“Hum! There was no use your giving this unnecessary trouble.
We have had work enough already through you. However, doctor,I need not warn you to be careful. Bring the box back with you tothe Baker Street rooms. You will find us there, on our way to thestation.”
They landed me at Vauxhall, with my heavy iron box, and witha bluff, genial inspector as my companion. A quarter of an hour’sdrive brought us to Mrs. Cecil Forrester’s. The servant seemedsurprised at so late a visitor. Mrs. Cecil Forrester was out for theevening, she explained, and likely to be very late. Miss Morstan,however, was in the drawing-room; so to the drawing-room I went,box in hand, leaving the obliging inspector in the cab.
She was seated by the open window, dressed in some sort ofwhite diaphanous material, with a little touch of scarlet at theneck and waist. The soft light of a shaded lamp fell upon her asshe leaned back in the basket chair, playing over her sweet graveface, and tinting with a dull, metallic sparkle the rich coils of herluxuriant hair. One white arm and hand drooped over the side ofthe chair, and her whole pose and figure spoke of an absorbingmelancholy. At the sound of my footfall she sprang to her feet,however, and a bright flush of surprise and of pleasure colored herpale cheeks.
“I heard a cab drive up,” she said. “I thought that Mrs. Forresterhad come back very early, but I never dreamed that it might beyou. What news have you brought me?”
“I have brought something better than news, said I, puttingdown the box upon the table and speaking jovially and boisterously,though my heart was heavy within me. “I have brought yousomething which is worth all the news in the world. I havebrought you a fortune.”
She glanced at the iron box.
“Is that the treasure then?” she asked, coolly enough.
“Yes, this is the great Agra treasure. Half of it is yours and halfis Thaddeus Sholto’s. You will have a couple of hundred thousandeach. Think of that! An annuity of ten thousand pounds. Therewill be few richer young ladies in England. Is it not glorious?”
I think I must have been rather over-acting my delight, and thatshe detected a hollow ring in my congratulations, for I saw hereyebrows rise a little, and she glanced at me curiously.
“If I have it,” said she, “I owe it to you.”
“No, no,” I answered, “not to me but to my friend SherlockHolmes. With all the will in the world, I could never have followedup a clue which has taxed even his analytical genius. As it was, wevery nearly lost it at the last moment.”
“Pray sit down and tell me all about it, Dr. Watson,” said she.
I narrated briefly what had occurred since I had seen her last.
Holmes’s new method of search, the discovery of the Aurora, theappearance of Athelney Jones, our expedition in the evening, andthe wild chase down the Thames. She listened with parted lips andshining eyes to my recital of our adventures. When I spoke of thedart which had so narrowly missed us, she turned so white that Ifeared that she was about to faint.
“It is nothing,” she said as I hastened to pour her out somewater. “I am all right again. It was a shock to me to hear that I hadplaced my friends in such horrible peril.”
“That is all over,” I answered. “It was nothing. I will tell you nomore gloomy details. Let us turn to something brighter. There is thetreasure. What could be brighter than that? I got leave to bring itwith me, thinking that it would interest you to be the first to see it.”
“It would be of the greatest interest to me,” she said. There wasno eagerness in her voice, however. It had struck her, doubtless,that it might seem ungracious upon her part to be indifferent to aprize which had cost so much to win.
“What a pretty box!” she said, stooping over it. “This is Indianwork, I suppose?”
“Yes; it is Benares metal-work.”
“And so heavy!” she exclaimed, trying to raise it. “The box alonemust be of some value. Where is the key?”
“Small threw it into the Thames,” I answered. “I must borrowMrs. Forrester’s poker.”
There was in the front a thick and broad hasp, wrought in theimage of a sitting Buddha. Under this I thrust the end of thepoker and twisted it outward as a lever. The hasp sprang open witha loud snap. With trembling fingers I flung back the lid. We bothstood gazing in astonishment. The box was empty!
No wonder that it was heavy. The ironwork was two-thirds ofan inch thick all round. It was massive, well made, and solid, like achest constructed to carry things of great price, but not one shredor crumb of metal or jewelry lay within it. It was absolutely andcompletely empty.
“The treasure is lost,” said Miss Morstan calmly.
As I listened to the words and realized what they meant, agreat shadow seemed to pass from my soul. I did not know howthis Agra treasure had weighed me down until now that it wasfinally removed. It was selfish, no doubt, disloyal, wrong, but Icould realize nothing save that the golden barrier was gone frombetween us.
“Thank God!” I ejaculated from my very heart.
She looked at me with a quick, questioning smile.
“Why do you say that?” she asked.
“Because you are within my reach again,” I said, taking herhand. She did not withdraw it. “Because I love you, Mary, as trulyas ever a man loved a woman. Because this treasure, these riches,sealed my lips. Now that they are gone I can tell you how I loveyou. That is why I said, Thank God.
Then I say ‘Thank God,’ too,” she whispered as I drew her tomy side.
Whoever had lost a treasure, I knew that night that I hadgained one.
The Strange Story of Jonathan Small
A very patient man was that inspector in the cab, for it was aweary time before I rejoined him. His face clouded over when Ishowed him the empty box.
“There goes the reward!” said he gloomily. “Where there is nomoney there is no pay. This night’s work would have been worth atenner each to Sam Brown and me if the treasure had been there.”
“Mr. Thaddeus Sholto is a rich man,” I said; “He will see thatyou are rewarded, treasure or no.”
The inspector shook his head despondently, however.
