The Case of the Registered Letter | Page 8

me to come to see him on that evening. I
tore up the letter and threw it away--or perhaps, yes, I remember now, I
did not wish Eleonora to see that he had written me. He asked me to
come to see him, as he had something to say to me, something of the
greatest importance for us both. He asked me not to mention to any one
that I was to see him, as it would be wiser no one should know that we
were still in communication with each other. There was a strain of
nervous excitement visible in his letter. I thought it better to go and see
him as he requested; I felt that I owed him some little reparation for
having denied him the great wish of his heart. It was my duty to make
up to him in other ways for what I had felt obliged to do. I knew him
for a nervous, high-strung man, overwrought by brooding for years on
what he called his wrongs, and I did not know what he might do if I
refused his request. It was not of myself I thought in this connection,
but of the girl at home who looked to me for protection.
"I had no fear for myself; it never occurred to me to think of taking a
weapon with me. How my revolver--and it is undoubtedly my revolver,
for there was a peculiar break in the silver ornamentation on the handle
which is easily recognisable--how this revolver of mine got into his
room, is more than I can say. Until the Police Commissioner showed it
to me two or three days ago, I had no idea that it was not in the box in
my study where it is ordinarily kept." Graumann paused again and
looked about him as if searching for something. He rose and poured
himself out a glass of water. "Let me put some of this in it," said Muller.
"It will do you good." From a flask in his pocket he poured a few drops
of brandy into the water. Graumann drank it and nodded gratefully.
Then he took up his story again.
"I never discovered why Siders had sent for me. When I arrived at the
appointed time I found the door of the house closed. I was obliged to
ring several times before an old servant opened the door. She seemed

surprised that it had been locked. She said that the door was always
unlatched, and that Mr. Siders himself must have closed it, contrary to
all custom, for she had not done it, and there was no one else in the
house but the two of them. Siders was waiting for me at the top of the
stairs, calling down a noisy welcome.
"When I asked him finally what it was so important that he wanted to
say to me, he evaded me and continued to chatter on about
commonplace things. Finally I insisted upon knowing why he had
wanted me to come, and he replied that the reason for it had already
been fulfilled, that he had nothing more to say, and that I could go as
soon as I wanted to. He appeared quite calm, but he must have been
very nervous. For as I stood by the desk, telling him what I thought of
his actions, he moved his hand hastily among the papers there and
upset the ink stand. I jumped back, but not before I had received several
large spots of ink on my trousers. He was profuse in his apologies for
the accident, and tried to take out the spots with blotting paper. Then at
last, when I insisted upon going, he looked out to see whether there was
still a light on the stairs, and led me down to the door himself, standing
there for some time looking after me.
"I was slightly alarmed as well as angry at his actions. I believe that he
could not have been quite in his right mind, that the strain of
nervousness which was apparent in his nature had really made him ill.
For I remember several peculiar incidents of my visit to him. One of
these was that he almost insisted upon my taking away with me,
ostensibly to take care of them, several valuable pieces of jewelry
which he possessed. He seemed almost offended when I refused to do
anything of the kind. Then, as I parted from him at the door, not in a
very good humour I will acknowledge, he said to me: 'You will think of
me very often in the future--more often than you would believe now!'
"This is all the truth, and nothing but the truth, about my visit to John
Siders on the evening