Fairbairn used to stay there, and Mary would go round to havetea with her sister and him. How often she went I don’t know,but I followed her one day, and as I broke in at the door Fairbairngot away over the back garden wall, like the cowardly skunk thathe was. I swore to my wife that I would kill her if I found herin his company again, and I led her back with me, sobbing andtrembling, and as white as a piece of paper. There was no traceof love between us any longer. I could see that she hated me andfeared me, and when the thought of it drove me to drink, then shedespised me as well.
“ ‘Well, Sarah found that she could not make a living inLiverpool, so she went back, as I understand, to live with her sisterin Croydon, and things jogged on much the same as ever at home.
And then came this last week and all the misery and ruin.
“ ‘It was in this way. We had gone on the May Day for a roundvoyage of seven days, but a hogshead got loose and started one ofour plates, so that we had to put back into port for twelve hours. Ileft the ship and came home, thinking what a surprise it would befor my wife, and hoping that maybe she would be glad to see me sosoon. The thought was in my head as I turned into my own street,and at that moment a cab passed me, and there she was, sitting bythe side of Fairbairn, the two chatting and laughing, with never athought for me as I stood watching them from the footpath.
“ I tell you, and I give you my word for it, that from thatmoment I was not my own master, and it is all like a dim dreamwhen I look back on it. I had been drinking hard of late, and thetwo things together fairly turned my brain. There’s somethingthrobbing in my head now, like a docker’s hammer, but thatmorning I seemed to have all Niagara whizzing and buzzing in myears.
“ Well, I took to my heels, and I ran after the cab. I had a heavyoak stick in my hand, and I tell you I saw red from the first; but asran I got cunning, too, and hung back a little to see them withoutbeing seen. They pulled up soon at the railway station. There was agood crowd round the booking-office, so I got quite close to themwithout being seen. They took tickets for New Brighton. So did I,The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge 1129but I got in three carriages behind them. When we reached it theywalked along the Parade, and I was never more than a hundredyards from them. At last I saw them hire a boat and start for a row,for it was a very hot day, and they thought, no doubt, that it wouldbe cooler on the water.
“ It was just as if they had been given into my hands. There wasa bit of a haze, and you could not see more than a few hundredyards. I hired a boat for myself, and I pulled after them. I couldsee the blur of their craft, but they were going nearly as fast asI, and they must have been a long mile from the shore before Icaught them up. The haze was like a curtain all round us, and therewere we three in the middle of it. My God, shall I ever forget theirfaces when they saw who was in the boat that was closing in uponthem? She screamed out. He swore like a madman and jabbedat me with an oar, for he must have seen death in my eyes. I gotpast it and got one in with my stick that crushed his head like anegg. I would have spared her, perhaps, for all my madness, butshe threw her arms round him, crying out to him, and calling him“Alec.” I struck again, and she lay stretched beside him. I was likea wild beast then that had tasted blood. If Sarah had been there,by the Lord, she should have joined them. I pulled out my knife,and—well, there! I’ve said enough. It gave me a kind of savage joywhen I thought how Sarah would feel when she had such signs asthese of what her meddling had brought about. Then I tied thebodies into the boat, stove a plank, and stood by until they hadsunk. I knew very well that the owner would think that they hadlost their bearings in the haze, and had drifted off out to sea. Icleaned myself up, got back to land, and joined my ship without asoul having a suspicion of what had passed. That night I made upthe packet for Sarah Cushing, and next day I sent it from Belfast.
“ ‘There you have the whole truth of it. You can hang me, or dowhat you like with me, but you cannot punish me as I have beenpunished already. I cannot shut my eyes but I see those two facesstaring at me—staring at me as they stared when my boat brokethrough the haze. I killed them quick, but they are killing meslow; and if I have another night of it I shall be either mad or deadbefore morning. You won’t put me alone into a cell, sir? For pity’ssake don’t, and may you be treated in your day of agony as youtreat me now.’
“What is the meaning of it, Watson?” said Holmes solemnly ashe laid down the paper. “What object is served by this circle ofmisery and violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or elseour universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable. But whatend? There is the great standing perennial problem to whichhuman reason is as far from an answer as ever.”
1130 The Complete Sherlock Holmes
The Adventure of the Red Circle“Well, Mrs. Warren, I cannot see that you have any particularcause for uneasiness, nor do I understand why I, whose time isof some value, should interfere in the matter. I really have otherthings to engage me.” So spoke Sherlock Holmes and turned backto the great scrapbook in which he was arranging and indexingsome of his recent material.
But the landlady had the pertinacity and also the cunning of hersex. She held her ground firmly.
“You arranged an affair for a lodger of mine last year,” she said—Mr. Fairdale Hobbs.”
“Ah, yes—a simple matter.”
“But he would never cease talking of it—your kindness, sir,and the way in which you brought light into the darkness. Iremembered his words when I was in doubt and darkness myself. Iknow you could if you only would.”
Holmes was accessible upon the side of flattery, and also, to dohim justice, upon the side of kindliness. The two forces made himlay down his gum-brush with a sigh of resignation and push backhis chair.
“Well, well, Mrs. Warren, let us hear about it, then. You don’tobject to tobacco, I take it? Thank you, Watson—the matches!