The Resident Patient

Arthur Conan Doyle

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G lancing over the somewhat incoherent
series of Memoirs with which I have en-
deavored to illustrate a few of the mental
peculiarities of my friend Mr. Sherlock
Holmes, I have been struck by the difficulty which
I have experienced in picking out examples which
shall in every way answer my purpose. For in those
and we had both remained indoors all day, I be-
cause I feared with my shaken health to face the
keen autumn wind, while he was deep in some of
those abstruse chemical investigations which ab-
sorbed him utterly as long as he was engaged upon
them. Towards evening, however, the breaking of
a test-tube brought his research to a premature
cases in which Holmes has performed some tour de ending, and he sprang up from his chair with an
force of analytical reasoning, and has demonstrated exclamation of impatience and a clouded brow.
the value of his peculiar methods of investigation,
“A day’s work ruined, Watson,” said he, strid-
the facts themselves have often been so slight or
ing across to the window. “Ha! The stars are out
so commonplace that I could not feel justified in
and he wind has fallen. What do you say to a
laying them before the public. On the other hand,
ramble through London?”
it has frequently happened that he has been con-
cerned in some research where the facts have been I was weary of our little sitting-room and gladly
of the most remarkable and dramatic character, but acquiesced. For three hours we strolled about to-
where the share which he has himself taken in de- gether, watching the ever-changing kaleidoscope of
termining their causes has been less pronounced life as it ebbs and flows through Fleet Street and
than I, as his biographer, could wish. The small the Strand. His characteristic talk, with its keen
matter which I have chronicled under the heading observance of detail and subtle power of inference
of “A Study in Scarlet,” and that other later one con- held me amused and enthralled. It was ten o’clock
nected with the loss of the Gloria Scott, may serve before we reached Baker Street again. A brougham
as examples of this Scylla and Charybdis which are was waiting at our door.
forever threatening the historian. It may be that in
“Hum! A doctor’s—general practitioner, I per-
the business of which I am now about to write the
ceive,” said Holmes. “Not been long in practice,
part which my friend played is not sufficiently ac-
but has had a good deal to do. Come to consult us,
centuated; and yet the whole train of circumstances
I fancy! Lucky we came back!”
is so remarkable that I cannot bring myself to omit
it entirely from this series. I was sufficiently conversant with Holmes’s
methods to be able to follow his reasoning, and
It had been a close, rainy day in October. Our to see that the nature and state of the various med-
blinds were half-drawn, and Holmes lay curled ical instruments in the wicker basket which hung
upon the sofa, reading and re-reading a letter which in the lamplight inside the brougham had given
he had received by the morning post. For myself, him the data for his swift deduction. The light in
my term of service in India had trained me to stand our window above showed that this late visit was
heat better than cold, and a thermometer of 90 was indeed intended for us. With some curiosity as to
no hardship. But the paper was uninteresting. Par- what could have sent a brother medico to us at such
liament had risen. Everybody was out of town, and an hour, I followed Holmes into our sanctum.
I yearned for the glades of the New Forest or the
shingle of Southsea. A depleted bank account had A pale, taper-faced man with sandy whiskers
caused me to postpone my holiday, and as to my rose up from a chair by the fire as we entered. His
companion, neither the country nor the sea pre- age may not have been more than three or four and
sented the slightest attraction to him. He loved to thirty, but his haggard expression and unhealthy
lie in the very centre of five millions of people, with hue told of a life which has sapped his strength and
his filaments stretching out and running through robbed him of his youth. His manner was nervous
them, responsive to every little rumor or suspicion and shy, like that of a sensitive gentleman, and the
of unsolved crime. Appreciation of Nature found thin white hand which he laid on the mantelpiece
no place among his many gifts, and his only change as he rose was that of an artist rather than of a
was when he turned his mind from the evil-doer of surgeon. His dress was quiet and sombre—a black
the town to track down his brother of the country. frock-coat, dark trousers, and a touch of color about
his necktie.
