Without My Boswell: Five Early Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (From the Dispatch Box of John H Watson, MD)

by Hugh Ashton

  “ Notwithstanding all of this, I could not help but remark that the children ran to her arms as readily as they did to those of their aunt, and her attitude towards them was all that any observer of the domestic scene could wish to encounter. From what I could observe, there was no forcing of affection on either side, and the caresses bestowed and received on all sides were sincerely given and accepted.

  “ However, there was no escaping the fact that when a child ran from the arms of the aunt to those of the stepmother, or vice versa, a look of dislike often shot from the abandoned party to the new receiver of the child’s affection. Such looks seemed to be stronger when directed from the older woman to the younger, but that may have been merely a result of my fancy, since Miss O’Donnell’s squint gave many of her facial expressions an evil cast.

  “ I could discern nothing which would account for the incident that had been recounted to me other than a com- petition for the children’s affections, and in the relatively remote location of the house, it would be easy to see how such a rivalry could take on an exaggerated form which could lead to acts of violence such as had been described.

  “ After some time, the nursery-maid arrived to collect the children and to take them to their tea, whereupon I addressed myself to the aunt.

  “ ‘ I believe the children have been unwell recently ? ’ I asked, in the hope of gaining a little insight into the matter. My intention was also to bring the stepmother into the conversation in the hope that I might observe the interchanges between the two women. I may as well remark that at this point my host, my friend’s father, had left the room.

  “ My words had an immediate effect on the stepmother, despite their being addressed to the aunt. The younger woman’s face took on a stony expression, and there was a determined set to her lips which indicated an inner resolve of which she did not seem capable at first sight.

  “ ‘ Why, yes, Mr. Holmes,’ the aunt replied in answer to my question. ‘ The poor little things were quite unwell for a number of days. The doctor put it down to the bad air that emanates from the countryside around here.’

  “ I was just about to remark that I had been told this, when the younger woman spoke. ‘ With all due respect, Miss O’Donnell,’ she said, in a voice that had nothing of respect in it, ‘ the doctor is a fool.’

  “ ‘ You should know better than to speak of your elders in that fashion, Kathleen,’ replied the aunt, in a tone that was as cold as that of her interlocutor. The words brought a flush to the young wife’s cheek, but she bit her lip and said nothing in reply.

  “ I quickly attempted to step into the breach. ‘ What exactly were the symptoms ? ’ I asked, addressing myself to the aunt.

  “ ‘ Why, are you a medical student, Mr. Holmes ? ’ she asked me, all traces of her anger now seemingly vanished.

  I gave some noncommittal answer, and she proceeded to tell me of the circumstances surrounding the children’s illness.

  “ ‘ All three of them woke up in the morning with headaches, and complaining of tiredness and weakness. I did all I could for them that morning, but by lunch-time it was clear that there was nothing more that I could do, and so I sent for our Dr. Flanagan, who came immediately. He took the pulse of all of them, and declared that the life of poor little Dermot, being the youngest and the smallest of them, was in some danger. He prescribed cold compresses and tonics for all of them, and a special tonic for Dermot. I sat with them night and day for three days until I, too, was forced to take to my bed.’

  “ I made suitable noises of sympathy, as the memory of that time had brought tears to her eyes, which she dabbed with a handkerchief. ‘ I am sorry, Mr. Holmes,’ she said to me through her tears. ‘ The memory is yet painful. I trust you will excuse my leaving you now.’ I stood, and escorted her to the door. My friend O’Donnell and I were now alone in the room with the young Mrs. O’Donnell, who addressed herself to my friend.

  “ ‘ Kevin,’ she said to him, and I noted the free and unaffected use of the Christian name as a form of address, ‘ I appear to have left my book upstairs. It is an edition of Dickens’ The Tale of Two Cities, in a green binding. You will find it beside my bed.’

  “ He assented, and left the room. ‘ I assume, Mrs. O’Donnell,’ I remarked, ‘ that you wish to speak with me alone, since I see the book beside you on the seat of your armchair.’

