Chapter One
It was at the end of the year 1878, after the singular case of Jefferson Hope, that I was suddenly woken by a loud ringing of the bell. I glanced at the clock. “Why, it’s not even six in the morning!” I exclaimed. I quickly dressed into my coat and came down into the sitting-room.
“It seems, Watson, that we have a quite interesting problem here,” said Sherlock Holmes, lounging on the chair with his pipe lit. “Otherwise, our friend here wouldn’t wake us at this unseemly time.” A pale young man was shown in to us. He was shivering with fear.
“Sorry to intrude, sir, but I have had such a frightful experience that I nearly fell unconscious on seeing such a sight.” said our visitor. He was almost as tall as Holmes was, with fair hair and hazel eyes. I would place his age at twenty-five. “My name is Henry Brown, and I am twenty-five years old.” said he. “I live in Upper Norwood, and I am an electrician. I am engaged to Miss Eliza Patterson, who you helped in some curious matters, and it was she who directed me to you.”
“Pray continue with your statement,” said Holmes.
“Tonight, I was returning to my lodgings with the Patterson family at four-fifty, when I heard a most awful sound, Mr. Holmes. Never shall I forget that sound for the rest of my life.” he said. “I turned around, and saw nothing. But then I noticed a figure crawling behind the blinds of a house to my right. I went and looked closer, and lo! There was a man crawling on the ground with a horribly distorted face. There were a lot of blood stains on the ground, but he was not bleeding. He cried, and I rushed in to help him, but he died before I reached him. It was grotesque.”
“My! This is interesting. Please continue.” said Holmes.
“Indeed it is, Mr. Brown. Holmes, this is a case worthy of you.” said I.
“Then I returned home. Eliza asked me what happened to me for me to look so pale. I explained it the best I could, and promptly collapsed into a chair.” said Henry Brown. “I drank some cold water, thought the matter over, and rushed over to you. Eliza called the police.”
“Remarkable! Were there any signs of violence on the body?” asked Holmes.
“No, there were none. However, as I have already said, there were considerable blood stains on the floor.”
“That’s interesting. The blood must have come from the murderer. Or a killed animal. Did you see anything of the sort?”
“No, Mr. Holmes. Please help me. I am at a loss.”
“Well, I am most certainly going to take a look at the case,” said Sherlock Holmes casually. “However, we shall grab a bit of Mrs. Hudson’s good cooking before we go. And, Watson, please take down the encyclopædia of crime. We shall look through it and see for ourselves similar crimes.”
“Mr. Holmes, I should be much indebted to you if you solved this case!” exclaimed our client.
I grabbed my revolver, umbrella, and overcoat after eating a bit of breakfast. Five minutes later, we were squeezed in a hansom on the way to London Bridge. After we got on the train, I looked at my pocket-watch. It was half-past seven. Half an hour later, we were in Upper Norwood. As we got out, our client was talking with Holmes.
“What do you think of the case, Mr. Holmes?”
“Nothing much yet. I need to see the crime.”
“I hope you make the best of it, Mr. Holmes.”
“Many times I have been unlucky. However, many more criminals have been caught and apprehended because of me. Don’t completely trust my knowledge.”
“Here, Mr. Holmes, this is the place.” said Mr. Brown.
Anay Ganesh 