by John Hall
‘Excellent, Mr Holmes!’ Lady Lewis fairly clapped her hands at this, while I regarded Holmes with what I hoped was a suitably sceptical gaze. Impervious he may be to the finer emotions, harshly does he speak of them, but they have served him well enough on many an occasion, and behold here was yet another instance. Naturally, he was careful to avoid my eye.
Lady Lewis was starting to get to her feet, and I stood up to assist her. ‘You say Peterson is here?’ I asked. ‘Yes? Well, you should be safe enough, for he is a good fellow. Will you take a cab, though?’ I added, with some hesitation, for I had a strong suspicion that she might not be able to afford the luxury, whilst at the same time I did not want her to think that I was hinting any such thing.
‘Oh, yes. I have a little money of my own, and I keep tight hold of that. I find it the best way.’ The hint of steel was back again. With such a woman at his side, I was somewhat astonished that Sir George had not been compelled to mend his ways; still, there was time, for they had not been married long, if I recollected aright.
Holmes and I escorted Lady Lewis to the street door, and I was just about to call for Billy and ask him to fetch Peterson from the kitchen when the door bell rang. As I was at the door it was pointless to stand on ceremony, so without waiting for Billy or the maid, I opened the door, to reveal Sir James standing on the step, with young Lord Hammerford at his side. The pretty little nursemaid stood close by Sir James’s carriage, which brightened the day for me, although under the circumstances I was most pleased to note that the sturdy driver seemed on the alert, and that he had a great stick on the seat beside him. Evidently he was prepared to repel any assailant.
‘The lad was bored,’ Sir James explained, ‘so I thought I’d bring him here, let him pester Mrs Hudson, if that’s all right.’ He caught sight of Lady Lewis, and added, ‘But perhaps I am intruding? I had thought that perhaps your business was concluded, madam.’
‘It is, Sir James,’ Lady Lewis told him. ‘I am just leaving.’
‘In that case, my carriage is entirely at your disposal.’
‘Thank you, it is most kind. I shall not refuse your very kind offer, and shall send it back at once, of course.’ Lady Lewis made as if to leave, but as she passed young Lord Hammerford she paused. ‘He has had a curious and troubled start in life, has he not?’ she asked no-one in particular. ‘And yet he is surely deserving of better things.’ And suddenly, impulsively, she bent down and embraced the young aristocrat, who did not seem to mind in the least. The rest of us tried to look away as best we could.
‘I am sorry,’ said Lady Lewis, standing up after a few moments, ‘but I could not resist it. Sir George and I have not been blessed with children of our own, but the maternal instinct is a powerful and wonderful one.’
‘It is indeed,’ murmured Holmes.
Lady Lewis went on, ‘I wonder — it is such a fine afternoon, it seems a pity that the boy should be cooped up indoors, even with dear Mrs Hudson to look after him. May I not further avail myself of your kind offer of your carriage, Sir James, and take him for a drive? With your permission, of course, Mr Holmes. We might visit the Park.’
‘I am not at all sure about the Park,’ said Holmes quickly.
‘Oh, but there is no danger, surely? You can easily see anyone who approaches, and I shall have Sir James’s driver and Peterson to look after me.’
Holmes frowned. ‘Sir James?’
‘As I say, you may regard my carriage as your own,’ said Sir James to Lady Lewis. He turned to Holmes. ‘I suppose a drive of sorts would not be too dangerous, would it?’
‘And a stroll in the Park?’ asked Lady Lewis again.
Sir James looked again at Holmes, who shrugged, and said, ‘I must insist that you do not move far from the carriage, though, and that Peterson goes with you. If you have the slightest suspicion,’ he told Sir James’s driver, ‘return here at once, and do not stop for anyone.’
The driver nodded and touched his hat in a significant fashion with his stick, as if to indicate that he fully understood his duties. Peterson was duly summoned from the kitchen, the little party climbed into the carriage, and Peterson climbed up behind, looking, I must say, quite splendid in his uniform.
‘Two stout fellows,’ said Sir James, as we waved them off. ‘They should be safe enough, don’t you think?’
