Baker Street Charterers

The carriage went further and further away, and the surrounding fog was thick in the dark night. In addition, Nora was not familiar with London, and soon she could no longer discern the direction.She put away her laziness before, straightened her waist and stared at all the buildings on the side of the road, trying to remember the route she passed, but obviously the effect was weak.

At this moment, Sherlock Holmes next to him came up with a magic knife——

"Rochester Street," he read in a slow, introductory voice, "now we're going into Vauxhall Bridge Road - we're going over the edge of Surrey, to be sure - Ah, that's right, now that we're on the bridge, we'll be able to see the river soon."

His words were immediately verified. The Thames sparkled in his eyes, the street lamps illuminated the wide and quiet water, and the shadow of the carriage flashed across the bridge like a ghost, and quickly drove to the other side of the river, turning to the labyrinthine streets.

"Watsworth Road, Abbey Road, Laclere Street, Stockwell Square, Robert Street, Cold Harbor Lane..." Holmes said calmly, "...this does not seem like a high-end location."

"..." Lu Blind Nora glanced at him blankly, but said nothing.

"Don't be afraid, Miss Morstan." Watson warmly comforted, "You should know that the two in front of you are good at dealing with local ruffians."

"..." Holmes and Nora cast sidelong glances at him at the same time.

Mary Morstan couldn't help the smile in her eyes, but kept silent very wisely, looking at Watson with gentle and bright eyes.

This place is indeed strange and suspicious. Surrounded by rows of gray brick-walled houses, there are a few hotels with simple and vulgar decoration at the corner, followed by two-story villas, each with a small garden.Finally, the carriage stopped in front of the third door of the terraced houses along the street. The houses next to it were all dark and unoccupied. Only this house, except for a little light from the kitchen window, looked like no other house. The darkness of two.

The four got out of the carriage, and Holmes stepped forward and knocked on the door, which opened immediately, as if he had been waiting for a long time.An Indian servant wearing a yellow baotou, wearing a loose white coat and a yellow belt, said very respectfully, "My master is waiting for you, gentlemen."

Before Holmes could speak, a high-pitched, somewhat hoarse voice said, "Please come directly to me, Jitmutga."

Walking through a messy and dimly lit passage, the Indian servant pushed open the door at the end, and a yellow light shone through from inside—a man who looked young, but bald, with an ordinary or even slightly ugly face smiled at them, He glanced at everyone, and then said loudly, "Miss Morstan, I am willing to help you."

As he spoke, he motioned, "Gentlemen—oh, and this charming girl, please come in. The room is small, but it's all furnished to my liking. Little oasis of civilization, isn't it?"

At the end, his tone was a little smug, and they noticed that the decoration in the room did not match the outside appearance—the curtains and tapestries were extremely gorgeous, the exquisite paintings on the walls, the oriental vases in the corner, and the amber carpet under their feet Thick and soft, two large tiger skins are spread across the carpet, a large Indian hookah stands quietly on the mat in the corner, and a hanging lamp in the shape of a silver dove hangs in the center, and a faint fragrance wafts from the lamp , the whole house looks very oriental and gorgeous.

What a luxury—that was Nora Chuffy Sharp's first impression.

The owner of the house stood up. He was not tall, with a smile on his face, but the expression in his eyes was anxious, "My name is Sedes Sholto, and these are..."

Miss Morstan introduced, "This is Mr. Sherlock Holmes, this is Dr. Watson, and this lady is Miss Nora Sharp, a doctor's assistant."

Hearing the word doctor, the kid immediately showed a cheerful expression, "Ah! Doctor, do you have a stethoscope? Can I ask you to listen for me? There may be something wrong with my heart valve, but the aorta is fine. I need your help. I have a valuable opinion."

Watson nodded, went up to listen to his heart, and then said a little dumbfounded, "Your heart is very normal, don't worry, don't worry, Mr. Sholto."

The little man breathed a sigh of relief, "Miss Morstan, forgive me for being so anxious. To tell you the truth, I have been feeling depressed and flustered recently, and I always suspect that something is wrong with my body. If your father can control himself, no Hurting his own heart, maybe he is still alive now..."

Watson paused and showed an angry expression, probably blaming the other party for not being careful enough in speaking, which might hurt the girl he admired.

Mary Morstan looked very calm, although her face was pale, but her tone was calm enough, "I actually knew the fact of my father's death in my heart."

Sholto sighed with a complex expression, "I think I should tell you as much as possible and give you justice—no matter what my brother Bartholomew wants to say, I should do it. Yours These friends can be used as witnesses to this incident, we don’t need outsiders to participate, neither the police nor officials, if the matter is made public, my brother Bartholomew will definitely stop us.”

When he finished speaking, he watched them expectantly with his dull blue eyes.

Holmes thought for a moment. "I assure you, Mr. Sholto, that none of us will mention this to anyone else."

Sedes Sholto breathed a sigh of relief, and said to himself nervously, "Okay, okay, this is really great! Miss Morstan, would you like a glass of champagne or toucai? I There is no other good wine here, you don't want to drink? Well, I don't think you will object to me smoking this soft oriental shisha, I am a little nervous, it can calm me down..."

He lit the large ornately decorated hookah, and the mist slowly rose from the rose water in the smoking pot. He took a breath with trembling fingers, relaxed and exhaled, paused for a while, and then spoke in a slightly uneasy voice ——

"Forgive me for making it so difficult to meet, because I don't like people, and I'm even a loner. I don't like anything crude and vulgar by nature. You can see that my life is full of elegance. I think I'm a natural connoisseur of art, it's my hobby - that landscape is really Corot, some might suspect that Salvatore Rosa is a fake, but that Absolutely not, I really like French pie now..."