I cannot be sure of the exact date, for some of
“Good-evening, doctor,” said Holmes, cheerily.
my memoranda upon the matter have been mislaid,
“I am glad to see that you have only been waiting a
but it must have been towards the end of the first
very few minutes.”
year during which Holmes and I shared chambers
in Baker Street. It was boisterous October weather, “You spoke to my coachman, then?”

1
 “No, it was the candle on the side-table that a specialist who aims high is compelled to start
told me. Pray resume your seat and let me know in one of a dozen streets in the Cavendish Square
how I can serve you.” quarter, all of which entail enormous rents and fur-
“My name is Doctor Percy Trevelyan,” said our nishing expenses. Besides this preliminary outlay,
visitor, “and I live at 403 Brook Street.” he must be prepared to keep himself for some years,
and to hire a presentable carriage and horse. To
“Are you not the author of a monograph upon
do this was quite beyond my power, and I could
obscure nervous lesions?” I asked.
only hope that by economy I might in ten years’
His pale cheeks flushed with pleasure at hearing time save enough to enable me to put up my plate.
that his work was known to me. Suddenly, however, an unexpected incident opened
“I so seldom hear of the work that I thought it up quite a new prospect to me.
was quite dead,” said he. “My publishers gave me “This was a visit from a gentleman of the name
a most discouraging account of its sale. You are of Blessington, who was a complete stranger to me.
yourself, I presume, a medical man?” He came up to my room one morning, and plunged
“A retired army surgeon.” into business in an instant.
“My own hobby has always been nervous dis- “ ‘You are the same Percy Trevelyan who has
ease. I should wish to make it an absolute specialty, had so distinguished a career and won a great prize
but, of course, a man must take what he can get lately?’ said he.
at first. This, however, is beside the question, Mr. “I bowed.
Sherlock Holmes, and I quite appreciate how valu-
“ ‘Answer me frankly,’ he continued, ‘for you
able your time is. The fact is that a very singular
will find it to your interest to do so. You have all
train of events has occurred recently at my house
the cleverness which makes a successful man. Have
in Brook Street, and to-night they came to such a
you the tact?’
head that I felt it was quite impossible for me to
wait another hour before asking for your advice “I could not help smiling at the abruptness of
and assistance.” the question.
Sherlock Holmes sat down and lit his pipe. “ ‘I trust that I have my share,’ I said.
“You are very welcome to both,” said he. “Pray “ ‘Any bad habits? Not drawn towards drink,
let me have a detailed account of what the circum- eh?’
stances are which have disturbed you.” “ ‘Really, sir!’ I cried.
“One or two of them are so trivial,” said Dr. “ ‘Quite right! That’s all right! But I was bound
Trevelyan, “that really I am almost ashamed to to ask. With all these qualities, why are you not in
mention them. But the matter is so inexplicable, practice?’
and the recent turn which it has taken is so elabo-
rate, that I shall lay it all before you, and you shall “I shrugged my shoulders.
judge what is essential and what is not. “ ‘Come, come!’ said he, in his bustling way.
“I am compelled, to begin with, to say some- ‘It’s the old story. More in your brains than in your
thing of my own college career. I am a London pocket, eh? What would you say if I were to start
University man, you know, and I am sure that you you in Brook Street?’
will not think that I am unduly singing my own “I stared at him in astonishment.
praises if I say that my student career was consid- “ ‘Oh, it’s for my sake, not for yours,’ he cried.
ered by my professors to be a very promising one. ‘I’ll be perfectly frank with you, and if it suits you
After I had graduated I continued to devote myself it will suit me very well. I have a few thousands to
to research, occupying a minor position in King’s invest, d’ye see, and I think I’ll sink them in you.’
