“The same afternoon saw us both at Hurlstone. Possibly youhave seen pictures and read descriptions of the famous oldbuilding, so I will confine my account of it to saying that it is builtin the shape of an L, the long arm being the more modern portion,and the shorter the ancient nucleus, from which the other haddeveloped. Over the low, heavily-lintelled door, in the centre ofthis old part, is chiseled the date, 1607, but experts are agreed thatthe beams and stone-work are really much older than this. Theenormously thick walls and tiny windows of this part had in thelast century driven the family into building the new wing, and theold one was used now as a store-house and a cellar, when it wasused at all. A splendid park with fine old timber surrounds thehouse, and the lake, to which my client had referred, lay close tothe avenue, about two hundred yards from the building.
“I was already firmly convinced, Watson, that there were notthree separate mysteries here, but one only, and that if I couldread the Musgrave Ritual aright I should hold in my hand theclue which would lead me to the truth concerning both the butlerBrunton and the maid Howells. To that then I turned all myenergies. Why should this servant be so anxious to master thisold formula? Evidently because he saw something in it which hadescaped all those generations of country squires, and from whichhe expected some personal advantage. What was it then, and howhad it affected his fate?
“It was perfectly obvious to me, on reading the Ritual, that themeasurements must refer to some spot to which the rest of thedocument alluded, and that if we could find that spot we shouldbe in a fair way towards finding what the secret was which theold Musgraves had thought it necessary to embalm in so curiousa fashion. There were two guides given us to start with, an oakand an elm. As to the oak there could be no question at all. Rightin front of the house, upon the left-hand side of the drive, therestood a patriarch among oaks, one of the most magnificent treesthat I have ever seen.
“ ‘That was there when your ritual was drawn up,’ said I, as wedrove past it.
“ ‘It was there at the Norman Conquest in all probability,’ heanswered. ‘It has a girth of twenty-three feet.’
“ ‘Have you any old elms?’ I asked.
“ ‘There used to be a very old one over yonder, but it was struckby lightning ten years ago, and we cut down the stump.’
“ ‘You can see where it used to be?’
“ ‘Oh, yes.’
“ ‘There are no other elms?’
“ ‘No old ones, but plenty of beeches.’
“ ‘I should like to see where it grew.’
“We had driven up in a dog-cart, and my client led me awayat once, without our entering the house, to the scar on the lawnwhere the elm had stood. It was nearly midway between the oakand the house. My investigation seemed to be progressing.
“ ‘I suppose it is impossible to find out how high the elm was?’ Iasked.
“ ‘I can give you it at once. It was sixty-four feet.’
“ ‘How do you come to know it?’ I asked, in surprise.
“ ‘When my old tutor used to give me an exercise intrigonometry, it always took the shape of measuring heights.
When I was a lad I worked out every tree and building in theestate.’
“This was an unexpected piece of luck. My data were comingmore quickly than I could have reasonably hoped.
“ ‘Tell me,’ I asked, ‘did your butler ever ask you such a question?’
“Reginald Musgrave looked at me in astonishment. ‘Now thatyou call it to my mind,’ he answered, ‘Brunton did ask me aboutthe height of the tree some months ago, in connection with somelittle argument with the groom.’
“This was excellent news, Watson, for it showed me that Iwas on the right road. I looked up at the sun. It was low in theheavens, and I calculated that in less than an hour it would liejust above the topmost branches of the old oak. One conditionmentioned in the Ritual would then be fulfilled. And the shadowof the elm must mean the farther end of the shadow, otherwisethe trunk would have been chosen as the guide. I had, then, tofind where the far end of the shadow would fall when the sun wasjust clear of the oak.”
“That must have been difficult, Holmes, when the elm was nolonger there.”
“Well, at least I knew that if Brunton could do it, I could also.
Besides, there was no real difficulty. I went with Musgrave to hisstudy and whittled myself this peg, to which I tied this long stringwith a knot at each yard. Then I took two lengths of a fishingrod,which came to just six feet, and I went back with my client towhere the elm had been. The sun was just grazing the top of theoak. I fastened the rod on end, marked out the direction of theshadow, and measured it. It was nine feet in length.
“Of course the calculation now was a simple one. If a rod of sixfeet threw a shadow of nine, a tree of sixty-four feet would throwone of ninety-six, and the line of the one would of course be theline of the other. I measured out the distance, which brought mealmost to the wall of the house, and I thrust a peg into the spot.
You can imagine my exultation, Watson, when within two inchesof my peg I saw a conical depression in the ground. I knew that itwas the mark made by Brunton in his measurements, and that Iwas still upon his trail.
“From this starting-point I proceeded to step, having first takenthe cardinal points by my pocket-compass. Ten steps with eachfoot took me along parallel with the wall of the house, and again Imarked my spot with a peg. Then I carefully paced off five to theeast and two to the south. It brought me to the very threshold ofthe old door. Two steps to the west meant now that I was to gotwo paces down the stone-flagged passage, and this was the placeindicated by the Ritual.
“Never have I felt such a cold chill of disappointment, Watson.