  “ She laughed gaily, and leaned forward to pat my arm, but there was a look of some wariness in her eyes. ‘ Why,

  Mr. Holmes,’ she said. “ You miss very little, do you ? Very well, I will tell you quickly what I want you to know. The doctor is indeed a fool. I know what I speak of. My father was a doctor himself, and a good one. You see me dressed and painted like this and no doubt you have marked me down as a fortune-hunter. Ha, yes, I see your face. You need not blush for yourself, as almost everyone makes the same assumption when they meet me. I dress and appear like this because it gives great pleasure to Mr. O’Donnell, whom I genuinely love with all my heart and respect as a generous and full-hearted gentleman. It pleases me to please him in this way. But I am no brainless painted mannequin, Mr. Holmes. I have a head on my shoulders as good as that of most men.’

  “ When I heard these words, I felt ashamed of my earlier judgements, Watson. There seemed to me to be an absolute sincerity in her speech.”

  “ Perhaps you were still influenced by her perfume and her attire ? ” I suggested.

  “ There may have been a little of that,” he confessed, “ but I could not help but consider her to be sincere, callow youth though I may have been at that time. She continued her narrative. ‘ The doctor, as I say, is a fool. The illness that they suffered was nothing like that caused by the bad air from swamps and bogs. When Charlotte O’Donnell took to her bed after her extended spell of nursing, I moved into the nursery, and there was an immediate improvement, within two or three hours of my assuming the nursing duties. Within two days, the three children were all fit and healthy once more.’

  “ ‘ Why did you not relieve Miss O’Donnell in her nursing duties earlier ? ’ I asked.

  “ ‘ I was not permitted to do so,’ she replied. ‘ I offered to do so, as anyone in the house will bear witness, but there was no question of her deserting her post, as she termed it. I offered my assistance several times, but to no avail.’ You will note, Watson, that this account differed significantly in the interpretation of the facts from that I had previously been given by my friend. It was an early lesson to me that it is not the facts alone that may have significance, but also the interpretation that may be placed on those facts by those involved.

  “ ‘ And your husband’s reaction to all this ? ’ I asked her.

  “ ‘ My dear David’s devotion to his sister is life-long. The two of them have been together for almost the whole of their lives. I do not pass judgement on her in front of him and I try, as far as is possible within my power, to avoid crossing her in front of him.’

  “ She looked into my eyes and took my hand in hers. ‘ Mr. Holmes, I do not know who you are, or yet what manner of man you may be. But I fear for those little ones, Mr. Holmes, and my fear does not yet have a name. But in God’s name, sir, help us and drive this evil, whatever it may be, from this house.’

  “ My blood fairly chilled, Watson, when I heard these words spoken by this woman. Her pressure on my hand increased as she continued gazing into my eyes. I cannot tell what might have transpired had not footsteps sounded outside the door of the room. She released my hand and sat back in her chair as O’Donnell entered.

  “ ‘ I am sorry, Kevin,’ his stepmother said to him as he approached her chair empty-handed, ‘ but I discovered the book here beside me a minute or so after you had left us. I do apologise for wasting your time in that way.’

  “ He did not appear to be unnecessarily put out by this, and turned to me. ‘ The rain seems to have cleared up a little, Holmes,’ he said. ‘ Shall we go out and look at the horses ? ’

  “ And so I was l
eft with a pretty little puzzle to solve. There was no doubt in my mind that there was some mystery, and that mystery was connected with the recent illness of the children. It was equally clear to me that I was dealing with two women of strong will, at least one of whom was also possessed of a formidable intelligence.

  “ I questioned O’Donnell, as casually as I was able, regarding the finances and the estate of the household. From him I learned that the O’Donnell line had become impoverished relatively recently, following the death of my friend’s grandfather, whose death had exposed a number of large gaming debts that he had kept hidden from his family, and the repayment of which had led to a significant diminution of the family’s assets. Let that be a lesson to you, Watson,” he admonished me with a wagging finger. “ You have just seen for yourself at King’s Pyland what evils are occasioned through gambling.”

