The Dancing Men (3)

Here is the third episode of a book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, retold by Anne Collins.

Enjoy!

The Dancing Men (3)

Episode 3: Mr Cubitt's Second Visit

During the next few days, Holmes was very quiet. Several times he looked at the paper with the dancing figures on it.

then one afternoon, about a fortnight later, we had another visit from Mr Cubitt. he seemed worried and tired.

'My wife hasn't told me anything yet, Mr Holmes,' he said. 'But I have more pictures of dancing men and - more important - I've seen the men who draws them.

'But I'll tell you everything that has happened. the morning after I visited you, I found another line of dancing men. they were drawn with chalk on the toolhouse which stands in the garden, near the house. I made this copy.'

Hilton Cubitt unfolded a paper and laid it on the table. 

'Excellent!' cried Holmes. 'Please go on.'

'After I'd made the copy,' continued Mr Cubitt, 'I cleaned off the marks. But two days later, another drawing appeared. Here it is:

Holmes was delighted.

'We're beginning to get a lot of information,' he said.

'I decided to find out who was drawing these pictures,' went on Hilton Cubitt. 'So the next night, I took my gun and sat beside a window which looks out onto the garden.

'At about two o'clock in the morning, my wife came into the room. She was wearing her night clothes. she asked me to come to bed. But I refused.

"No, Elsie," I said. "I want to see who is drawing these pictures."

'Suddenly I saw Elsie's face turn very white in the moonlight. She was looking out of the window. I looked out of the window, too. I saw something moving near the toolhouse. A dark figure came slowly round the corner of the toolhouse and stopped beside the door. 

'Immediately, I picked up my gun. I wanted to run out of the house, but my wife caught me in her arms and held me back. By the time I got outside, the man was gone.

On the toolhouse door was the same drawing I copied before:

'I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find the man. However, in the morning, when I looked at the toolhouse door again, I saw a second line of dancing men. This new line is very short, but I made a copy and here it is.'

Hilton Cubitt gave another piece of paper to Holmes.

I could see that Holmes was very excited.

'Tell me,' he said, 'was this second line of figures separate from the first?'

'It was on a different part of the door.'

'Excellent!' cried Holmes. 'This last drawing is very important. It makes me feel hopeful. Please continue your interesting story.'

'I've nothing more to say,' replied Hilton Cubitt, 'except, I was angry with Elsie for holding me back. I'm sure she knows who this man is and what these pictures mean.

'Now I must go back to Norfolk. Elsie is very frightened and I don't want to leave her alone at night.'

'Well,' said Holmes, 'please leave these pictures with me. I will examine them carefully. I think I'll be able to solve the mystery soon.'

(to be continued)