College Hospital, and I was fortunate enough to
“ ‘But why?’ I gasped.
excite considerable interest by my research into the
pathology of catalepsy, and finally to win the Bruce “ ‘Well, it’s just like any other speculation, and
Pinkerton prize and medal by the monograph on safer than most.’
nervous lesions to which your friend has just al- “ ‘What am I to do, then?’
luded. I should not go too far if I were to say that “ ‘I’ll tell you. I’ll take the house, furnish it,
there was a general impression at that time that a pay the maids, and run the whole place. All you
distinguished career lay before me. have to do is just to wear out your chair in the
“But the one great stumbling-block lay in my consulting-room. I’ll let you have pocket-money
want of capital. As you will readily understand, and everything. Then you hand over to me three

2
quarters of what you earn, and you keep the other “ ‘A Russian nobleman who is now
quarter for yourself.’ resident in England,’ it runs, ‘would
“This was the strange proposal, Mr. Holmes, be glad to avail himself of the profes-
with which the man Blessington approached me. sional assistance of Dr. Percy Trevelyan.
I won’t weary you with the account of how we He has been for some years a victim to
bargained and negotiated. It ended in my mov- cataleptic attacks, on which, as is well
ing into the house next Lady Day, and starting in known, Dr. Trevelyan is an authority.
practice on very much the same conditions as he He proposes to call at about quarter past
had suggested. He came himself to live with me in six to-morrow evening, if Dr. Trevelyan
the character of a resident patient. His heart was will make it convenient to be at home.’
weak, it appears, and he needed constant medical “This letter interested me deeply, because the
supervision. He turned the two best rooms of the chief difficulty in the study of catalepsy is the
first floor into a sitting-room and bedroom for him- rareness of the disease. You may believe, than,
self. He was a man of singular habits, shunning that I was in my consulting-room when, at the
company and very seldom going out. His life was appointed hour, the page showed in the patient.
irregular, but in one respect he was regularity itself. He was an elderly man, thin, demure, and
Every evening, at the same hour, he walked into the common-place—by no means the conception one
consulting-room, examined the books, put down forms of a Russian nobleman. I was much more
five and three-pence for every guinea that I had struck by the appearance of his companion. This
earned, and carried the rest off to the strong-box in was a tall young man, surprisingly handsome, with
his own room. a dark, fierce face, and the limbs and chest of a
“I may say with confidence that he never had Hercules. He had his hand under the other’s arm
occasion to regret his speculation. From the first it as they entered, and helped him to a chair with a
was a success. A few good cases and the reputation tenderness which one would hardly have expected
which I had won in the hospital brought me rapidly from his appearance.
to the front, and during the last few years I have “ ‘You will excuse my coming in, doctor,’ said
made him a rich man. he to me, speaking English with a slight lisp. ‘This
“So much, Mr. Holmes, for my past history and is my father, and his health is a matter of the most
my relations with Mr. Blessington. It only remains overwhelming importance to me.’
for me now to tell you what has occurred to bring “I was touched by this filial anxiety. ‘You would,
me here to-night. perhaps, care to remain during the consultation?’
said I.
“Some weeks ago Mr. Blessington came down
to me in, as it seemed to me, a state of considerable “ ‘Not for the world,’ he cried with a gesture of
agitation. He spoke of some burglary which, he horror. ‘It is more painful to me than I can express.
said, had been committed in the West End, and he If I were to see my father in one of these dreadful
appeared, I remember, to be quite unnecessarily seizures I am convinced that I should never sur-
excited about it, declaring that a day should not vive it. My own nervous system is an exceptionally
pass before we should add stronger bolts to our sensitive one. With your permission, I will remain
windows and doors. For a week he continued to be in the waiting-room while you go into my father’s
in a peculiar state of restlessness, peering contin- case.’
ually out of the windows, and ceasing to take the “To this, of course, I assented, and the young
short walk which had usually been the prelude to man withdrew. The patient and I then plunged into
his dinner. From his manner it struck me that he a discussion of his case, of which I took exhaus-
was in mortal dread of something or somebody, but tive notes. He was not remarkable for intelligence,
when I questioned him upon the point he became and his answers were frequently obscure, which
so offensive that I was compelled to drop the sub- I attributed to his limited acquaintance with our
ject. Gradually, as time passed, his fears appeared language. Suddenly, however, as I sat writing, he
to die away, and he had renewed his former habits, ceased to give any answer at all to my inquiries,
when a fresh event reduced him to the pitiable state and on my turning towards him I was shocked to
of prostration in which he now lies. see that he was sitting bolt upright in his chair, star-
ing at me with a perfectly blank and rigid face. He
“What happened was this. Two days ago I re-
was again in the grip of his mysterious malady.
