Page:The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927).djvu/229

 crawling down a passage at night? As to your dates, that is the biggest mystification of all.”

Holmes smiled and rubbed his hands. We were, I may say, seated in the old sitting-room of the ancient hotel, with a bottle of the famous vintage of which Holmes had spoken on the table between us.

“Well, now, let us take the dates first,” said he, his finger-tips together and his manner as if he were addressing a class. “This excellent young man’s diary shows that there was trouble upon July 2, and from then onwards it seems to have been at nine-day intervals, with, so far as I remember, only one exception. Thus the last outbreak upon Friday was on September 3, which also falls into the series, as did August 26, which preceded it. The thing is beyond coincidence.”

I was forced to agree.

“Let us, then, form the provisional theory that every nine days the Professor takes some strong drug which has a passing but highly poisonous effect. His naturally violent nature is intensified by it. He learned to take this drug while he was in Prague, and is now supplied with it by a Bohemian intermediary in London. This all hangs together, Watson!”

“But the dog, the face at the window, the creeping man in the passage?”

“Well, well, we have made a beginning. I should not expect any fresh developments until next Tuesday. In the meantime we can only keep in touch with friend Bennett and enjoy the amenities of this charming town.”

In the morning Mr. Bennett slipped round to bring us the latest report. As Holmes had imagined, times