“We will go back to the note which was handed in to Garciaupon the evening of his death. We may put aside this idea ofBaynes’s that Garcia’s servants were concerned in the matter. Theproof of this lies in the fact that it was he who had arranged forthe presence of Scott Eccles, which could only have been done forthe purpose of an alibi. It was Garcia, then, who had an enterprise,and apparently a criminal enterprise, in hand that night in thecourse of which he met his death. I say ‘criminal’ because only aman with a criminal enterprise desires to establish an alibi. Who,then, is most likely to have taken his life? Surely the person againstwhom the criminal enterprise was directed. So far it seems to methat we are on safe ground.
“We can now see a reason for the disappearance of Garcia’shousehold. They were all confederates in the same unknowncrime. If it came off when Garcia returned, any possible suspicionwould be warded off by the Englishman’s evidence, and all wouldbe well. But the attempt was a dangerous one, and if Garcia didnot return by a certain hour it was probable that his own life hadbeen sacrificed. It had been arranged, therefore, that in such acase his two subordinates were to make for some prearrangedspot where they could escape investigation and be in a positionafterwards to renew their attempt. That would fully explain thefacts, would it not?”
The whole inexplicable tangle seemed to straighten out beforeme. I wondered, as I always did, how it had not been obvious tome before.
“But why should one servant return?”
“We can imagine that in the confusion of flight somethingprecious, something which he could not bear to part with, hadbeen left behind. That would explain his persistence, would itnot?”
“Well, what is the next step?”
“The next step is the note received by Garcia at the dinner.
indicates a confederate at the other end. Now, where was theother end? I have already shown you that it could only lie insome large house, and that the number of large houses is limited.
My first days in this village were devoted to a series of walksin which in the intervals of my botanical researches I made areconnaissance of all the large houses and an examination of thefamily history of the occupants. One house, and only one, rivetedmy attention. It is the famous old Jacobean grange of High Gable,one mile on the farther side of Oxshott, and less than half a milefrom the scene of the tragedy. The other mansions belonged toThe Adventure of Wisteria Lodge 1105
prosaic and respectable people who live far aloof from romance.
But Mr. Henderson, of High Gable, was by all accounts a curiousman to whom curious adventures might befall. I concentrated myattention, therefore, upon him and his household.
“A singular set of people, Watson—the man himself the mostsingular of them all. I managed to see him on a plausible pretext,but I seemed to read in his dark, deep-set, brooding eyes thathe was perfectly aware of my true business. He is a man of fifty,strong, active, with iron-gray hair, great bunched black eyebrows,the step of a deer and the air of an emperor—a fierce, masterfulman, with a red-hot spirit behind his parchment face. He is eithera foreigner or has lived long in the tropics, for he is yellow andsapless, but tough as whipcord. His friend and secretary, Mr.
Lucas, is undoubtedly a foreigner, chocolate brown, wily, suave,and catlike, with a poisonous gentleness of speech. You see,Watson, we have come already upon two sets of foreigners—one atWisteria Lodge and one at High Gable—so our gaps are beginningto close.
“These two men, close and confidential friends, are the centreof the household; but there is one other person who for ourimmediate purpose may be even more important. Henderson hastwo children—girls of eleven and thirteen. Their governess is aMiss Burnet, an Englishwoman of forty or thereabouts. Thereis also one confidential manservant. This little group forms thereal family, for they travel about together, and Henderson is agreat traveller, always on the move. It is only within the last fewweeks that he has returned, after a year’s absence, to High Gable.
I may add that he is enormously rich, and whatever his whimsmay be he can very easily satisfy them. For the rest, his houseis full of butlers, footmen, maidservants, and the usual overfed,underworked staff of a large English country-house.
“So much I learned partly from village gossip and partly frommy own observation. There are no better instruments thandischarged servants with a grievance, and I was lucky enough tofind one. I call it luck, but it would not have come my way had Inot been looking out for it. As Baynes remarks, we all have oursystems. It was my system which enabled me to find John Warner,late gardener of High Gable, sacked in a moment of temper byhis imperious employer. He in turn had friends among the indoorservants who unite in their fear and dislike of their master. So Ihad my key to the secrets of the establishment.
“Curious people, Watson! I don’t pretend to understand it allyet, but very curious people anyway. It’s a double-winged house,and the servants live on one side, the family on the other. There’sno link between the two save for Henderson’s own serves the family’s meals. Everything is carried to a certain door,which forms the one connection. Governess and children hardlygo out at all, except into the garden. Henderson never by anychance walks alone. His dark secretary is like his shadow. Thegossip among the servants is that their master is terribly afraid ofsomething. ‘Sold his soul to the devil in exchange for money,’ saysWarner, ‘and expects his creditor to come up and claim his own.’
Where they came from, or who they are, nobody has an idea. Theyare very violent. Twice Henderson has lashed at folk with his dogwhip,and only his long purse and heavy compensation have kepthim out of the courts.