ceived the letter which I now read to you. Neither
address nor date is attached to it. “My first feeling, as I have just said, was one
of pity and horror. My second, I fear, was rather

3
one of professional satisfaction. I made notes of my “For half an hour or so I discussed that old
patient’s pulse and temperature, tested the rigidity gentleman’s symptoms with him, and then, having
of his muscles, and examined his reflexes. There prescribed for him, I saw him go off upon the arm
was nothing markedly abnormal in any of these of his son.
conditions, which harmonized with my former ex- “I have told you that Mr. Blessington generally
periences. I had obtained good results in such chose this hour of the day for his exercise. He came
cases by the inhalation of nitrite of amyl, and the in shortly afterwards and passed upstairs. An in-
present seemed an admirable opportunity of test- stant later I heard him running down, and he burst
ing its virtues. The bottle was downstairs in my into my consulting-room like a man who is mad
laboratory, so leaving my patient seated in his chair, with panic.
I ran down to get it. There was some little delay
“ ‘Who has been in my room?’ he cried.
in finding it—five minutes, let us say—and then I
returned. Imagine my amazement to find the room “ ‘No one,’ said I.
empty and the patient gone. “ ‘It’s a lie!’ He yelled. ‘Come up and look!’
“Of course, my first act was to run into the “I passed over the grossness of his language, as
waiting-room. The son had gone also. The hall he seemed half out of his mind with fear. When I
door had been closed, but not shut. My page who went upstairs with him he pointed to several foot-
admits patients is a new boy and by no means prints upon the light carpet.
quick. He waits downstairs, and runs up to show “ ‘D’you mean to say those are mine?’ he cried.
patients out when I ring the consulting-room bell.
“They were certainly very much larger than any
He had heard nothing, and the affair remained a
which he could have made, and were evidently
complete mystery. Mr. Blessington came in from
quite fresh. It rained hard this afternoon, as you
his walk shortly afterwards, but I did not say any-
know, and my patients were the only people who
thing to him upon the subject, for, to tell the truth,
called. It must have been the case, then, that the
I have got in the way of late of holding as little
man in the waiting-room had, for some unknown
communication with him as possible.
reason, while I was busy with the other, ascended
“Well, I never thought that I should see any- to the room of my resident patient. Nothing has
thing more of the Russian and his son, so you can been touched or taken, but there were the footprints
imagine my amazement when, at the very same to prove that the intrusion was an undoubted fact.
hour this evening, they both came marching into “Mr. Blessington seemed more excited over the
my consulting-room, just as they had done before. matter than I should have thought possible, though
“ ‘I feel that I owe you a great many apologies of course it was enough to disturb anybody’s peace
for my abrupt departure yesterday, doctor,’ said my of mind. He actually sat crying in an arm-chair,
patient. and I could hardly get him to speak coherently. It
was his suggestion that I should come round to
“ ‘I confess that I was very much surprised at it,’ you, and of course I at once saw the propriety of
said I. it, for certainly the incident is a very singular one,
“ ‘Well, the fact is,’ he remarked, ‘that when I though he appears to completely overrate its im-
recover from these attacks my mind is always very portance. If you would only come back with me in
clouded as to all that has gone before. I woke up my brougham, you would at least be able to soothe
in a strange room, as it seemed to me, and made him, though I can hardly hope that you will be able
my way out into the street in a sort of dazed way to explain this remarkable occurrence.”
