| The Sign Of Four can be downloaded from the main library, click here if you want to download it. | |
By the table in a wooden armchair the master of the house was seated all in a heap, with his head sunk upon his left shoulder and that ghastly, inscrutable smile upon his face. He was stiff and cold and had clearly been dead many hours. It seemed to me that not only his features but all his limbs were twisted and turned in the most fantastic fashion. By his hand upon the table there lay a peculiar instrument — a brown, close-grained stick, with a stone head like a hammer, rudely lashed on with coarse twine. Beside it was a torn sheet of note-paper with some words scrawled upon it. Holmes glanced at it and then handed it to me.
“You see,” he said with a significant raising of the eyebrows.
In the light of the lantern I read with a thrill of horror, “The sign of the four.”
“In God’s name, what does it all mean?” I asked.
“It means murder,” said he, stooping over the dead man. “Ah! I expected it. Look here!”
He pointed to what looked like a long dark thorn stuck in the skin just above the ear.
“It looks like a thorn,” said I.
“It is a thorn. You may pick it out. But be careful, for it is poisoned.”
I took it up between my finger and thumb. It came away from the skin so readily that hardly any mark was left behind. One tiny speck of blood showed where the puncture had been.
“This is all an insoluble mystery to me,” said I. “It grows darker instead of clearer.”
“On the contrary,” he answered, “it clears every instant. I only require a few missing links to have an entirely connected case.”
We had almost forgotten our companion’s presence since we entered the chamber. He was still standing in the doorway, the very picture of terror, wringing his hands and moaning to himself. Suddenly, however, he broke out into a sharp, querulous cry.
“The treasure is gone!” he said. “They have robbed him of the treasure! There is the hole through which we lowered it. I helped him to do it! I was the last person who saw him! I left him here last night, and I heard him lock the door as I came downstairs.”
“What time was that?”
“It was ten o’clock. And now he is dead, and the police will be called in, and I shall be suspected of having had a hand in it. Oh, yes, I am sure I shall. But you don’t think so, gentlemen? Surely you don’t think that it was l? Is it likely that I would have brought you here if it were l? Oh, dear! oh, dear! I know that I shall go mad!”
He jerked his arms and stamped his feet in a kind of convulsive frenzy.
“You have no reason for fear, Mr. Sholto,” said Holmes kindly, putting his hand upon his shoulder; “take my advice and drive down to the station to report the matter to the police. Offer to assist them in every way. We shall wait here until your return.”
The little man obeyed in a half-stupefied fashion, and we heard him stumbling down the stairs in the dark.
Main IndexPage 000000
Page 000001
Page 000002
Page 000003
Page 000004
Page 000005
Page 000006
Page 000007
Page 000008
Page 000009
Page 000010
Page 000011
Page 000012
Page 000013
Page 000014
Page 000015
Page 000016
Page 000017
Page 000018
Page 000019
Page 000020
Page 000021
Page 000022
Page 000023
Page 000024
Page 000025
Page 000026
Page 000027
Page 000028
Page 000029
Page 000030
Page 000031
Page 000032
Page 000033
Page 000034
Page 000035
Page 000036
Page 000037
Page 000038
Page 000039
Page 000040
Page 000041
Page 000042
Page 000043
Page 000044
Page 000045
Page 000046
Page 000047
Page 000048
Page 000049
Page 000050
Page 000051
Page 000052
Page 000053
Page 000054
Page 000055
Page 000056
Page 000057
Page 000058
Page 000059
Page 000060
Page 000061
Page 000062
Page 000063
Page 000064
Page 000065
Page 000066
Page 000067
Page 000068
Page 000069
Page 000070
Page 000071
Page 000072
Page 000073
List of other EBooks available for download
The Crystal Stopper
Aaron's Rod
Lady Chatterley's Lover
Woman In Love
Frankenstein
Dracula
Lair Of The White Worm
Pride And Prejudice
Rob Roy
Mrs Dalloway
Kidnapped
The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde
Treasure Island
Around The World In 80 Days
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea
Moby Dick
The Invisible Man
The Island Of Doctor Moreau
The Time Machine
The War Of The Worlds
Animal Farm
Robinson Crusoe
Great Expectations
Oliver Twist
A Study In Scarlet
His Last Bow
The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
The Case Book Of Sherlock Holmes
The Hound Of The Baskervilles
The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes
The Return Of Sherlock Holmes
The Sign Of Four
The Valley Of Fear
The Black Tulip
The Count Of Monte Cristo
The Three Musketeers