Holmes did not seem entirely convinced. ‘I have half a mind to run after them and insist that they remain here,’ said he. ‘Or else that we should accompany them. I have grave doubts, Sir James.’
‘Peterson is a good chap,’ I told him. ‘And I wouldn’t care to meet that driver in a dark alley.’
‘Perhaps you are right,’ said Holmes, drumming upon the door with his fingers. He turned to go into the house, and I could have sworn that I heard him mutter, ‘Damnation!’ under his breath, but I cannot be certain. Aloud, he said, ‘Since you are here, Sir James, we might as well have a council of war, and consider our next move.’ And he led the way upstairs to our sitting room, and flung himself into an armchair.
‘Brandy and soda, Sir James?’ I asked. ‘And a cigar?’
‘Thank you, Doctor. Now, Mr Holmes, what have you in mind?’
‘Lady Lewis came here to communicate her distress at the turn which events have taken. Like me, she is strongly of the opinion that the best interests of all of us will be served by co-operation. I am bound to say that I entirely agree, and I reiterate my original suggestion of working together as much as may with Sir George.’
Sir James shook his head at once.
‘I must ask you to reconsider,’ said Holmes. ‘Bear in mind that Sir George has a clue which we have not. We cannot keep him under observation indefinitely, so what would your course of action be?’
Sir James frowned, but said nothing.
Holmes went on, ‘Would you really have Watson here beat the information out of him?’
‘It wouldn’t be the first time a delicate matter has been settled in an indelicate manner by a couple of roughs with bludgeons after dark,’ muttered Sir James.
‘And you really think that would do the trick?’ asked Holmes sceptically. ‘In any event, I rather fancy Sir George would give as good as he got. If we fail to secure the treasure for ourselves, then the best — the very best, Sir James — that we can hope for is that Sir George is somehow prevented from getting to it as well. Legally, you can do nothing, for the will is quite specific.’
‘And what do you suggest, then?’ asked Sir James.
‘Lady Lewis has agreed to persuade her husband to share the clue with us.’
‘In return for what, precisely? What terms?’
Holmes shrugged. ‘That will be a matter for yourself and Sir George to discuss, when — or perhaps one should err on the side of caution and say “if” — we find the treasure.’
Sir James frowned. ‘If, and I echo your caution and say that it is a very big “if”, if I were to agree to this suggestion, then I think it might be better to agree terms at the outset.’
‘As you wish. If you recall, I suggested that before ever we began this business.’
‘I recall it, sir,’ said Sir James with a frown. ‘Well, and suppose I agree to this, what terms do you think I should suggest? What sort of division would seem equitable to you?’
‘As a starting point, I suggest ten per cent to Sir George,’ said Holmes. ‘After all, he is only related by marriage to the previous Lord Hammerford, which gives the boy a somewhat better claim. Unless, that is, the grandfather’s suspicions were justified,’ he added thoughtfully.
‘Oh, Mr Holmes, I thought we’d dismissed all that nonsense!’ said Sir James with a touch of impatience.
‘It may be that Sir George will bring the matter up on his side of the negotiations, use that as an argument for a bigger share for himself,’ Holmes pointed out.
‘H’mm. Even ten per cent would, of course, amount to fifty thousand pounds in hard cash. It is a hefty amount.’
‘But there would
remain four hundred and fifty thousand.’
‘And the value of the gems and what have you may well have increased in the last couple of years,’ I pointed out. ‘That may well cover the amount we are thinking of.’
Sir James sat for a moment in thought. ‘Would an initial offer of ten thousand seem parsimonious, do you think?’
‘Niggardly,’ remarked Holmes shortly.
‘Penny-pinching, I should have said,’ I told Sir James.
He laughed. ‘You may be right, though my own feeling is that I owe it to the boy to secure the best division that I can.’ He leaned forward and looked directly at Holmes. ‘Very well, I agree to your overall suggestion, if not to your specific stipulations as to any division of the spoils. After all, you cannot expect me to throw away young Lord Hammerford’s inheritance without a struggle, can you?’
