“But you can tell me whether my own idea is correct, and if she died of fear.”
“No, I do not think so. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you, for Dr. Roylott must not see us here. Good-bye, and if you do what I have told you, nothing will threaten you.”
Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in getting a room at the Crown. It was on the upper floor, and from our window we could see Stoke Moran. In the evening we saw Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, and a few minutes later we saw a light among the trees as the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms.
“Do you know, Watson,” said Holmes as we sat together in our hotel room, “I have really some doubts about taking you to-night. It is certainly dangerous.”
“Can I be of help to you?[25]”
“Oh, yes.”
“Then I shall certainly come.”
“It is very kind of you.”
“You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms than I have.”
“No. I imagine that you saw all that I did.”
“I saw nothing unusual except the bell-rope, but why it is important I cannot imagine.”
“You saw the ventilator, too?”
“Yes, but I do not think that it is such an unusual thing to have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that no one could pass through it.”
“I knew that we should find a ventilator even before we came to Stoke Moran.”
“My dear Holmes!”
“Oh, yes, I did. You remember Miss Stoner said that her sister could smell Dr. Roylott’s cigar. Now, of course that meant that there was an opening between the two rooms.”
“But it is so small!”
“Well, the dates are strange. A ventilator is made, a bell-rope is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the bed dies. Does that not strike you?”
“I cannot see any connection.”
“Did you notice anything very unusual about that bed?”
“No.”
“It was fastened to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened like that before?”
“Never.”
“The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same position to the ventilator and to the bell-rope – or so we may call it, for it was clearly never meant for a bell.”
“Holmes,” I cried, “I seem to see what you mean[26]. We are in time to prevent some horrible crime.”
“Horrible enough. When a doctor turns to crime[27] he is the first of criminals. But we shall have enough horrors before the night is over; let us rest and think for a few hours about something more pleasant.”