when you were absent.’ Sherlock Holmes had listened to this long nar-
rative with an intentness which showed me that
“ ‘And I,’ said the son, ‘seeing my father pass
his interest was keenly aroused. His face was as
the door of the waiting-room, naturally thought
impassive as ever, but his lids had drooped more
that the consultation had come to an end. It was
heavily over his eyes, and his smoke had curled
not until we had reached home that I began to
up more thickly from his pipe to emphasize each
realize the true state of affairs.’
curious episode in the doctor’s tale. As our visi-
“ ‘Well,’ said I, laughing, ‘there is no harm done tor concluded, Holmes sprang up without a word,
except that you puzzled me terribly; so if you, sir, handed me my hat, picked his own from the table,
would kindly step into the waiting-room I shall and followed Dr. Trevelyan to the door. Within a
be happy to continue our consultation which was quarter of an hour we had been dropped at the
brought to so abrupt an ending.’ door of the physician’s residence in Brook Street,

4
one of those sombre, flat-faced houses which one little I have is in that box, so you can understand
associates with a West-End practice. A small page what it means to me when unknown people force
admitted us, and we began at once to ascend the themselves into my rooms.”
broad, well-carpeted stair. Holmes looked at Blessington in his questioning
But a singular interruption brought us to a way and shook his head.
standstill. The light at the top was suddenly “I cannot possibly advise you if you try to de-
whisked out, and from the darkness came a reedy, ceive me,” said he.
quivering voice.
“But I have told you everything.”
“I have a pistol,” it cried. “I give you my word
Holmes turned on his heel with a gesture of
that I’ll fire if you come any nearer.”
disgust. “Good-night, Dr. Trevelyan,” said he.
“This really grows outrageous, Mr. Blessington,”
“And no advice for me?” cried Blessington, in a
cried Dr. Trevelyan.
breaking voice.
“Oh, then it is you, doctor,” said the voice, with
“My advice to your, sir, is to speak the truth.”
a great heave of relief. “But those other gentlemen,
are they what they pretend to be?” A minute later we were in the street and walk-
ing for home. We had crossed Oxford Street and
We were conscious of a long scrutiny out of the
were half way down Harley Street before I could
darkness.
get a word from my companion.
“Yes, yes, it’s all right,” said the voice at last.
“Sorry to bring you out on such a fool’s errand,
“You can come up, and I am sorry if my precautions
Watson,” he said at last. “It is an interesting case,
have annoyed you.”
too, at the bottom of it.”
He relit the stair gas as he spoke, and we saw
“I can make little of it,” I confessed.
before us a singular-looking man, whose appear-
ance, as well as his voice, testified to his jangled “Well, it is quite evident that there are two
nerves. He was very fat, but had apparently at men—more, perhaps, but at least two—who are
some time been much fatter, so that the skin hung determined for some reason to get at this fellow
about his face in loose pouches, like the cheeks of a Blessington. I have no doubt in my mind that both
blood-hound. He was of a sickly color, and his thin, on the first and on the second occasion that young
sandy hair seemed to bristle up with the intensity man penetrated to Blessington’s room, while his
of his emotion. In his hand he held a pistol, but he confederate, by an ingenious device, kept the doc-
thrust it into his pocket as we advanced. tor from interfering.”
“Good-evening, Mr. Holmes,” said he. “I am “And the catalepsy?”
sure I am very much obliged to you for coming “A fraudulent imitation, Watson, though I
round. No one ever needed your advice more than should hardly dare to hint as much to our spe-
I do. I suppose that Dr. Trevelyan has told you of cialist. It is a very easy complaint to imitate. I have
this most unwarrantable intrusion into my rooms.” done it myself.”
