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Page 7
"You are sure of it?"
"The presumption is strongly against it. Bodies in the
dissecting-rooms are injected with preservative fluid. These
ears bear no signs of this. They are fresh, too. They have been
cut off with a blunt instrument, which would hardly happen if a
student had done it. Again, carbolic or rectified spirits would
be the preservatives which would suggest themselves to the
medical mind, certainly not rough salt. I repeat that there is
no practical joke here, but that we are investigating a serious
crime."
A vague thrill ran through me as I listened to my companion's
words and saw the stern gravity which had hardened his features.
This brutal preliminary seemed to shadow forth some strange and
inexplicable horror in the background. Lestrade, however, shook
his head like a man who is only half convinced.
"There are objections to the joke theory, no doubt," said he,
"but there are much stronger reasons against the other. We know
that this woman has led a most quiet and respectable life at
Penge and here for the last twenty years. She has hardly been
away from her home for a day during that time. Why on earth,
then, should any criminal send her the proofs of his guilt,
especially as, unless she is a most consummate actress, she
understands quite as little of the matter as we do?"
"That is the problem which we have to solve," Holmes answered,
"and for my part I shall set about it by presuming that my
reasoning is correct, and that a double murder has been
committed. One of these ears is a woman's, small, finely formed,
and pierced for an earring. The other is a man's, sun-burned,
discoloured, and also pierced for an earring. These two people
are presumably dead, or we should have heard their story before
now. To-day is Friday. The packet was posted on Thursday
morning. The tragedy, then, occurred on Wednesday or Tuesday, or
earlier. If the two people were murdered, who but their murderer
would have sent this sign of his work to Miss Cushing? We may
take it that the sender of the packet is the man whom we want.
But he must have some strong reason for sending Miss Cushing this
packet. What reason then? It must have been to tell her that
the deed was done! or to pain her, perhaps. But in that case she
knows who it is. Does she know? I doubt it. If she knew, why
should she call the police in? She might have buried the ears,
and no one would have been the wiser. That is what she would have
done if she had wished to shield the criminal. But if she does
not wish to shield him she would give his name. There is a
tangle here which needs straightening to." He had been talking
in a high, quick voice, staring blankly up over the garden fence,
but now he sprang briskly to his feet and walked towards the
house.
"I have a few questions to ask Miss Cushing," said he.
"In that case I may leave you here," said Lestrade, "for I have
another small business on hand. I think that I have nothing
further to learn from Miss Cushing. You will find me at the
police-station."
"We shall look in on our way to the train," answered Holmes. A
moment later he and I were back in the front room, where the
impassive lady was still quietly working away at her
antimacassar. She put it down on her lap as we entered and
looked at us with her frank, searching blue eyes.
"I am convinced, sir," she said, "that this matter is a mistake,
and that the parcel was never meant for me at all. I have said
this several times to the gentlemen from Scotland Yard, but he
simply laughs at me. I have not an enemy in the world, as far as
I know, so why should anyone play me such a trick?"
"I am coming to be of the same opinion, Miss Cushing," said
Holmes, taking a seat beside her. "I think that it is more than
probable--" He paused, and I was surprised, on glancing round to
see that he was staring with singular intentness at the lady's
profile. Surprise and satisfaction were both for an instant to
be read upon his eager face, though when she glanced round to
find out the cause of his silence he had become as demure as
ever. I stared hard myself at her flat, grizzled hair, her trim
cap, her little gilt earrings, her placid features; but I could
see nothing which could account for my companion's evident
excitement.
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