‘I am perfectly happy to leave the discussions as to exact terms to you,’ said Holmes. ‘All I want at this juncture is to secure your agreement to our co-operating with Sir George in order to recover the treasure.’
‘In that case, sir, you have my word.’
‘I am glad to hear it. Now, I think we should go round and see Sir George at once,’ said Holmes. ‘The sooner we can start working together, the safer we shall be.’
‘Safer?’ said Sir James. ‘Oh, you are thinking of this gang of rogues, is that it?’
Holmes nodded. ‘They are not bound by our gentlemen’s agreement, you see. It is my opinion that Sir George is in very grave danger at this moment,’ he said. ‘The only consolation is that he is well attended by our irregulars, though he does not know it. Still, for all their sterling qualities they are only boys, and can do little against desperate men, other than report what has occurred, and the blow may fall at any time.’
In this, he was right, but only partially right, for it was not upon Sir George that the blow fell. We had gathered together hats and coats ready to leave, when there was a sharp ring at the street door, followed immediately by what I can only call a pounding, as of a very large fist, upon it. Holmes and I gazed at each other with a wild surmise, like the chaps on a hill in Darien. ‘Hullo,’ said Holmes, ‘here’s trouble, or I’m much mistaken!’
Our sitting room door flew open, and Billy charged in without knocking or other preliminaries. He evidently had news of some urgency to impart, but all he could manage was a sort of incoherent stammer. Holmes pushed him gently to one side, and flew down the stairs, with Sir James, Billy and myself at his heels.
A large policeman stood in the doorway. At his side stood the little nursemaid who had charge of young Lord Hammerford. Holmes muttered an imprecation, and asked, ‘Well, constable?’
‘Beg pardon, Mr Holmes, but there’s been a spot of bother.’
The nursemaid, unable to keep silent, broke in, ‘There was a gang of them, sir. John and that nice Mr Peterson, they tried to fight them off but there was too many of them. They’ve took her ladyship, and young Lord Hammerford!’ And after saying this she burst, quite understandably, into tears.
Seven
Sir James swore heartily and imaginatively for a moment or so, and I fancy that the odd unparliamentary expression escaped my own lips. What with our own consternation so freely expressed, and the policeman trying to explain matters in his stolid fashion, and the nursemaid still in floods of tears, you will readily appreciate that there was a certain amount of confusion for a time.
Holmes at last held up a hand for silence. ‘You see what comes of your shilly-shallying!’ he told Sir James bitterly. ‘Still, it is too late now for recriminations. All that we can do is attempt to salvage what we may from this unhappy situation. Tell me,’ he asked the nursemaid, ‘what exactly happened? You were in the Park, you say?’
The girl sniffled, and I handed her a handkerchief. ‘Yes, sir,’ she told Holmes, as she wiped her eyes. ‘Her ladyship stopped the carriage, what with it being such a pleasant afternoon, and got out with Lord Hammerford. Mr Peterson, he got down too, to look after them, as it were, as you’d ordered him to, so none of us was expecting anything out of the way. Well, they hadn’t gone no more than a few yards when a young couple with a baby in a carriage came up to them, and the young lady, she starts making a fuss of Lord Hammerford, you know how they do, sir? Anyway, before any of us had realized what was going on, the young man, he attacked Mr Peterson, and the young lady had grabbed her ladyship and Lord Hammerford and run off with them! Only it wasn’t a young lady at all,’ she added, with another loud sob, ‘it was a man dressed up!’
‘This abominable business of dressing up in women’s clothes!’ exclaimed Sir James. ‘I’d horsewhip the blighters!’
‘I have occasionally found such a disguise exceedingly useful myself,’ murmured Holmes. ‘Though I always assume it unwillingly and as a very last resort,’ he added hastily, lest there should be any silly misunderstanding on this point. ‘What was the coachman, John, is it, doing?’ he asked the nursemaid.
‘Well, sir, of course he jumped down off the seat and tried to help, but there was too many of them. More of them seemed to leap out from nowhere, to materialize, as you might say, from the bushes. It all happened so fast, you see.’
