him, glanced alternately at thesedreadful relics and at the thoughtful, eager face of our companion.
Finally he returned them to the box once more and sat for a whilein deep meditation.
1118 The Complete Sherlock Holmes
“You have observed, of course,” said he at last, “that the ears arenot a pair.”
“Yes, I have noticed that. But if this were the practical joke ofsome students from the dissecting-rooms, it would be as easy forthem to send two odd ears as a pair.”
“Precisely. But this is not a practical joke.”
“You are sure of it?”
“The presumption is strongly against it. Bodies in thedissecting-rooms are injected with preservative fluid. Theseears bear no signs of this. They are fresh, too. They have beencut off with a blunt instrument, which would hardly happen if astudent had done it. Again, carbolic or rectified spirits would bethe preservatives which would suggest themselves to the medicalmind, certainly not rough salt. I repeat that there is no practicaljoke here, but that we are investigating a serious crime.”
A vague thrill ran through me as I listened to my companion’swords and saw the stern gravity which had hardened his features.
This brutal preliminary seemed to shadow forth some strange andinexplicable horror in the background. Lestrade, however, shookhis head like a man who is only half convinced.
“There are objections to the joke theory, no doubt,” said he, “butthere are much stronger reasons against the other. We know thatthis woman has led a most quiet and respectable life at Penge andhere for the last twenty years. She has hardly been away from herhome for a day during that time. Why on earth, then, should anycriminal send her the proofs of his guilt, especially as, unless she ismost consummate actress, she understands quite as little of thematter as we do?”
“That is the problem which we have to solve,” Holmesanswered, “and for my part I shall set about it by presumingthat my reasoning is correct, and that a double murder has beencommitted. One of these ears is a woman’s, small, finely formed,and pierced for an earring. The other is a man’s, sun-burned,discoloured, and also pierced for an earring. These two people arepresumably dead, or we should have heard their story before now.
To-day is Friday. The packet was posted on Thursday morning.
The tragedy, then, occurred on Wednesday or Tuesday, or earlier.
the two people were murdered, who but their murderer wouldhave sent this sign of his work to Miss Cushing? We may takethat the sender of the packet is the man whom we want. Buthe must have some strong reason for sending Miss Cushing thispacket. What reason then? It must have been to tell her that thedeed was done! or to pain her, perhaps. But in that case she knowswho it is. Does she know? I doubt it. If she knew, why shouldshe call the police in? She might have buried the ears, and no oneThe Adventure of Wisteria Lodge 1119
would have been the wiser. That is what she would have done ifshe had wished to shield the criminal. But if she does not wish toshield him she would give his name. There is a tangle here whichneeds straightening out.” He had been talking in a high, quickvoice, staring blankly up over the garden fence, but now he sprangbriskly to his feet and walked towards the house.
“I have a few questions to ask Miss Cushing,” said he.
“In that case I may leave you here,” said Lestrade, “for I haveanother small business on hand. I think that I have nothingfurther to learn from Miss Cushing. You will find me at the policestation.”
“We shall look in on our way to the train,” answered Holmes.
A moment later he and I were back in the front room, where theimpassive lady was still quietly working away at her antimacassar.
She put it down on her lap as we entered and looked at us with herfrank, searching blue eyes.
“I am convinced, sir,” she said, “that this matter is a mistake,and that the parcel was never meant for me at all. I have said thisseveral times to the gentlemen from Scotland Yard, but he simplylaughs at me. I have not an enemy in the world, as far as I know, sowhy should anyone play me such a trick?”