It was the spring of 1887. My friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes' health had suffered some damage due to overwork, and he had not recovered for a while. Regarding the Dutch Sumatra Company case, and the grand plan of Baron Maupotuits

People must not have forgotten the cases, because these cases directly involve politics and economics, and it is inconvenient to report them in my series of memoirs. However, on the other hand, they are two very unique, strange and complicated cases.

My friend Mr. Holmes thus had an opportunity of demonstrating the importance of a new method of struggle, one of many which he employed in his life-long struggle against crime.

I checked the records and found that I had received a telegram from Lyons on April 14th, informing me that Holmes was ill and bedridden at the Hotel Durand. I immediately put down the work at hand and, within a mile,

I rushed to his ward the next day and found that his condition was not too serious. I was finally relieved, because even with a body as strong as my friend's, after more than two months of investigation,

, did not avoid being exhausted. His daily workload during this period was at least 15 hours, and he revealed to me that once he worked all night long for 5 consecutive days. Even the joy of victory was not enough.

It was impossible for him to recover in time after such a terrible exertion. When the fame of Sherlock Holmes spread throughout Europe and his room was filled with a mountain of congratulatory messages from all over, I found that my friend was still gloomy and in a state of physical discomfort.

中. News came out that the police in three countries all failed, but Mr. Holmes finally succeeded. He defeated all the tricks played by Europe's top fraudsters in all aspects. However, even so, he failed

Cheer up my friend from fatigue.

Three days later we returned to Baker Street together. To my friend Holmes, it was obvious that a change of scenery would be better. The idea of ​​spending a week in the country in the beautiful spring weather was very tempting to me.

An old friend of mine, Colonel Hayter, asked me to treat his illness when he was in Afghanistan. Now he has purchased a house next to Leggate in Surrey, and I am often invited to visit him. Recently, he heard that

I said that my friend Holmes would be pleased to go with me, and that he would entertain him with great pleasure. I conveyed this to Holmes in a roundabout way, and when he heard that his master was a bachelor, and that he had perfect freedom of action, he

Accepted my plan. A week after returning from Lyon, we rushed to Colonel Hayter's residence. Hayter was an old soldier with a bold and free-spirited temperament and was well-informed. He soon found that he and Holmes could chat well.

, this is exactly what I expected.

On the evening of our first arrival we dined together, and sat in the colonel's gun-room, with Holmes stretched out on the sofa, and the colonel admiring with me his little armory of Oriental weapons with great interest.

"By the way," the colonel said suddenly, "I need to take a pistol upstairs from here for self-defense."

"Self-defense?" I asked in surprise.

"Yes, something happened in our place during this time, which disturbed us very much, because there was a local wealthy gentleman, old Mr. Acton, and someone suddenly broke into his residence last Monday. Although the damage he suffered was not

It's too big, but those people are still at large."

"No clues found?" Holmes asked, staring at the colonel.

"There are no clues yet, but this is just a small matter, a small case that happened in our village. After you have handled such a big international case, this must not attract your attention and interest.

Mr. Holmes."

Holmes waved his hand to show that he did not need to praise himself, but smiled to show that the compliments made him happy.

"Are there any important features?"

"I don't think so. The thieves searched his library extensively. Although they spent a lot of effort, they found nothing. The library was turned upside down, all the drawers were pried open, and it was a mess.

In the end, all that was lost was a volume of Homer translated by Chepper, an ivory paperweight, two gilded candlesticks, a small oak barometer, and a ball of thread."

"How strange!" I shouted.

"Oh, this group of robbers obviously just picks up whatever they come across."

My friend Holmes sat on the sofa and snorted.

"From these places, the regional police should find some clues." Holmes said, "Hey, obviously..."

However, I stretched out my finger to remind him: "My dear friend, you are here to rest. Please don't take on any new cases before your nerves are completely restored and relaxed."

Holmes shrugged his shoulders, glanced innocently at the colonel, and our conversation turned to other matters.

However, everything seemed to have its own destiny, and the words I reminded him as a doctor were destined to be in vain. Just the next morning after we arrived there, due to the development of the case itself, we had to

Intervention was made, and our trip to the countryside took an unexpected turn. While we were having breakfast, the Colonel's steward burst in in a panic, with no regard for etiquette.

"Sir, have you heard the news?" he gasped. "It's at Cunningham's! Sir."

"There's been another theft!" the colonel said angrily, holding a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Oh my god, kill someone!"

The colonel exclaimed, "Oh my God!" he said. "Then who was killed? His son, or the Sheriff himself?"

"Sir, not at all. The victim was William, the coachman. His heart was penetrated by a bullet and he can no longer speak, sir."

"So, who shot him?"

"Sir, it was the thief. As if he had wings, he slipped away and disappeared. As soon as he broke into the house through the kitchen window, he was bumped into by William. William threw the thief away in order to protect his master's property.

Take your life."

"When did it happen?"

"It happened last night, sir, about twelve o'clock."

"Oh, then, let's go over and have a look later." The colonel said, sitting down and continuing to eat his breakfast.

