A study in scarlet
It was indeed Lestrade, who had ascended the stairs while we
were talking, and who now entered the room. The assurance and jauntiness which
generally marked his demeanour and dress were, however, wanting. His face was
disturbed and troubled, while his clothes were disarranged and untidy. He had
evidently come with the intention of consulting with Sherlock Holmes, for on
perceiving his colleague he appeared to be embarrassed and put out. He stood in
the centre of the room, fumbling nervously with his hat and uncertain what to
do. "This is a most extraordinary case," he said at last—"a most
incomprehensible affair."
"Ah, you find it so, Mr. Lestrade!" cried Gregson,
triumphantly. "I thought you would come to that conclusion. Have you
managed to find the Secretary, Mr. Joseph Stangerson?"
CHAPTER VII. LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS.
THE intelligence with which Lestrade greeted us was so
momentous and so unexpected, that we were all three fairly dumfoundered.
Gregson sprang out of his chair and upset the remainder of his whiskey and
water. I stared in silence at Sherlock Holmes, whose lips were compressed and
his brows drawn down over his eyes.
"Stangerson too!" he muttered. "The plot
thickens."
"It was quite thick enough before," grumbled
Lestrade, taking a chair. "I seem to have dropped into a sort of council
of war."
"Are you—are you sure of this piece of
intelligence?" stammered Gregson.
"I have just come from his room," said Lestrade.
"I was the first to discover what had occurred."
"We have been hearing Gregson's view of the
matter," Holmes observed. "Would you mind letting us know what you
have seen and done?"
"I have no objection," Lestrade answered, seating
himself. "I freely confess that I was of the opinion that Stangerson was
concerned in the death of Drebber. This fresh development has shown me that I
was completely mistaken. Full of the one idea, I set myself to find out what
had become of the Secretary. They had been seen together at Euston Station
about half-past eight on the evening of the third. At two in the morning
Drebber had been found in the Brixton Road. The question which confronted me
was to find out how Stangerson had been employed between 8.30 and the time of
the crime, and what had become of him afterwards. I telegraphed to Liverpool,
giving a description of the man, and warning them to keep a watch upon the
American boats. I then set to work calling upon all the hotels and
lodging-houses in the vicinity of Euston. You see, I argued that if Drebber and
his companion had become separated, the natural course for the latter would be
to put up somewhere in the vicinity for the night, and then to hang about the
station again next morning."
"They would be likely to agree on some meeting-place
beforehand," remarked Holmes.
