Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with Toller
hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its black muzzle
buried in Rucastle s throat, while he writhed and screamed upon the
ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and it fell over with its
keen white teeth still meeting in the great creases of his neck. With
much labour we separated them and carried him, living but horribly
mangled, into the house. We laid him upon the drawing-room sofa, and
having dispatched the sobered Toller to bear the news to his wife, I
did what I could to relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him
when the door opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room.
Mrs. Toller! cried Miss Hunter.
Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he went up
to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn t let me know what you were
planning, for I would have told you that your pains were wasted.
Ha! said Holmes, looking keenly at her. It is clear that Mrs. Toller
knows more about this matter than anyone else.
Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know.
Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several points
on which I must confess that I am still in the dark.
I will soon make it clear to you, said she; and I d have done so
before now if I could ha got out from the cellar. If there s
police-court business over this, you ll remember that I was the one
that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice s friend too.
She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn t, from the time that her
father married again. She was slighted like and had no say in anything,
but it never really became bad for her until after she met Mr. Fowler
at a friend s house. As well as I could learn, Miss Alice had rights of
her own by will, but she was so quiet and patient, she was, that she
never said a word about them but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle s
hands. He knew he was safe with her; but when there was a chance of a
husband coming forward, who would ask for all that the law would give
him, then her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her
to sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use her
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