“Quite so,” said Holmes. “Who are these two “And then?”
men Mr. Blessington, and why do they wish to “By the purest chance Blessington was out on
molest you?” each occasion. Their reason for choosing so un-
“Well, well,” said the resident patient, in a ner- usual an hour for a consultation was obviously to
vous fashion, “of course it is hard to say that. You insure that there should be no other patient in the
can hardly expect me to answer that, Mr. Holmes.” waiting-room. It just happened, however, that this
“Do you mean that you don’t know?” hour coincided with Blessington’s constitutional,
which seems to show that they were not very well
“Come in here, if you please. Just have the
acquainted with his daily routine. Of course, if they
kindness to step in here.”
had been merely after plunder they would at least
He led the way into his bedroom, which was have made some attempt to search for it. Besides,
large and comfortably furnished. I can read in a man’s eye when it is his own skin
“You see that,” said he, pointing to a big black that he is frightened for. It is inconceivable that
box at the end of his bed. “I have never been a very this fellow could have made two such vindictive
rich man, Mr. Holmes—never made but one invest- enemies as these appear to be without knowing of
ment in my life, as Dr. Trevelyan would tell you. it. I hold it, therefore, to be certain that he does
But I don’t believe in bankers. I would never trust know who these men are, and that for reasons of
a banker, Mr. Holmes. Between ourselves, what his own he suppresses it. It is just possible that

5
to-morrow may find him in a more communicative “I really hardly know what I am doing,” he
mood.” cried. “The police are already upstairs. It has
“Is there not one alternative,” I suggested, shaken me most dreadfully.”
“grotesquely improbably, no doubt, but still just “When did you find it out?”
conceivable? Might the whole story of the catalep- “He has a cup of tea taken in to him early every
tic Russian and his son be a concoction of Dr. morning. When the maid entered, about seven,
Trevelyan’s, who has, for his own purposes, been there the unfortunate fellow was hanging in the
in Blessington’s rooms?” middle of the room. He had tied his cord to the
hook on which the heavy lamp used to hang, and
I saw in the gaslight that Holmes wore an he had jumped off from the top of the very box that
amused smile at this brilliant departure of mine. he showed us yesterday.”
“My dear fellow,” said he, “it was one of the Holmes stood for a moment in deep thought.
first solutions which occurred to me, but I was “With your permission,” said he at last, “I
soon able to corroborate the doctor’s tale. This should like to go upstairs and look into the matter.”
young man has left prints upon the stair-carpet We both ascended, followed by the doctor.
which made it quite superfluous for me to ask to It was a dreadful sight which met us as we
see those which he had made in the room. When entered the bedroom door. I have spoken of the
I tell you that his shoes were square-toed instead impression of flabbiness which this man Blessing-
of being pointed like Blessington’s, and were quite ton conveyed. As he dangled from the hook it was
an inch and a third longer than the doctor’s, you exaggerated and intensified until he was scarce hu-
will acknowledge that there can be no doubt as to man in his appearance. The neck was drawn out
his individuality. But we may sleep on it now, for like a plucked chicken’s, making the rest of him
I shall be surprised if we do not hear something seem the more obese and unnatural by the contrast.
further from Brook Street in the morning.” He was clad only in his long night-dress, and his
Sherlock Holmes’s prophecy was soon fulfilled, swollen ankles and ungainly feet protruded starkly
and in a dramatic fashion. At half-past seven next from beneath it. Beside him stood a smart-looking
morning, in the first glimmer of daylight, I found police-inspector, who was taking notes in a pocket-
him standing by my bedside in his dressing-gown. book.
“There’s a brougham waiting for us, Watson,” “Ah, Mr. Holmes,” said he, heartily, as my
said he. friend entered, “I am delighted to see you.”
“Good-morning, Lanner,” answered Holmes;
“What’s the matter, then?” “you won’t think me an intruder, I am sure. Have
“The Brook Street business.” you heard of the events which led up to this affair?”
“Any fresh news?” “Yes, I heard something of them.”
“Have you formed any opinion?”
“Tragic, but ambiguous,” said he, pulling up “As far as I can see, the man has been driven out
the blind. “Look at this—a sheet from a note-book, of his senses by fright. The bed has been well slept
with ‘For God’s sake come at once—P. T.,’ scrawled in, you see. There’s his impression deep enough.
upon it in pencil. Our friend, the doctor, was hard It’s about five in the morning, you know, that sui-
put to it when he wrote this. Come along, my dear cides are most common. That would be about his
fellow, for it’s an urgent call.” time for hanging himself. It seems to have been a
In a quarter of an hour or so we were back at the very deliberate affair.”
physician’s house. He came running out to meet “I should say that he has been dead about three
us with a face of horror. hours, judging by the rigidity of the muscles,” said
“Oh, such a business!” he cried, with his hands I.
to his temples. “Noticed anything peculiar about the room?”
asked Holmes.