  “ My dear Holmes—” I began indignantly, and broke off, realising that I was being “ chaffed” gently by my friend.

  “ Very well, then. However, the family appeared to be living in fine style, and this was explained by O’Donnell by the fact that his late mother had inherited a most substantial fortune from her parents. This money was sufficient to maintain the handsome establishment in which we now found ourselves, including the horses in the stables. It was clear to me that a few of these were not the cobs and hacks that usually grace a country squire’s stables, and appeared to be prime hunters.

  “ ‘ A crochet of my aunt’s,’ explained O’Donnell. ‘ Though she does not ride to hounds herself, she prides herself as a judge of horseflesh, and maintains this stable of steeplechasers which are ridden in races up and down the country.’

  “ ‘ Do they win ? ’ I asked, curious.

  “ O’Donnell shook his head. ‘ I fear not,’ he smiled. ‘ It does not prevent Aunt Charlotte from continuing in her attempts. My father is very generous in his funding of her activities.’ He smiled.

  “ ‘ Has she inherited your grandfather’s tendency towards wagering ? Forgive me for asking, but if you require my assistance in clearing up this matter, I really feel that I must know these things.’

  “ The smile left his face. ‘ I fear so. My father has perhaps been too generous in the past. When he married again, I believe that my stepmother persuaded him to curb his expenses in this direction. But to the best of my knowledge, my aunt continues to wager on the horses.’

  “ So you see, Watson, I now had another reason to believe in the enmity between aunt and stepmother. I had not the authority nor, to be frank, the inclination to delve into the financial affairs of this family, but it struck me that such an investigation would reveal a flow of money away from the beloved sister, and into the fashionably attired pockets of the new wife. I said as much to O’Donnell, and added the affections of the children as an additional reason for the hostility that obtained between the women of that household.

  “ ‘ You are right, I suppose,’ he said, when I had given my explanation. ‘ But you have seen my stepmother. She is not constantly grasping after money.’

  “ Yes, I thought to myself, but to attire oneself in the fashions of the day as did Kathleen O’Donnell – again, Watson, I lack your eye and experience in such matters – appeared to me to be a habit that could not be conducted cheaply. Perhaps her doting husband allowed her sufficient funds to indulge her whims.

  “ We returned to the house, to be greeted by Miss O’Donnell, who fixed me with her squinting eye, her wryneck turned in my direction.

  “ ‘ Mr. Holmes,’ she greeted me with cordiality. ‘ I trust you will not think too ill of me for retiring just now. The truth is that I have a very sensitive heart, and the thought of those poor little mites suffering brought back painful memories which I would sooner be without. I am somewhat ashamed of my actions. Put them down, if you will, to a nature which is too generous.’ She spoke these words in a soft, but urgent voice, which lent sincerity to her words. “ And pray,’ she added, ‘ forget those words of mine spoken to Kathleen. She has a good heart and means well. At the time of the children’s illness, we were both under a severe strain, and I fear that neither of us has completely recovered from it.’

  “ It was a pretty little speech, Watson, and the tones were convincing, as were the words. And yet... and yet I knew not what I should make of it. There was something very appealing about this older woman, despite her deformities, and even knowing as I did of her tendency to gamble, I could not help but be attracted to the seeming simplicity of character that she displayed. And at the same time, there was something that burned in my mind – the words of the younger woman, imploring me to help the children against some unnamed force of evil. I found it impossible to believe in such a source of evil in that household when I examined those with whom I was dealing.

  “ When my conversation with Miss O’Donnell was over, I told my friend O’Donnell once more that in my opinion, the rivalry between the two women was a matter of a battle for the affections of the younger children, as well as possibly for O’Donnell himself (for I had observed both of them shooting tender glances in his direction), and exacerbated by the dispute over money that had been alluded to. I therefore proposed that I should return to college at the earliest opportunity, but O’Donnell refused any such idea, insisting that I remain with the family for at least another two days.

