“ ‘My father made the fellow gardener,’ said my companion, ‘andthen, as that did not satisfy him, he was promoted to be butler.
The house seemed to be at his mercy, and he wandered about anddid what he chose in it. The maids complained of his drunkenhabits and his vile language. The dad raised their wages all roundto recompense them for the annoyance. The fellow would take theboat and my father’s best gun and treat himself to little shootingtrips. And all this with such a sneering, leering, insolent face thatI would have knocked him down twenty times over if he had beena man of my own age. I tell you, Holmes, I have had to keep a tighthold upon myself all this time; and now I am asking myself whether,if I had let myself go a little more, I might not have been a wiser man.
“ ‘Well, matters went from bad to worse with us, and this animalHudson became more and more intrusive, until at last, on makingsome insolent reply to my father in my presence one day, I tookhim by the shoulders and turned him out of the room. He slunkaway with a livid face and two venomous eyes which utteredmore threats than his tongue could do. I don’t know what passedbetween the poor dad and him after that, but the dad came tome next day and asked me whether I would mind apologizing toHudson. I refused, as you can imagine, and asked my father howhe could allow such a wretch to take such liberties with himselfand his household.
“ ‘ “Ah, my boy,” said he, “it is all very well to talk, but you don’tknow how I am placed. But you shall know, Victor. I’ll see thatyou shall know, come what may. You wouldn’t believe harm of yourpoor old father, would you, lad?” He was very much moved, andshut himself up in the study all day, where I could see through thewindow that he was writing busily.
“ ‘That evening there came what seemed to me to be a grandrelease, for Hudson told us that he was going to leave us. Hewalked into the dining-room as we sat after dinner, and announcedhis intention in the thick voice of a half-drunken man.
“ ‘ “I’ve had enough of Norfolk,” said he. “I’ll run down to Mr.
Beddoes in Hampshire. He’ll be as glad to see me as you were, Idaresay.”
“ ‘"You’re not going away in an unkind spirit, Hudson, I hope,”
said my father, with a tameness which made my blood boil.
“ ‘ “I’ve not had my ‘pology,” said he sulkily, glancing in mydirection.
“ ‘ “Victor, you will acknowledge that you have used this worthyfellow rather roughly,” said the dad, turning to me.
“ ‘ “On the contrary, I think that we have both shownextraordinary patience towards him,” I answered.
“ ‘ “Oh, you do, do you?” he snarls. “Very good, mate. We’ll seeabout that!”
“ ‘He slouched out of the room, and half an hour afterwards leftthe house, leaving my father in a state of pitiable nervousness.
Night after night I heard him pacing his room, and it was just ashe was recovering his confidence that the blow did at last fall.’
“ ‘And how?’ I asked eagerly.
“ ‘In a most extraordinary fashion. A letter arrived for my fatheryesterday evening, bearing the Fordingham postmark. My fatherread it, clapped both his hands to his head, and began runninground the room in little circles like a man who has been drivenout of his senses. When I at last drew him down on to the sofa, hismouth and eyelids were all puckered on one side, and I saw thathe had a stroke. Dr. Fordham came over at once. We put him tobed, but the paralysis has spread, he has shown no sign of returningconsciousness, and I think that we shall hardly find him alive.’
“ ‘You horrify me, Trevor!’ I cried. ‘What then could have beenin this letter to cause so dreadful a result?’
“ ‘Nothing. There lies the inexplicable part of it. The messagewas absurd and trivial. Ah, my God, it is as I feared!’
“As he spoke we came round the curve of the avenue, and sawin the fading light that every blind in the house had been drawndown. As we dashed up to the door, my friend’s face convulsedwith grief, a gentleman in black emerged from it.
“ ‘When did it happen, doctor?’ asked Trevor.
“ ‘Almost immediately after you left.’
“ ‘Did he recover consciousness?’
“ ‘For an instant before the end.’
“ ‘Any message for me.’
“ ‘Only that the papers were in the back drawer of the Japanesecabinet.’
“My friend ascended with the doctor to the chamber of death,while I remained in the study, turning the whole matter over andover in my head, and feeling as sombre as ever I had done in mylife. What was the past of this Trevor, pugilist, traveler, and golddigger,and how had he placed himself in the power of this acidfacedseaman? Why, too, should he faint at an allusion to the halfeffacedinitials upon his arm, and die of fright when he had aletter from Fordingham? Then I remembered that Fordinghamwas in Hampshire, and that this Mr. Beddoes, whom the seamanhad gone to visit and presumably to blackmail, had also beenmentioned as living in Hampshire. The letter, then, might eithercome from Hudson, the seaman, saying that he had betrayedthe guilty secret which appeared to exist, or it might come fromBeddoes, warning an old confederate that such a betrayal wasimminent. So far it seemed clear enough. But then how could thisletter be trivial and grotesque, as describe by the son? He musthave misread it. If so, it must have been one of those ingenioussecret codes which mean one thing while they seem to meananother. I must see this letter. If there were a hidden meaningin it, I was confident that I could pluck it forth. For an hour Isat pondering over it in the gloom, until at last a weeping maidbrought in a lamp, and close at her heels came my friend Trevor,pale but composed, with these very papers which lie upon myknee held in his grasp. He sat down opposite to me, drew the lampto the edge of the table, and handed me a short note scribbled,as you see, upon a single sheet of gray paper. ‘The supply of gamefor London is going steadily up,’ it ran. ‘Head-keeper Hudson, webelieve, has been now told to receive all orders for fly-paper andfor preservation of your hen-pheasant’s life.’