“What then?”
“Found a screw-driver and some screws on the
“Blessington has committed suicide!” wash-hand stand. Seems to have smoked heavily
Holmes whistled. during the night, too. Here are four cigar-ends that
I picked out of the fireplace.”
“Yes, he hanged himself during the night.” “Hum!” said Holmes, “have you got his cigar-
We had entered, and the doctor had preceded holder?”
us into what was evidently his waiting-room. “No, I have seen none.”

6
 “His cigar-case, then?” see upon the mantelpiece, as it may help me in my
“Yes, it was in his coat-pocket.” inquiries.”
Holmes opened it and smelled the single cigar “But you have told us nothing!” cried the doctor.
which it contained. “Oh, there can be no doubt as to the sequence
“Oh, this is an Havana, and these others are of events,” said Holmes. “There were three of them
cigars of the peculiar sort which are imported by in it: the young man, the old man, and a third, to
the Dutch from their East Indian colonies. They whose identity I have no clue. The first two, I need
are usually wrapped in straw, you know, and are hardly remark, are the same who masqueraded as
thinner for their length than any other brand.” He the Russian count and his son, so we can give a very
picked up the four ends and examined them with full description of them. They were admitted by a
his pocket-lens. confederate inside the house. If I might offer you a
word of advice, Inspector, it would be to arrest the
“Two of these have been smoked from a holder
page, who, as I understand, has only recently come
and two without,” said he. “Two have been cut
into your service, Doctor.”
by a not very sharp knife, and two have had the
ends bitten off by a set of excellent teeth. This is “The young imp cannot be found,” said Dr.
no suicide, Mr. Lanner. It is a very deeply planned Trevelyan; “the maid and the cook have just been
and cold-blooded murder.” searching for him.”
“Impossible!” cried the inspector. Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
“And why?” “He has played a not unimportant part in this
“Why should any one murder a man in so drama,” said he. “The three men having ascended
clumsy a fashion as by hanging him?” the stairs, which they did on tiptoe, the elder man
first, the younger man second, and the unknown
“That is what we have to find out.” man in the rear—”
“How could they get in?” “My dear Holmes!” I ejaculated.
“Through the front door.” “Oh, there could be no question as to the super-
“It was barred in the morning.” imposing of the footmarks. I had the advantage
“Then it was barred after them.” of learning which was which last night. They as-
cended, then, to Mr. Blessington’s room, the door
“How do you know?”
of which they found to be locked. With the help of
“I saw their traces. Excuse me a moment, and I a wire, however, they forced round the key. Even
may be able to give you some further information without the lens you will perceive, by the scratches
about it.” on this ward, where the pressure was applied.
He went over to the door, and turning the lock “On entering the room their first proceeding
he examined it in his methodical way. Then he took must have been to gag Mr. Blessington. He may
out the key, which was on the inside, and inspected have been asleep, or he may have been so paralyzed
that also. The bed, the carpet, the chairs the man- with terror as to have been unable to cry out. These
telpiece, the dead body, and the rope were each in walls are thick, and it is conceivable that his shriek,
turn examined, until at last he professed himself if he had time to utter one, was unheard.
satisfied, and with my aid and that of the inspector
“Having secured him, it is evident to me that
cut down the wretched object and laid it reverently
a consultation of some sort was held. Probably it
under a sheet.
was something in the nature of a judicial proceed-
“How about this rope?” he asked. ing. It must have lasted for some time, for it was
“It is cut off this,” said Dr. Trevelyan, drawing a then that these cigars were smoked. The older man
large coil from under the bed. “He was morbidly sat in that wicker chair; it was he who used the
nervous of fire, and always kept this beside him, cigar-holder. The younger man sat over yonder; he
so that he might escape by the window in case the knocked his ash off against the chest of drawers.