  “ Accordingly, I did as he proposed, continuing to observe the family and drawing whatever conclusions I could from these observations. The older Mr. O’Donnell continued to recommend himself to me as one of the better specimens of his type, and his sister likewise, following the one outburst I have described, revealed herself to be one of the sweetest women I have ever encountered. The young Mrs. O’Donnell continued to fascinate me, though, not merely by the allure of her physical presence, intoxicating as it was to a young man, but also by the quality of her mind, which showed itself in opinions regarding politics and other similar subjects, in which she expressed herself with an almost masculine grasp of the topics under discussion. I noticed, however, that she did not exhibit these characteristics while Miss O’Donnell was in the room.

  “ Not once during the remainder of my stay did she allude verbally to our earlier tête-à-tête until the day of our departure. As O’Donnell and I were mounting into the trap, she seized my hand and pressed it warmly, murmuring in a voice that only I could hear, ‘ Do not forget what I told you earlier. The lives of three innocents may depend on it.’

  “ These words rang in my ears on the journey back to the University. I had no conception of the danger to which she was referring, and yet I believed that I could not have been more observant, and that I had missed nothing of importance during my visit. Had something been so closely thrust under my nose that I was unable to see it ?

  “ You must know the feeling, Watson, when you have spent hours of patient work examining minutiae, only to discover that the one datum which provides the solution to the mystery has loomed so large that it has become invisible.”

  “ Indeed I do,” I replied. “ It is a fault to which doctors, as well as others, are often prone.”

  “ In any event, I was unable to discern whatever it was that was under my nose. I saw little of O’Donnell for the next few weeks, as examinations were approaching, but one day he burst into my rooms, with a wild expression on his face.

  “ ‘ Holmes ! ’ he exclaimed. ‘ You must come with me now. They are all dead ! Dead, I tell you ! ’

  “ ‘ Calm yourself,’ I said to him. ‘ Who are dead ? ’

  “ ‘ My brothers and my sisters ! All three at a stroke ! ’ “ As you may imagine, I was instantly all ears, and begged him for details, while supplying him with a glass of whiskey and water, of which he seemed in need. Between his sips, he gave me to understand that, starting about a week from when we left Dunsany House, the children had fallen ill. I remembered that on the previous occasion, it had been reported that the children had recovered when their stepmother had taken charge of the sick-room, foll
owing three days of nursing by the aunt. I therefore asked him who had charge of the children. And what, Watson, do you think was his answer ? ”

  “ I can hardly tell you,” I replied. “ I would assume, based on past experience, that the children took ill while the aunt was in charge of their care, and recovered when the stepmother relieved her. Presumably, being a doctor’s daughter, she has some medical knowledge, if no formal training, and is therefore better placed to alleviate the symptoms of any childish maladies.”

  “ That was my first assumption, too. To my surprise, O’Donnell told me that the exact opposite was true. The aunt had departed for a race meeting in the south of the country when the children suddenly fell sick with the same symptoms as before. The stepmother nursed them devotedly, but seemingly to no avail. On her return, having been summoned by telegram, the aunt took on the duties of a nurse, and the children recovered.”

  “ But you told me just now that O’Donnell informed you of their deaths ? ” I objected.

  Holmes smiled. “ So he did. Hear me out, as I was forced to hear out O’Donnell. Believe it or not, an identical event happened some ten days later. The aunt was away from the house, the children fell sick, and recovered once more when Miss O’Donnell returned. On a third occasion, another steeplechase meeting claimed the aunt’s attention. Once more the children fell ill, a telegram was dispatched, but the aunt failed to return, and the children died.”

  “ It all would appear to be highly suspicious,” I said. “ It would seem that the return of the aunt was the first step in the children’s recovery, after they had fallen ill when only the stepmother was able to take charge. I would suspect some sort of foul play, and the fact that Mrs. O’Donnell is the daughter of a doctor would argue in favour of some sort of poisoning.”

  “ You think exactly as I thought,” said Holmes, with an enigmatic smile. “ I therefore lost no time in throwing a few necessities into a Gladstone bag and making my way to Dunsany House with my friend.