Chapter 6 chapter Five

During his travels, Holmes often felt that every human being was filled with infinite longing, the true nature of which he could not fully understand.Although this unspeakable longing did not exist in his country life, he saw it from time to time, especially in the strangers who kept invading his domain, and it became more and more over time. more and more obvious.In the early years, the intruders were usually drunk college students who wanted to praise him, London detectives who couldn't solve the case and wanted help, and the occasional young man from Gable's training camp. People (Gable is a famous training ground about half a mile from Holmes' home), or families on vacation, all want to meet the legendary famous detective.

"I'm sorry," he told them without exception, "but you must respect my privacy. Please leave now." World War I brought him a little peace, and fewer knocks on his door; something similar happened when World War II swept across Europe.But in the interwar period, the raiders returned in large numbers, and their membership gradually changed: people who wanted Holmes' autograph, reporters, readers from London and elsewhere; in stark contrast to these sociable people And there are physically disabled veterans, whose twisted bodies will be permanently confined in wheelchairs, their limbs and only their breath, who appear on his front steps like a cruel gift from heaven.

"I'm so sorry, I really—" Some people's requests are easy to refuse, such as chats, photos, autographs, etc.; but some people want things that are unreasonable, but it is difficult to say no-they may just want him to put his hand on their head and say a few words in a soft voice. A magical incantation (as if all their ills and misfortunes could be finally cured by him, and only by him).Even so, he insisted on refusing, often blaming the accompanying paramedics for pushing the wheelchair past the “No Access” sign. "Please leave immediately, or I will notify Sergeant Anderson of Sussex Police Station!"

Only recently has he loosened that strict rule a bit, even sitting with a young mother and her baby for a while.Roger spotted her at first, squatting beside the spice garden, her child wrapped in a cream scarf, her head resting on her bare left breast.When Roger took Holmes to find her, Holmes beat the ground with his cane all the way, whining as loudly as she could hear, saying that no one was allowed to enter his garden.But when he saw her, his anger disappeared, and he hesitated even to approach: she looked up at him with wide, serene eyes (her grimy face was full of confusion, her yellow shirt None of the buttons were buttoned—it was mud-stained and torn in many places—suggesting that she had indeed traveled a long way to find him).With dirty hands, she handed him the baby wrapped in a scarf.

"Go back to the house," he ordered Roger in a low voice, "call Anderson and tell him that it's urgent and that I'll be waiting for him in the garden." "Okay, sir." He saw details that the boy did not see: the mother held a small corpse in her trembling hands, her cheeks had turned purple, her lips were blue-black, countless flies were crawling from the hand-woven scarf Come out or fly around.After Roger had left, Holmes put aside his crutch, and with some difficulty sat down beside the woman.She gave him the ball of scarf again, and he took it gently, holding the baby to his chest.

By the time Anderson arrived, Holmes had returned the child to her—he and Sergeant Anderson stood side by side in the path for a moment, both looking at the bundle on the woman's breast (she had repeatedly thrust her nipples into the child's stiff mouth. Rise).The siren of the ambulance came from the east, getting closer and closer, and finally stopped at the gate of the farmhouse. "Do you think this is kidnapping?" Anderson asked in a low voice, stroking his slightly curly mustache.After he finished asking, his mouth was still open, and his eyes were fixed on the woman's chest.

"No," replied Holmes, "I do not think it is any crime at all." "Really?" the police officer asked back, and Holmes noticed a hint of displeasure in his tone: it turned out that this was not a major mystery, and he had lost an opportunity to solve the case side by side with the hero he admired as a child. "Then what do you think?" Holmes looked at the woman's hands and spoke to him.Judging by the dirt and dust under her fingernails, on her clothes and on her skin, she should have walked in the mud.She also dug mud with her hands.Her shoes were also covered in mud, but they were new, as if they hadn't been worn much.Still, she walked some distance, no farther than Seaford.Looking at her face, you can see the pain of a mother who has lost a newborn: "You can contact Seaford's colleagues and ask if there is any child whose grave was dug up in the middle of the night and the child's body disappeared. Ask if the child's mother is missing too. Ask if the child's name is Jeffrey."

Anderson seemed to have been slapped, and quickly glanced at Holmes: "How do you know?" Holmes shrugged with a wry smile: "I don't know, at least not sure." Mrs. Munroe's voice came from the front yard of the farmhouse, telling the ambulance crew how to go. Anderson in uniform looked a little desperate. He frowned, pulled his beard, and asked, "Why did she come here? Why did she come to you?" A cloud covered the sun and cast long shadows across the garden. "Hope, I suppose," said Holmes. "Many people feel that I might be able to help them find out when things are going nowhere. Besides, I don't know why."

"Then how do you know the child's name is Jeffrey?" Holmes explained: When he was holding the child, he asked the child's name.He seemed to hear her say Jeffrey.He asked how old the child was, but she just stared at the ground in pain and didn't answer.He asked where the child was born, but she still didn't answer.How far had she traveled to get here? "Seyford," she murmured, brushing the fly away from her forehead. "are you hungry?" no answer. "Would you like something to eat, honey?" no answer. "I think you must be very hungry. Would you like some water?"

"I think it's a stupid world." Finally, she finally said something, and after she finished speaking, she reached for the scarf. If he had been able to tell her what was in his heart at that time, then he would have agreed with her.