"A very unfortunate thing happened." After the butler left, the colonel added, "Old Cunningham is a well-known figure here and a very decent man. He must be very sad about this, because the servant waited on him

He had been his servant for many years and was a very loyal servant. The murderer was obviously the villain who broke into Acton's house."

"Is that the man who stole a lot of strange things?" said Holmes thoughtfully.

"Exactly."

"Oh! This may be the simplest thing in the world, but at first glance, it is still a bit puzzling, right? In everyone's mind, a group of thieves committing crimes in the countryside should move their crime locations frequently.

, you will definitely not break into a house twice in the same place within a few days. When you mentioned taking precautions last night, an idea flashed in my mind: This place may be the most neglected area by thieves in the UK.

It can be seen that there is still a lot for me to learn!”

"I think it was a local thief who did it," the colonel said. "If this is true, then the Acton and Cunningham families are naturally his important targets, because these two are the two largest families in the local area."

"Is it also the richest family in the local area?"

"Yes, they should be considered the richest. But these two families have been fighting for many years. I think this lawsuit has spent a lot of effort on both sides. Old Acton once made a request to let Cunningham take the money.

Half of the property was given as compensation, and the lawyers made profits from it."

"If this was a crime committed by a local, it would not be difficult to get to the bottom of it." Holmes yawned and said, "Come on, Watson, I'm not going to get involved in this matter."

"Sir, Officer Forrest would like to see you." The butler suddenly opened the door and said.

An alert young police officer walked into the house.

"Good morning, Colonel!" he said. "I hope I have not disturbed you, but I hear that Mr. Holmes of Baker Street is at your house."

So the colonel waved his hand in the direction of my friend Holmes, and the young police officer nodded immediately and said, "Mr. Holmes, we thought you might be happy to come and give us some guidance!"

"Oh, fate did not follow your will, Watson." Holmes glanced at me with a smile, and then said to the visitor: "Mr. Police Officer, when you came in just now, we were talking about the case! Maybe you

It can give us a more detailed understanding of the situation." When Holmes leaned back on the chair in his simple daily posture, I understood that my plan had failed again.

"We have not found any clues about the Acton case. However, we have a lot of clues about the current case and can start working. There is no doubt that the two cases were carried out by the same group of people, and some people even saw them

The perpetrator."

"ah?"

"Yes, sir. But after the criminal shot poor William Kirwan, he escaped as fast as a deer. Mr. Cunningham, who was in the bedroom at the time, saw him through the window, and his son Arthur

Mr. Alec also saw it from the back corridor. The alarm was sounded at 11:45. Mr. Cunningham had just gone to bed, and Mr. Alec was smoking in his pajamas. Both of them heard the coachman's call.

There was a cry for help, so Mr. Alec immediately ran downstairs to find out what happened. He found that the back door was open. When he walked to the foot of the stairs, he saw two people fighting outside, and one of them opened the door.

When the gun was fired, the other man fell down. After the murder, the murderer quickly ran through the garden and climbed over the fence to escape. Mr. Cunningham looked out of his bedroom window and saw the murderer running onto the road, but he disappeared in the blink of an eye.

At that time, Mr. Alec did not bother to chase the murderer, but stopped in a hurry to see if the victim could be saved. As a result, the villain slipped away. The murderer was of medium build and wore dark clothes. About his appearance and other details

We don’t have any clues yet. But we are fully investigating. If he is a foreigner, we will be able to find him soon."

"What happened to William, the coachman? Did he say anything before he died?"

"No, not a word. He and his mother lived in the servants' room. He was a very loyal man. We thought he might have gone to the kitchen to check to see if everything was okay. The Acton case made everyone improve.

Be alert. As a result, as soon as the thief broke open the door and entered, he was met by William."

"Did the coachman say anything to his mother before he left?"

"His mother is old and deaf, and it is impossible to get any information from her. This time she was frightened, and she almost became stupid, but she is not smart usually. However, there is a very important situation. Please see

!”

The police officer took out a small corner of torn paper from the notebook and spread it on his knees.

"We found this small piece of paper clutched in the deceased's hand, which was obviously torn from a larger piece of paper. You can see that the time mentioned on it is exactly the time when this poor man was murdered.

You see, either the murderer tore off a piece from the coachman's hand, or the coachman took back the corner from the murderer's hand. This note reads very much like a date note."

Holmes picked up the small corner of paper.

"We think this is a kind of date for the time being." The police officer continued, "Of course it cannot be ruled out that although the coachman William has always been loyal, he may also collude with the thieves. He may be there to meet the thieves and assist the thieves.

They broke into the house, and then the two of them got into a fight, maybe because they had a falling out over something."

"This font is actually very interesting." Holmes picked up the note, looked at it carefully, and said, "This is far more profound than I thought." He put his head in his hands and fell into deep thought. The police officer saw that this case turned out to be so surprising.

The famous London detective couldn't help but beam with joy at such a hard work.

"You just said..." Holmes pondered for a few minutes and then said: "There may be a tacit understanding between the thief and the servant. This piece of paper may be a secret letter. This idea is indeed unique, but it is not impossible. But this

The note clearly says..." He put his head in his hands again and fell into deep thought again. When my friend Holmes raised his head again, I was extremely surprised to see his face glowing red, his eyes bright and his whole body full of energy.
To be continued...