upset by the tragic news. We received a telegram from
Dr. Huxtable yesterday afternoon, which told us of your
discovery."
"I must see the Duke, Mr. Wilder."
"But he is in his room."
"Then I must go to his room."
"I believe he is in his bed."
"I will see him there."
Holmes's cold and inexorable manner showed the secretary
that it was useless to argue with him.
"Very good, Mr. Holmes; I will tell him that you are here."
After half an hour's delay the great nobleman appeared.
His face was more cadaverous than ever, his shoulders had
rounded, and he seemed to me to be an altogether older man
than he had been the morning before. He greeted us with a
stately courtesy and seated himself at his desk, his red
beard streaming down on to the table.
"Well, Mr. Holmes?" said he.
But my friend's eyes were fixed upon the secretary,
who stood by his master's chair.
"I think, your Grace, that I could speak more freely in
Mr. Wilder's absence."
The man turned a shade paler and cast a malignant glance
at Holmes.
"If your Grace wishes ----"
"Yes, yes; you had better go. Now, Mr. Holmes, what have
you to say?"
My friend waited until the door had closed behind the
retreating secretary.
"The fact is, your Grace," said he, "that my colleague,
Dr. Watson, and myself had an assurance from Dr. Huxtable that
a reward had been offered in this case. I should like to
have this confirmed from your own lips."
"Certainly, Mr. Holmes."
"It amounted, if I am correctly informed, to five thousand
pounds to anyone who will tell you where your son is?"
"Exactly."
"And another thousand to the man who will name the person
or persons who keep him in custody?"
"Exactly."
"Under the latter heading is included, no doubt, not only
those who may have taken him away, but also those who
conspire to keep him in his present position?"
"Yes, yes," cried the Duke, impatiently. "If you do your
work well, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, you will have no reason to
complain of niggardly treatment."
My friend rubbed his thin hands together with an appearance
of avidity which was a surprise to me, who knew his frugal
tastes.
"I fancy that I see your Grace's cheque-book upon the
table," said he. "I should be glad if you would make me
out a cheque for six thousand pounds. It would be as well,
perhaps, for you to cross it. The Capital and Counties
Bank, Oxford Street branch, are my agents."
His Grace sat very stern and upright in his chair,
and looked stonily at my friend.
"Is this a joke, Mr. Holmes? It is hardly a subject for
pleasantry."
"Not at all, your Grace. I was never more earnest in my life."
"What do you mean, then?"
"I mean that I have earned the reward. I know where your son
is, and I know some, at least, of those who are holding him."
The Duke's beard had turned more aggressively red than ever
against his ghastly white face.
"Where is he?" he gasped.
"He is, or was last night, at the Fighting Cock Inn,
about two miles from your park gate."
The Duke fell back in his chair.
"And whom do you accuse?"
Sherlock Holmes's answer was an astounding one. He stepped
swiftly forward and touched the Duke upon the shoulder.
"I accuse _you_," said he. "And now, your Grace,
I'll trouble you for that cheque."
Never shall I forget the Duke's appearance as he sprang up
and clawed with his hands like one who is sinking into an
abyss. Then, with an extraordinary effort of aristocratic
self-command, he sat down and sank his face in his hands.
It was some minutes before he spoke.
"How much do you know?" he asked at last, without raising
his head.
"I saw you together last night."
"Does anyone else besides your friend know?"
"I have spoken to no one."
The Duke took a pen in his quivering fingers and opened his
cheque-book.
"I shall be as good as my word, Mr. Holmes. I am about to
write your cheque, however unwelcome the information which
you have gained may be to me. When the offer was first
made I little thought the turn which events might take.
But you and your friend are men of discretion, Mr. Holmes?"
"I hardly understand your Grace."
"I must put it plainly, Mr. Holmes. If only you two know
of this incident, there is no reason why it should go any
farther. I think twelve thousand pounds is the sum that I
owe you, is it not?"
But Holmes smiled and shook his head.
"I fear, your Grace, that matters can hardly be arranged so
easily. There is the death of this schoolmaster to be
accounted for."
"But James knew nothing of that. You cannot hold him
responsible for that. It was the work of this brutal
ruffian whom he had the misfortune to employ."
"I must take the view, your Grace, that when a man embarks
upon a crime he is morally guilty of any other crime which
may spring from it."
"Morally, Mr. Holmes. No doubt you are right. But surely
not in the eyes of the law. A man cannot be condemned for
a murder at which he was not present, and which he loathes
and abhors as much as you do. The instant that he heard of
it he made a complete confession to me, so filled was he
with horror and remorse. He lost not an hour in breaking
entirely with the murderer. Oh, Mr. Holmes, you must save
him -- you must save him! I tell you that you must save him!"
