Лучшие расследования Шерлока Холмса / The Best of Sherlock Holmes. Артур Конан Дойл

you become engaged then?”

      “No.”

      “But you were on a friendly footing?”

      “I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was amused.”

      “Her father is very rich?”

      “He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope.”

      “And how did he make his money?”

      “In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds.”

      “Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady’s – your wife’s character?”

      The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down into the fire. “You see, Mr. Holmes,” said he, “my wife was twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy[91], with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of traditions. She is impetuous – volcanic, I was about to say. She is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the name which I have the honour to bear” – he gave a little stately cough – “had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her.”

      “Have you her photograph?”

      “I brought this with me.” He opened a locket and showed us the full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon.

      “The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your acquaintance?”

      “Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now married her.”

      “She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?”

      “A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family.”

      “And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a fait accompli[92]?”

      “I really have made no inquiries on the subject.”

      “Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the wedding?”

      “Yes.”

      “Was she in good spirits?”

      “Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our future lives.”

      “Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the wedding?”

      “She was as bright as possible – at least until after the ceremony.”

      “And did you observe any change in her then?”

      “Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible bearing upon the case.”

      “Pray let us have it, for all that.”

      “Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it fell over into the pew. There was a moment’s delay, but the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause.”

      “Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of the general public were present, then?”

      “Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is open.”

      “This gentleman was not one of your wife’s friends?”

      “No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point.”

      “Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do on re-entering her father’s house?”

      “I saw her in conversation with her maid.”

      “And who is her maid?”

      “Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California with her.”

      “A confidential servant?”

      “A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they look upon these things in a different way.”

      “How long did she speak to this Alice?”

      “Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of.”

      “You did not overhear what they said?”

      “Lady St. Simon said something about ‘jumping a claim.’ She was accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she meant.”

      “American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?”

      “She walked into the breakfast-room.”

      “On your arm?”

      “No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She never came back.”

      “But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to her room, covered her bride’s dress with a long ulster, put on a bonnet, and went out.”

      “Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran’s house that morning.”

      “Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, and your relations to her.”

      Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. “We have been on a friendly footing for some years – I may say on a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to Mr. Doran’s door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a row.”

      “Did your wife hear all this?”

      “No, thank goodness, she did not.”

      “And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?”

      “Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid some terrible trap for her.”

      “Well, it is a possible supposition.”

      “You

91

tomboy is a girl who behaves like a boy

92

fait accompli – accomplished fact (French), something that has already happened and can’t be reversed.