We were at ease that morning after a late night concert and dinner. Nothing was pressing Holmes at the moment, and I rather liked seeing him relaxed, not tense, because of nothing pending, but at ease with the expectation of something coming soon. Of course I worried that if something did not develop directly the spirit of ennui would send him to the cocaine bottle again.

We were just finishing our late breakfast when Mrs. Hudson knocked on the door and entered with a telegram for Holmes. As she picked up our things, Holmes opened and languidly read it, and then closing his eyes, without a word, passed it over to me.

I quickly scanned it, noting it came from St. Alban’s, from the Right Reverend Harold Respess, of the Cathedral. Being a telegram the message was concise and because of that a bit confounding as to its meaning.

Holmes voice interrupted my thoughts, and he said, “Watson. Read it aloud that I may again hear it.

I took it up and read, “Mr. Holmes. Extraordinary events at Cathedral. Beg you to consider. Will call at eleven, if convenient.”

“As late as it is,” said Holmes, “I fear we could hardly respond to him, and suppose we should expect him shortly. We will wait to hear an explanation from Reverent Respess. Until then, coffee, newspapers and a pipe should occupy our time”

“Quite,” I responded, somewhat disappointed that Holmes felt there was nothing to be divined from the cryptic message. Usually he saw what others, myself included, often did not see. But this time, with papers in hand, we settled in to await our visitor.

Promptly at eleven o’clock Mrs. Hudson knocked again and ushered in a large and substantial figure in his clerical garb. He introduced himself and said, “I am Reverend Harold Respess, of St. Alban’s Cathedral, and I must apologize for inconveniencing you on such short notification.”

We could see now that he was strongly agitated, though from his position and experience, he was straining mightily not to show the same.

“Mr. Holmes,” he said, rightly ascertaining which of us to address. “I have come to ask your help in knowing what is the right step. I would greatly appreciate the wisdom of your insight into the problem.”

Holmes, a bit sharply, interrupted him and said, “I may be able to help you, so without further ado, please explain the problem, as I now have no knowledge at all of what it is you are trying to convey.”

“Quite right,” responded Reverence Respess. “It was last night when suddenly without warning, nor with reason, the bells in the Cathedral tower began to ring, and rather furiously, I might add.”

“There was no occasion for them to ring?” I queried. “No,” he said. “Just suddenly they rang out and then as suddenly they ceased. I was across the street on a call, and rushed back to the Cathedral wondering what was happening, or rather, had happened.”

“Where exactly were you How far from the Cathedral itself,” Holmes asked.

“Just behind the Cathedral at the pub there,” he replied. “I was startled, but then almost immediately started for the front of the Cathedral. It took but moments.”

“Surely there is more to the incident than the bells ringing somewhat inexplicably,” said Holmes.

“Oh, indeed,” replied Reverence Respess. “I entered directly into the Cathedral, along with the Church Warden, who had by this time joined me. He lives just by, across the green. We noted that the door to the tower was ajar, but our eyes immediately bypassed that to look at the altar.”

He sat down, seemingly out of breath for the moment and agitated in his soul. He then went on, at Holmes urging, “And what did you see there?”

“Well, it is all very strange,” he said and his voice trailed off.

“Yes,” Holmes added with a questioning look.

“Well there were two candles lit, one on either end of the altar, which itself stands apart, and thrown over the altar in a haphazard way was a cloth. Not the regular altar covering, but a strange cloth. The disturbing thing is that the cloth was soaked in blood! Bright red, seemingly fresh blood, but there was no evidence of blood on the floor or on the altar except where it had seeped through the cloth.”

Holmes sat up on the edge of his chair and asked, “Was there anyone there who was wounded, or worse?”

“Not that we could find,” Reverence Respess said. “We searched last night and had the tower carefully investigated, and all around the altar and the side rooms. Well, you can imagine what a long night it was with the number of places within, but we could discover nothing to indicate from whence the blood came.”

“Perhaps, it was but a wound, or a bloody nose, though, it was most odd to have it found in that spot!” I exclaimed.

“And then the bells,” Reverend Respess said, “I can’t see how they fit in at all, but it can be no coincidence that they suddenly rang at that hour rang and gave us quite a start. I thought perhaps you could see through the murkiness of the events.”

Holmes was satisfied. I could see that, though he didn’t show that to the reverend, but he said, “I have nothing pressing at the moment, and we could perhaps spare a ride to St. Alban’s this afternoon.”

“Oh, thank you, Mr. Holmes. I, myself, will be taking the later train but my Warden, Mr. Langdon, Mordred Langdon, will be on hand and can show you what we found. Having heard of some of your methods, we have tried to leave things as we found them, except for the bloody cloth. We did move it so that the altar itself was not stained.”

“That is, of course, unfortunate, but I do understand. I trust we will be able to assist in some way. Hopefully we will find a simple explanation, but I fear it may prove more difficult and perhaps even more tragic than that. Until later today then,” Holmes said and Reverend Respess left our rooms.

As he left, Holmes turned as asked if I could accompany him. I quickly responded that I could, though by this time he was already looking into the train schedule.

Proceed to Part Two