Приключения Шерлока Холмса / The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (сборник)

In a second Holmes put a pistol to the man’s head[145] and Martin put the handcuffs on. It was all done so quickly that the man was helpless before he knew that he was attacked. He looked at us and started laughing.

“Well, gentlemen, you have caught me this time. I have no choice. But I came here in answer to a letter from Mrs. Hilton Cubitt. Don’t tell me that she is with you! Don’t tell me that she helped to set a trap for me[146]!”

“Mrs. Hilton Cubitt was seriously injured and is dying now.”

“You’re crazy!” he cried, furiosly. “It was he who was hurt, not she! Who could hurt my little Elsie? Yes, I threatened her, God forgive me, but I didn’t touch a hair of her pretty head. Don’t say such things… you! Say that she is not hurt!”

“We found her near her dead husband, and she was terribly wounded.”

He groaned and hid his face in his hands. For five minutes he was silent. Then he raised his face and spoke with cold despair.

“I have nothing to hide from you, gentlemen,” he said. “I shot the man but he also had his shot at me, so it’s not a murder. But if you think that I could hurt that woman, then you don’t know me… and her. I always loved her. No one loved a woman more than I loved her. I had a right to her.[147] Who was this Englishman that came between us? I tell you that I had the first right to her, and that I was here to get her back.”

“She ran away from you when she found out who you are,” said Holmes, severely. “She left America to escape from you, and she married an honourable gentleman in England. You followed and frightened her. You wanted to persuade her to leave the husband whom she loved and respected. She feared and hated you. So you killed Mr. Cubitt and nearly made Mrs. Cubitt to commit suicide.[148] That is what you’ve done, Mr. Abe Slaney, and you will answer for it in the trial.”

“If Elsie dies I don’t care what happens,” said the American. He opened one of his hands and saw a note.

“Look, mister!”, he cried, with suspicion in his eyes, “You’re not trying to cheat me, are you? If the lady is hurt, who wrote this note?” He threw it on the table.

“I wrote it,” said Holmes.

“You? No one except us knew the secret of the dancing men! How could you write it?”

“What one man can invent another can discover,” said Holmes. “A cab is coming to escort you to Norwich, Mr. Slaney. However, you have time to make something useful. Do you know that Mrs. Hilton Cubitt has been accused of the murder of her own husband? And that it was only the knowledge which I had that has saved her from the accusation? The least that you can do for her is to say to the world that she was in no way[149] responsible for his tragic end.”

“I’ll do it,” said the American. “I guess I should tell you the whole truth.”

“It is my duty to warn you that it will be used against you,” cried the inspector.

“I’ll try,” Slaney said. “First of all, you should understand that I have known this lady since she was a child. There were seven of us in a gang in Chicago, and Elsie’s father was the boss. He was a clever man. It was he who invented that writing. Well, Elsie found out who we were and she didn’t like it. She had some honest money and decided to leave the country and go to London. Elsie was engaged to me, and she said that she would marry me if only I had taken another profession. But she didn’t want to marry a cheater.

Only after her marriage to this Englishman I found out where she was. I wrote to her, but didn’t get an answer. After that I came to London and, as letters were useless, I wrote my messages where she could read them.”

“Well, I have been here a month now. I lived in that farm, where I had a room downstairs, and could get in and out every night, and no one could see me. I tried to persuade Elsie to come back. I knew that she read the messages, because once she wrote an answer under one of them. Then I began to threaten her. She sent me a letter then, she asked me to go away and said that it would break her heart if anyone found out something. She said that she would come down when her husband was asleep at three in the morning. She said she would speak with me through the window, if I would go away afterwards and leave her in peace. She came down and brought money with her, she tried to pay me. This made me mad[150], and I caught her arm and tried to pull her through the window. At that moment her husband ran in with the revolver in his hand. Elsie fainted, and we were face to face[151]. I was armed also, and I raised my gun to frighten him and let me get away. But he fired and missed. I shot almost at the same moment, and he fell backwards. I ran across the garden and I heard that someone shut the window. That’s all, gentlemen, every word is truthful. And I heard nothing until that boy came with a note, which made me walk here and give myself into your hands.”