‘H’mm, It was evidently carefully planned,’ said Holmes. ‘But Peterson and John are not with you now? Where are they?’
‘The doctor’s looking at them, sir.’
‘There’s a doctor’s surgery not far from where it happened, sir,’ added the constable. ‘We called him at once.’
‘I see. Are they badly hurt, do you know?’
‘The doctor didn’t seem to think so, sir,’ said the constable. ‘Cuts and bruises, but no worse than that. More a question of hurt pride, as it were, if you ask me.’
‘I see.’
‘You think this is the gang of which you spoke?’ Sir James asked Holmes.
‘Oh, I’m quite certain of that. It bears their stamp. The first attempt with a single man taking his chances having proved unsuccessful, they planned this one on a larger scale. Tell me,’ Holmes asked the nursemaid, ‘was one of these villains a big man, looked a bit like a professional boxer?’
‘Beg pardon, sir, but there was a few of them looked like that.’
‘H’mm. Well then, was one of them a little rat-like fellow?’
The nursemaid started at this. ‘Yes, sir. Well, I’d have said more like a weasel.’
‘The precise analogy is of no consequence,’ said Holmes. ‘This is undoubtedly the gang which has been following us, and Sir George.’ He mused for a moment, then added, ‘Well, perhaps that is fortunate.’
‘Fortunate, Holmes?’ I asked, incredulous.
‘At any rate it narrows things down somewhat, does it not?’ Holmes seemed to fall into a sort of reverie at this point, causing Sir James to give a theatrically exaggerated gasp of disbelief.
The constable, too, showed signs of restlessness. ‘Beg pardon, Mr Holmes,’ he said, ‘but what should I do now, sir?’
‘Do?’
‘Can’t just ignore it, Mr Holmes, now can I?’
‘Have you said anything to anyone else?’ asked Holmes. ‘Are there more of your colleagues looking into the matter?’
‘No, sir. I’ve hardly had time to let anyone know, as you might say. The doctor, of course, but no-one official, like. This young person insisted we bring you the news before doing anything else.’
‘You did well. By rights, of course, you should report this to your superiors,’ said Holmes thoughtfully. ‘However, that would only mean a large number of officers getting in the — that is, getting involved. I really must think hard about the best course to take, if you will excuse me a moment,’ and his face grew dreamy again.
Very often in my long association with Holmes have I been strongly tempted to assault him, for his habit of ignoring his associates completely for long periods can be most trying to the temper of even an extremely tolerant man such as myself. This was one such occasion. The policeman was shifting his weight
from foot to foot, Sir James was mumbling oaths under his breath, and I myself was just about ready to seize Holmes by the collar and shake him into some sort of activity. However, so serene was his demeanour that none of us ventured to disturb him again for a long two minutes; and even then it was not one of us who disrupted his train of thought, but Sir George Lewis, who arrived in a cab, ran headlong up our steps, in at the door which stood ajar, and demanded, ‘Have you heard what’s happened?’
‘What, then?’ asked Holmes, the thread of his thoughts broken. ‘Oh, you mean this abduction business?’
‘Damn it all, man, can there be more than one such disaster in a single day?’ asked Sir George with understandable vigour.
Holmes stared at him. ‘Forgive me,’ he said, ‘I was so very much absorbed with trying to ascertain our best course of action that I had all but forgotten that there is a human element to the whole thing.’ He shook himself, like one who wakes from a dream.
‘Well?’ Sir George inquired. ‘What is your conclusion? Or have you not yet reached one? Do you perhaps need to stand day-dreaming here for a further couple of hours before proceeding?’
‘Proceeding where, pray?’ asked Holmes mildly.
‘Why, to the Park, of course! Is that not where this outrage took place?’
‘It is indeed,’ said Holmes, his manner as placid as ever, ‘but the kidnappers are hardly likely to be there still.’ He waved a hand. ‘The officer here, and this young lady, have just come from the Park, so there seems little point our returning there.’
Sir George subsided at once. ‘You are right, of course, Mr Holmes,’ he said. ‘I must ask you to forgive me.’