The Adventure at Baskerville Hall & Other Cases

and she took the picture down from the mantelpiece and invited me to examine it more closely. "Taken in Rome, a year ago."
    "You have my condolences," I said, conscious of the inadequacy of the words. As I searched for better ones, we were interrupted by Holmes. Coming to stand on the other side of me, he glanced at the photograph I held and his hands twitched as though he longed to pluck it from me. Instead he merely asked, "Mrs. Maberley, who had this house before you?"
    "A retired sea captain called Ferguson."
    "Anything remarkable about him?"
    "Not that ever I heard of."
    "I was wondering whether he could have buried something. Of course, when people bury treasure nowadays they do it in the Post-Office bank, or the vaults of Cox and Co., eh Watson? But there are always some lunatics about. It would be a dull world without them." I shot Holmes a sharp glance, for this was hardly the sort of sentiment to express in front of a refined, elderly lady, but he ignored me. "At first I thought of some buried valuable. But why, in that case, should they want your furniture? You don't happen to have a Raphael or a first folio Shakespeare without knowing it?"
    "No, I don't think I have anything rarer than a Crown Derby tea-set."
    "That would hardly justify all this mystery. Besides, why should they not openly state what they want? If they covet your tea-set, they can surely offer a price for it without buying you out, lock, stock, and barrel. No, as I read it, there is something which you do not know that you have, and which you would not give up if you did know."
    "That is how I read it," said I.
    "Dr. Watson agrees, so that settles it."
    "Well, Mr. Holmes, what can it be?"
    "Let us see whether by this purely mental analysis we can get it to a finer point. You have been in this house a year."
    "Nearly two."
    "All the better. During this long period no one wants anything from you. Now suddenly within three or four days you have urgent demands. What would you gather from that?"
    "It can only mean," said I, "that the object, whatever it may be, has only just come into the house."
    "Settled once again," said Holmes. "Now, Mrs. Maberley, has any object just arrived?"
    "No, I have bought nothing new this year."
    "Indeed! That is very remarkable. Well, I think we had best let matters develop a little further until we have clearer data. Is that lawyer of yours a capable man?"
    "Mr. Sutro is most capable."
    "Have you another maid, or was Susan your only servant?"
    "I have a young girl."
    Holmes frowned. "Try and get Sutro to spend a night or two in the house. You might possibly want protection."
    "Against whom?"
    "Who knows? The matter is certainly obscure. If I can't find what they are after, I must approach the matter from the other end and try to get at the principal. Did this house-agent man give any address?"
    "Simply his card and occupation. Haines-Johnson, Auctioneer and Valuer."
    "I don't think we shall find him in the directory. Honest business men don't conceal their place of business. Well, you will let me know any fresh development. I have taken up your case, and you may rely upon it that I shall see it through."
    Holmes's voice sounded oddly serious, as though he were making a solemn vow, and I mused on it as we left the house. As we passed through the hall Holmes's eyes, which missed nothing, lighted upon several trunks and cases, which were piled in a corner. The labels shone out upon them.
    " 'Milano.' 'Lucerne.' These are from Italy."
    "They are poor Douglas's things."
    "You have not unpacked them? How long have you had them?"
    "They arrived last week."
    "But you said – why, surely this might be the missing link. How do we know that there is not something of value there?"
    "There could not possibly be, Mr. Holmes. Poor Douglas had only his pay and a small annuity. What could he have of value?"
    Holmes was lost in thought.
    "Delay no longer, Mrs. Maberley," he said at last. "Have these things taken upstairs to your bedroom. Examine them as soon as possible and see what they contain. I will come tomorrow and hear your report."
    We set off back to the station on foot, and while we walked I examined Holmes as he gazed unseeingly at the winter landscape. Eventually he stirred and spoke, his breath making great plumes in the frosty air.
    "We have the housemaid, Susan, to thank for our visitor this morning."
    "Oh?" I asked, encouragingly.
    "Yes. Mrs. Maberley sends Susan with her letters to the post-box, that much I