"..." Mary Morstan was silent for a few seconds, "Mr. Sholto, I'm sorry, I came here because you have something important to tell me, it's getting late, I hope our conversation can be more Keep it short."

"Okay...but at least it will take some time to clarify, because we have to go to Norwood together to find my brother Bartholomew, we have to go, I hope we can convince him-reasonable way He doesn't think so, And he is very dissatisfied with me, I argued with him for a long time last night, you can never imagine how difficult it is to deal with him who is angry."

Watson couldn't help saying, "If we're going up to Norwood, can we start now?" He was afraid that it would be inconvenient to go back to Mary too late.

The little man smiled, "That's not okay, if it's too sudden, everyone will be unprepared. Let me tell you what I know—"

"You probably also know my father, Major John Sholto, who retired 11 years ago before living at Sakuramoor House in Upper Norwood. He made a fortune in India and brought back a lot of valuables. Curiosities and gold coins, and a few Indian servants. After that my father lived a very comfortable life, and he had only two sons, Bartholomew and I, and two heirs."

"I still vividly remember the sensation caused by the disappearance of Captain Morstan. Because he was a friend of my father, we were able to talk about it freely. Sometimes my father would like us to speculate about the cause and effect of this incident together, so we completely There is no doubt that he knows the whole secret, except that he alone knows the whereabouts of Arthur Morstan."

"But we also know some traces, there are terrible things, very terrible things hidden in his heart - he dare not go out alone easily, and specially hired two boxers to guard the door, one of them is driving the car for you today ...my father never mentioned what he was afraid of, but he was especially wary of people with wooden legs - he shot a man with wooden legs once, only to find out later that he was just a door-to-door A common peddler who sells stuff, we lost a lot of money to settle. If that's not a big deal, listen to what happened next.

"It was the spring of [-]. My father received a letter from India. After reading it, he almost passed out and then fell ill. No one knew what was written in the letter until he died, but I vaguely read it. The letter was very short and illegible. By the end of April, the doctor had diagnosed him as hopeless, and he told us to listen to the will. He said this--'I am going to die, and the only thing in my life I want It's a pity, that's what was done to the Orphan of Morstan, and I'm ashamed that, because of my unforgivable greed, she didn't get this treasure that was hers, at least half of it was hers - and it's ridiculous that I didn't use it either, Only with it by my side can I feel safe. Look at the string of pearls next to the cinnamon cream, it was picked out for her, and you should give it back to her when I die— '"

Sholto's tone slowly became heavy, "'You must want to know how Morstan died? For many years his heart was very fragile, only I know this situation. When I was in India, I went through many thrilling accidents with him. I just harvested these treasures, and I brought them back to England. On the night of Morstan's arrival in London, he came to ask for his share, and I had a disagreement with him because of the distribution. He was so angry that he jumped up from the chair, his expression changed, his whole body trembled, and suddenly he hit a corner of the box. I was terrified, and immediately went to help him, but I didn't expect him to die. I At first I thought of calling the police, but then I thought, I will definitely be identified as the murderer, and the wound on his head is not good for me.'”

"'I was thinking about it when I saw the servant Lal Jorda standing at the door, and he shut the door behind him, saying he knew I had killed Morstan and told me to hide him. He didn't believe I didn't He said that he would keep a secret for me. I couldn't argue with it. I buried the body with him. A few days later, I saw the news of Morstan's disappearance.'”

"My father was telling us: 'Come here, I'll tell you where the treasure is hidden, and he's hiding it...' Before he finished speaking, his face changed drastically, his eyes stared out of the window, his mouth opened wide, Shouted in a voice I will never forget, 'Get out! Get him out! Get the... out!' As soon as I turned around, I saw a pair of terrible eyes staring at us, a hairy face , his eyes were as sharp as a sword, and he stared at all of us viciously. We ran out immediately, but he was gone, and when we came back, we found that my father had lost his pulse."

"We checked every corner of the garden that night and there was no sign of anything other than an obvious footprint under the flower bed on the window sill. The next morning I found my father's bedroom window open and his cupboards and boxes had been turned over. There was also a tattered note stapled to the box with 'four signatures' scrawled on it. While his belongings were not stolen, we all know something terrible happened."

While he was talking, Miss Mary Morstan heard her father's death process, her face was so pale that she almost fainted, Watson poured her a glass of water, and she slowly recovered.Sherlock Holmes leaned back on the chair and closed his eyes in thought. After hearing this bizarre story, Nora couldn't help laughing, breaking the deathly silence with a soft voice.

"Now, Mr. Holmes, it seems to me that you will for some time be free from complaining that life is dull."

At least for now, there is a case that is difficult for her to identify three stars, which will test his wisdom quite a bit.

These words made Holmes open his eyes. Under the reflection of the dim yellow light, his gray eyes showed a thick and deep light. The small half of his face was hidden in the shadow, looking like a deep and hard sculpture.Hearing Nora's sarcasm, not only did he not get angry, but instead he showed a cheerful and meaningful smile, stared at her slightly indifferent side face, and said slowly and in a low voice— —

"As a matter of fact, since you came to Baker Street, I have seldom felt any emotion of boredom, Miss Nora Sharp."

"...!"