“I am sorry, Professor, but the matter was rather confidential. IfI have made a mistake there is no harm done. I can only expressmy regret.”
“Not at all. I should wish to go further into this matter. Itinterests me. Have you any scrap of writing, any letter or telegram,to bear out your assertion?”
“No, I have not.”
“I presume that you do not go so far as to assert that I summonedyou?”
“I would rather answer no questions,” said Holmes.
“No, I dare say not,” said the professor with asperity. “ However,that particular one can be answered very easily without your aid.”
He walked across the room to the bell. Our London friend Mr.
Bennett, answered the call.
“Come in, Mr. Bennett. These two gentlemen have come fromLondon under the impression that they have been summoned. Youhandle all my correspondence. Have you a note of anything goingto a person named Holmes?”
“No, sir,” Bennett answered with a flush.
“That is conclusive,” said the professor, glaring angrily at mycompanion. “Now, sir” —he leaned forward with his two handsupon the table— “it seems to me that your position is a veryquestionable one.”
Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
“I can only repeat that I am sorry that we have made a needlessintrusion.”
“Hardly enough, Mr. Holmes!” the old man cried in a highscreaming voice, with extraordinary malignancy upon his face.
He got between us and the door as he spoke, and he shook histwo hands at us with furious passion. “You can hardly get out ofit so easily as that.” His face was convulsed, and he grinned andgibbered at us in his senseless rage. I am convinced that we shouldhave had to fight our way out of the room if Mr. Bennett had notintervened.
“My dear Professor,” he cried, “consider your position! Considerthe scandal at the university! Mr. Holmes is a well-known man.
You cannot possibly treat him with such discourtesy.”
Sulkily our host—if I may call him so—cleared the path to thedoor. We were glad to find ourselves outside the house and in thequiet of the tree-lined drive. Holmes seemed greatly amused bythe episode.
“Our learned friend’s nerves are somewhat out of order,” said he.
“Perhaps our intrusion was a little crude, and yet we have gainedthat personal contact which I desired. But, dear me, Watson, he issurely at our heels. The villain still pursues us.”
There were the sounds of running feet behind, but it was, to myrelief, not the formidable professor but his assistant who appearedround the curve of the drive. He came panting up to us.
“I am so sorry, Mr. Holmes. I wished to apologize.”
“My dear sir, there is no need. It is all in the way of professionalexperience.”
“I have never seen him in a more dangerous mood. But he growsmore sinister. You can understand now why his daughter and I arealarmed. And yet his mind is perfectly clear.”
“Too clear!” said Holmes. “That was my miscalculation. Itis evident that his memory is much more reliable than I hadthought. By the way, can we, before we go, see the window of MissPresbury’s room?”
Mr. Bennett pushed his way through some shrubs, and we had aview of the side of the house.
“It is there. The second on the left.”
“Dear me, it seems hardly accessible. And yet you will observethat there is a creeper below and a water-pipe above which givesome foothold.”
“I could not climb it myself,” said Mr. Bennett.
“Very likely. It would certainly be a dangerous exploit for anynormal man.”
“There was one other thing I wish to tell you, Mr. Holmes. Ihave the address of the man in London to whom the professorwrites. He seems to have written this morning, and I got it fromhis blotting-paper. It is an ignoble position for a trusted secretary,but what else can I do?”
Holmes glanced at the paper and put it into his pocket.
“Dorak—a curious name. Slavonic, I imagine. Well, it is animportant link in the chain. We return to London this afternoon,Mr. Bennett. I see no good purpose to be served by our remaining.
We cannot arrest the professor because he has done no crime, norcan we place him under constraint, for he cannot be proved to bemad. No action is as yet possible.”
“Then what on earth are we to do?”
“A little patience, Mr. Bennett. Things will soon develop. UnlessI am mistaken, next Tuesday may mark a crisis. Certainly weshall be in Camford on that day. Meanwhile, the general positionis undeniably unpleasant, and if Miss Presbury can prolong hervisit——”
“That is easy.”
“Then let her stay till we can assure her that all danger is past.
Meanwhile, let him have his way and do not cross him. So long ashe is in a good humour all is well.”
“There he is!” said Bennett in a startled whisper. Lookingbetween the branches we saw the tall, erect figure emerge fromthe hall door and look around him. He stood leaning forward, hishands swinging straight before him, his head turning from side toside. The secretary with a last wave slipped off among the trees,and we saw him presently rejoin his employer, the two enteringthe house together in what seemed to be animated and evenexcited conversation.
“I expect the old gentleman has been putting two and twotogether,” said Holmes as we walked hotelward. “He struck me ashaving a particularly clear and logical brain from the little I sawof him. Explosive, no doubt, but then from his point of view hehas something to explode about if detectives are put on his trackand he suspects his own household of doing it. I rather fancy thatfriend Bennett is in for an uncomfortable time.”
Holmes stopped at a post-office and sent off a telegram on ourway. The answer reached us in the evening, and he tossed it acrossto me.
Have visited the Commercial Road and seen Dorak. Suave person,Bohemian, elderly. Keeps large general store.
MERCER.
“Mercer is since your time,” said Holmes. “He is my generalutility man who looks up routine business. It was important toknow something of the man with whom our professor was sosecretly corresponding. His nationality connects up with thePrague visit.”