The Duke had dropped the last attempt at self-command,
and was pacing the room with a convulsed face and with his
clenched hands raving in the air. At last he mastered himself
and sat down once more at his desk. "I appreciate your conduct
in coming here before you spoke to anyone else," said he.
"At least we may take counsel how far we can minimize this
hideous scandal."
"Exactly," said Holmes. "I think, your Grace, that this can
only be done by absolute and complete frankness between us.
I am disposed to help your Grace to the best of my ability;
but in order to do so I must understand to the last detail
how the matter stands. I realize that your words applied
to Mr. James Wilder, and that he is not the murderer."
"No; the murderer has escaped."
Sherlock Holmes smiled demurely.
"Your Grace can hardly have heard of any small reputation
which I possess, or you would not imagine that it is so
easy to escape me. Mr. Reuben Hayes was arrested at
Chesterfield on my information at eleven o'clock last night.
I had a telegram from the head of the local police before
I left the school this morning."
The Duke leaned back in his chair and stared with amazement
 
; at my friend.
"You seem to have powers that are hardly human," said he.
"So Reuben Hayes is taken? I am right glad to hear it,
if it will not react upon the fate of James."
"Your secretary?"
"No, sir; my son."
It was Holmes's turn to look astonished.
"I confess that this is entirely new to me, your Grace.
I must beg you to be more explicit."
"I will conceal nothing from you. I agree with you that
complete frankness, however painful it may be to me, is the
best policy in this desperate situation to which James's
folly and jealousy have reduced us. When I was a very
young man, Mr. Holmes, I loved with such a love as comes
only once in a lifetime. I offered the lady marriage,
but she refused it on the grounds that such a match might
mar my career. Had she lived I would certainly never have
married anyone else. She died, and left this one child,
whom for her sake I have cherished and cared for. I could
not acknowledge the paternity to the world; but I gave him
the best of educations, and since he came to manhood I have
kept him near my person. He surprised my secret, and has
presumed ever since upon the claim which he has upon me and
upon his power of provoking a scandal, which would be
abhorrent to me. His presence had something to do with the
unhappy issue of my marriage. Above all, he hated my young
legitimate heir from the first with a persistent hatred.
You may well ask me why, under these circumstances, I still
kept James under my roof. I answer that it was because I
could see his mother's face in his, and that for her dear
sake there was no end to my long-suffering. All her pretty
ways, too -- there was not one of them which he could not suggest
and bring back to my memory. I _could_ not send him away.
But I feared so much lest he should do Arthur -- that is,
Lord Saltire -- a mischief that I dispatched him for safety
to Dr. Huxtable's school.
"James came into contact with this fellow Hayes because the
man was a tenant of mine, and James acted as agent.
The fellow was a rascal from the beginning; but in some
extraordinary way James became intimate with him. He had
always a taste for low company. When James determined to
kidnap Lord Saltire it was of this man's service that he
availed himself. You remember that I wrote to Arthur upon
that last day. Well, James opened the letter and inserted
a note asking Arthur to meet him in a little wood called
the Ragged Shaw, which is near to the school. He used the
Duchess's name, and in that way got the boy to come.
That evening James bicycled over -- I am telling you what he has
himself confessed to me -- and he told Arthur, whom he met in
the wood, that his mother longed to see him, that she was
awaiting him on the moor, and that if he would come back
into the wood at midnight he would find a man with a horse,
who would take him to her. Poor Arthur fell into the trap.
He came to the appointment and found this fellow Hayes with
a led pony. Arthur mounted, and they set off together.
It appears -- though this James only heard yesterday -- that they
were pursued, that Hayes struck the pursuer with his stick,
and that the man died of his injuries. Hayes brought
Arthur to his public-house, the Fighting Cock, where he was
confined in an upper room, under the care of Mrs. Hayes,
who is a kindly woman, but entirely under the control of
her brutal husband.
"Well, Mr. Holmes, that was the state of affairs when I
first saw you two days ago. I had no more idea of the
truth than you. You will ask me what was James's motive in
doing such a deed. I answer that there was a great deal
which was unreasoning and fanatical in the hatred which he
bore my heir. In his view he should himself have been heir
of all my estates, and he deeply resented those social laws
which made it impossible. At the same time he had a
definite motive also. He was eager that I should break the
entail, and he was of opinion that it lay in my power to do
so. He intended to make a bargain with me -- to restore
Arthur if I would break the entail, and so make it possible
for the estate to be left to him by will. He knew well
that I should never willingly invoke the aid of the police
against him. I say that he would have proposed such a
bargain to me, but he did not actually do so, for events
moved too quickly for him, and he had not time to put his
plans into practice.
"What brought all his wicked scheme to wreck was your
discovery of this man Heidegger's dead body. James was
seized with horror at the news. It came to us yesterday
as we sat together in this study. Dr. Huxtable had sent
a telegram. James was so overwhelmed with grief and
agitation that my suspicions, which had never been entirely
absent, rose instantly to a certainty, and I taxed him
with the deed. He made a complete voluntary confession.