stairs were burning.” The third fellow paced up and down. Blessington,
“That must have saved them trouble,” said I think, sat upright in the bed, but of that I cannot
Holmes, thoughtfully. “Yes, the actual facts are be absolutely certain.
very plain, and I shall be surprised if by the after- “Well, it ended by their taking Blessington and
noon I cannot give you the reasons for them as well. hanging him. The matter was so prearranged that
I will take this photograph of Blessington, which I it is my belief that they brought with them some

7
sort of block or pulley which might serve as a gal- “You must surely remember the great Worthing-
lows. That screw-driver and those screws were, as I don bank business,” said Holmes. “Five men were
conceive, for fixing it up. Seeing the hook, however in it—these four and a fifth called Cartwright. To-
they naturally saved themselves the trouble. Hav- bin, the care-taker, was murdered, and the thieves
ing finished their work they made off, and the door got away with seven thousand pounds. This was in
was barred behind them by their confederate.” 1875. They were all five arrested, but the evidence
We had all listened with the deepest interest against them was by no means conclusive. This
to this sketch of the night’s doings, which Holmes Blessington or Sutton, who was the worst of the
had deduced from signs so subtle and minute that, gang, turned informer. On his evidence Cartwright
even when he had pointed them out to us, we could was hanged and the other three got fifteen years
scarcely follow him in his reasoning. The inspec- apiece. When they got out the other day, which was
tor hurried away on the instant to make inquiries some years before their full term, they set them-
about the page, while Holmes and I returned to selves, as you perceive, to hunt down the traitor
Baker Street for breakfast. and to avenge the death of their comrade upon him.
Twice they tried to get at him and failed; a third
“I’ll be back by three,” said he, when we had fin- time, you see, it came off. Is there anything further
ished our meal. “Both the inspector and the doctor which I can explain, Dr. Trevelyan?”
will meet me here at that hour, and I hope by that
“I think you have made it all remarkable clear,”
time to have cleared up any little obscurity which
said the doctor. “No doubt the day on which he
the case may still present.”
was perturbed was the day when he had seen of
Our visitors arrived at the appointed time, but their release in the newspapers.”
it was a quarter to four before my friend put in “Quite so. His talk about a burglary was the
an appearance. From his expression as he entered, merest blind.”
however, I could see that all had gone well with
him. “But why could he not tell you this?”
“Well, my dear sir, knowing the vindictive char-
“Any news, Inspector?”
acter of his old associates, he was trying to hide his
“We have got the boy, sir.” own identity from everybody as long as he could.
“Excellent, and I have got the men.” His secret was a shameful one, and he could not
bring himself to divulge it. However, wretch as he
“You have got them!” we cried, all three. was, he was still living under the shield of British
“Well, at least I have got their identity. This law, and I have no doubt, Inspector, that you will
so-called Blessington is, as I expected, well known see that, though that shield may fail to guard, the
at headquarters, and so are his assailants. Their sword of justice is still there to avenge.”
names are Biddle, Hayward, and Moffat.” Such were the singular circumstances in con-
“The Worthingdon bank gang,” cried the inspec- nection with the Resident Patient and the Brook
tor. Street Doctor. From that night nothing has been
seen of the three murderers by the police, and it is
“Precisely,” said Holmes.
surmised at Scotland Yard that they were among
“Then Blessington must have been Sutton.” the passengers of the ill-fated steamer Norah Creina,
“Exactly,” said Holmes. which was lost some years ago with all hands upon
the Portuguese coast, some leagues to the north of
“Why, that makes it as clear as crystal,” said the Oporto. The proceedings against the page broke
inspector. down for want of evidence, and the Brook Street
But Trevelyan and I looked at each other in be- Mystery, as it was called, has never until now been
wilderment. fully dealt with in any public print.