He was in his
pyjamas. The left sleeve was torn, showing his bare arm, and stretched
out toward the safe. It looked—oh! so terrible, patched all with
blood, and with the flesh torn or cut all around a gold chain bangle on
his wrist. I did not know he wore such a thing, and it seemed to give
me a new shock of surprise.”

She paused a moment; and as I wished to relieve her by a moment’s
divergence of thought, I said:

“Oh, that need not surprise you. You will see the most unlikely men
wearing bangles. I have seen a judge condemn a man to death, and the
wrist of the hand he held up had a gold bangle.”  She did not seem to
heed much the words or the idea; the pause, however, relieved her
somewhat, and she went on in a steadier voice:

“I did not lose a moment in summoning aid, for I feared he might bleed
to death. I rang the bell, and then went out and called for help as
loudly as I could. In what must have been a very short time—though it
seemed an incredibly long one to me—some of the servants came running
up; and then others, till the room seemed full of staring eyes, and
dishevelled hair, and night clothes of all sorts. “We lifted Father on a sofa; and the housekeeper, Mrs. Grant, who
seemed to have her wits about her more than any of us, began to look
where the flow of blood came from. In a few seconds it became apparent
that it came from the arm which was bare. There was a deep wound—not
clean-cut as with a knife, but like a jagged rent or tear—close to the
wrist, which seemed to have cut into the vein. Mrs. Grant tied a
handkerchief round the cut, and screwed it up tight with a silver
paper-cutter; and the flow of blood seemed to be checked at once. By
this time I had come to my senses—or such of them as remained; and I
sent off one man for the doctor and another for the police. When they
had gone, I felt that, except for the servants, I was all alone in the
house, and that I knew nothing—of my Father or anything else; and a
great longing came to me to have someone with me who could help me. Then I thought of you and your kind offer in the boat under the
willow-tree; and, without waiting to think, I told the men to get a
carriage ready at once, and I scribbled a note and sent it on to you.”

She paused. I did not like to say just then anything of how I felt. I
looked at her; I think she understood, for her eyes were raised to mine
for a moment and then fell, leaving her cheeks as red as peony roses. With a manifest effort she went on with her story:

“The Doctor was with us in an incredibly short time. The groom had met
him letting himself into his house with his latchkey, and he came here
running. He made a proper tourniquet for poor Father’s arm, and then
went home to get some appliances. I dare say he will be back almost
immediately. Then a policeman came, and sent a message to the station;
and very soon the Superintendent was here. Then you came.”

There was a long pause, and I ventured to take her hand for an instant. Without a word more we opened the door, and joined the Superintendent
in the hall. He hurried up to us, saying as he came:

“I have been examining everything myself, and have sent off a message
to Scotland Yard. You see, Mr. Ross, there seemed so much that was odd
about the case that I thought we had better have the best man of the
Criminal Investigation Department that we could get. So I sent a note
asking to have Sergeant Daw sent at once. You remember him, sir, in
that American poisoning case at Hoxton.”

“Oh yes,” I said, “I remember him well; in that and other cases, for I
have benefited several times by his skill and acumen. He has a mind
that works as truly as any that I know. When I have been for the
defence, and believed my man was innocent, I was glad to have him
against us!”

“That is high praise, sir!” said the Superintendent gratified:  “I am
glad you approve of my choice; that I did well in sending for him.”

I answered heartily:

“Could not be better. I do not doubt that between you we shall get at
the facts—and what lies behind them!”

We ascended to Mr. Trelawny’s room, where we found everything exactly
as his daughter had described. There came a ring at the house bell, and a minute later a man was shown
into the room. A young man with aquiline features, keen grey eyes, and
a forehead that stood out square and broad as that of a thinker. In
his hand he had a black bag which he at once opened. Miss Trelawny
introduced us:  “Doctor Winchester, Mr. Ross, Superintendent Dolan.”
We bowed mutually, and he, without a moment’s delay, began his work. We all waited, and eagerly watched him as he proceeded to dress the
wound. As he went on he turned now and again to call the
Superintendent’s attention to some point about the wound, the latter
proceeding to enter the fact at once in his notebook. “See! several parallel cuts or scratches beginning on the left side of
the wrist and in some places endangering the radial artery. “These small wounds here, deep and jagged, seem as if made with a blunt
instrument. This in particular would seem as if made with some kind of
sharp wedge; the flesh round it seems torn as if with lateral pressure.”

Turning to Miss Trelawny he said presently:

“Do you think we might remove this bangle? It is not absolutely
necessary, as it will fall lower on the wrist where it can hang
loosely; but it might add to the patient’s comfort later on.”  The poor
girl flushed deeply as she answered in a low voice:

“I do not know. I—I have only recently come to live with my Father;
and I know so little of his life or his ideas that I fear I can hardly
judge in such a matter. The Doctor, after a keen glance at her, said
in a very kindly way:

“Forgive me! I did not know. But in any case you need not be
distressed. It is not required at present to move it. Were it so I
should do so at once on my own responsibility. If it be necessary
later on, we can easily remove it with a file. Your Father doubtless
has some object in keeping it as it is. See! there is a tiny key
attached to it....” As he was speaking he stopped and bent lower,
taking from my hand the candle which I held and lowering it till its
light fell on the bangle. Then motioning me to hold the candle in the
same position, he took from his pocket a magnifying-glass which he
adjusted. When he had made a careful examination he stood up and
handed the magnifying-glass to Dolan, saying as he did so:

“You had better examine it yourself. That is no ordinary bangle. The
gold is wrought over triple steel links; see where it is worn away. It
is manifestly not meant to be removed lightly; and it would need more
than an ordinary file to do it.”

The Superintendent bent his great body; but not getting close enough
that way knelt down by the sofa as the Doctor had done. He examined
the bangle minutely, turning it slowly round so that no particle of it
escaped observation. Then he stood up and handed the magnifying-glass
to me.