Then he implored me to keep his secret for three days longer,
so as to give his wretched accomplice a chance of saving his
guilty life. I yielded -- as I have always yielded -- to his
prayers, and instantly James hurried off to the Fighting
Cock to warn Hayes and give him the means of flight.
I could not go there by daylight without provoking comment,
but as soon as night fell I hurried off to see my dear Arthur.
I found him safe and well, but horrified beyond
expression by the dreadful deed he had witnessed.
In deference to my promise, and much against my will,
I consented to leave him there for three days under the
charge of Mrs. Hayes, since it was evident that it was
impossible to inform the police where he was without
telling them also who was the murderer, and I could not see
how that murderer could be punished without ruin to my
unfortunate James. You asked for frankness, Mr. Holmes,
and I have taken you at your word, for I have now told
you everything without an attempt at circumlocution or
concealment. Do you in your turn be as frank with me."
"I will," said Holmes. "In the first place, your Grace,
I am bound to tell you that you have placed yourself in a
most serious position in the eyes of the law. You have
condoned a felony and you have aided the escape of a
murderer; for I cannot doubt that any money which was taken
by James Wilder to aid his accomplice in his flight came
from your Grace's purse."
The Duke bowed his assent.
"This is indeed a most serious matter. Even more culpable
in my opinion, your Grace, is your attitude towards your
younger son. You leave him in this den for three days."
"Under solemn promises ----"
"What are promises to such people as these?
You have no guarantee that he will not be spirited away again.
To humour your guilty elder son you have exposed your innocent
younger son to imminent and unnecessary danger.
It was a most unjustifiable action."
The proud lord of Holdernesse was not accustomed to be so
rated in his own ducal hall. The blood flushed into his
high forehead, but his conscience held him dumb.
"I will help you, but on one condition only. It is that you
ring for the footman and let me give such orders as I like."
Without a word the Duke pressed the electric bell.
A servant entered.
"You will be glad to hear," said Holmes, "that your young
master is found. It is the Duke's desire that the carriage
shall go at once to the Fighting Cock Inn to bring Lord
Saltire home.
"Now," said Holmes," {3} when the rejoicing lackey had
disappeared, "having secured the future, we can afford to
be more lenient with the past. I am not in an official
position, and there is no reason, so long as the ends of
justice are served, why I should disclose all that I know.
As to Hayes I say nothing. The gallows awaits him, and I
would do nothing to save him from it. What he will divulge
I cannot tell, but I have no doubt that your Grace could
make him understand that it is to his interest to be
silent. From the police point of view he will have
kidnapped the boy for the purpose of ransom. If they do
not themselves find it out I see no reason why I should
prompt them to take a broader point of view. I would warn
your Grace, however, that the continued presence of
Mr. James Wilder in your household can only lead to
misfortune."
"I understand that, Mr. Holmes, and it is already settled
that he shall leave me for ever and go to seek his fortune
in Australia."
"In that case, your Grace, since you have yourself stated
that any unhappiness in your married life was caused by his
presence, I would suggest that you make such amends as you
can to the Duchess, and that you try to resume those
relations which have been so unhappily interrupted."
"That also I have arranged, Mr. Holmes. I wrote to the
Duchess this morning."
"In that case," said Holmes, rising, "I think that my
friend and I can congratulate ourselves upon several
most happy results from our little visit to the North.
There is one other small point upon which I desire some light.
This fellow Hayes had shod his horses with shoes which
counterfeited the tracks of cows. Was it from Mr. Wilder
that he learned so extraordinary a device?"
The Duke stood in thought for a moment, with a look of
intense surprise on his face. Then he opened a door
and showed us into a large room furnished as a museum.
He led the way to a glass case in a corner, and pointed
to the inscription.
"These shoes," it ran, "were dug up in the moat of
Holdernesse Hall. They are for the use of horses; but they
are shaped below with a cloven foot of iron, so as to throw
pursuers off the track. They are supposed to have belonged
to some of the marauding Barons of Holdernesse in the
Middle Ages."
Holmes opened the case, and moistening his finger he passed
it along the shoe. A thin film of recent mud was left upon
his skin.
"Thank you," said he, as he replaced the glass. "It is the
second most interesting object that I have seen in the North."
"And the first?"
Holmes folded up his cheque and placed it carefully in his note-book.
"I am a poor man," said he, as he patted it affectionately and thrust
it into the depths of his inner pocket.
{-------------------------- End of Text ---------------------------}
{------------------------------------------------------------------}
{------------------------- Textual Notes --------------------------}
{Source: Strand Magazine, 27 (Feb. 1904)}
{Italics in the text are indicated with (_)}
{1} {"encyclopaedia": the a&e are a ligature}
{2} {only an approximation of the cattle track graphics. See the}