The journey from King’s Cross to Cambridge takes just over an hour and a half, which was sufficient time for Holmes to scowl at the basics of hydraulic engineering and for me to read through the extensive notes that the diligent young Dr. Hatherley had prepared. For the sake of brevity, I have summarized the Dramatis Personae using my own theatrical assignment of roles:
The King: Charles Parsons. The inventor, a few years ago, of the steam turbine. Earlier this year he founded the firm C.A. Parsons and Company to manufacture his turbines. His bid for Admiralty project had won out over several more established firms including Thomson-Houston, Atkins, and Venner and Matheson. He now spends most of his time supervising the activities up in Tyneside but visits Cambridge irregularly to see how the research his firm is responsible for is progressing. Victor considered him a genius and he is held in awe by the younger faculty and graduate students in the Engineering Department.
The Prime Minister: Professor Lysander Stark came to the University of Cambridge about a decade ago, having been one of the most promising engineering research scientists at RWTH Aachen. He is quite patriotic and forever asserting the superiority of German engineering over English. His reasons for leaving Germany are not known. He is in charge of the day-to-day affairs of the research project and is respected as a brilliant if unpleasant task master.
The Duchess: Elise Carpenter is the daughter of German immigrants and is thought to be a distant relative of Professor Lysander. Her appointment to the project may have been because of her familial connection to Lysander, but she is herself a brilliant mathematician and the only woman serving on the faculty of the Department of Engineering. Her not having been granted the rank of full professor is widely understood to be because she is a woman. There has been some talk of a romantic link to Stark, but there has been no overt evidence.
The King’s Steward: Malcolm Ferguson is an employee of Charles Parsons and his primary task is to watch and report back to the Parsons Company on progress of the project and to manage its financial affairs. He dispenses the funds from the company and keeps accounts of all expenditures. He is a quiet fellow and behind his back the others suggest that he became an accountant because he did not have sufficient force of personality to be an actuary.
The Éminence Grise: This role is played by Victor’s mother, Gertrude Ring, who has already been described above.
The workers:
There are three younger people appointed by the University to assist Professors Stark and Carpenter. These are:
Jeremiah Hayling-Kynynmound: This chap is the second son of a very wealthy baronet and it is widely believed that his family used bribery to gain his admittance to Cambridge. While an undergraduate there were accusations of his having used the services of poorer students to prepare his assignments, but these came to naught and were withdrawn. Victor considers his qualifications in mathematics and engineering to be adequate, but he is lacking in diligence.
Philippa Fawcett: According to Victor she is the most brilliant student in the entire University. Having taken prizes in national mathematics contests, she was admitted two years ago to Newnham College. It had been founded by her mother so that women could take classes at Cambridge. She will write her third Trypo next spring.
Victor: to whom you have already been introduced.
Holmes had reasoned that one of the above, not including our young engineer or his mom, had to be linked to the kidnapping. The immediate challenge of the case was to determine which one.
By the tenth hour, we had traversed the green and pleasant hills of Hertfordshire and pulled into the station in the center of Cambridge.
“According to my map,” I said to Holmes. “The Engineering Department is situated in the New Museum Site on Free School Lane. It appears to be about one mile northwest of the station.”
“I know where it is,” said Holmes. “Your map is not necessary.”
How Holmes had become familiar with the local geography of this university town I have no idea but he headed off smartly in the right direction and I followed.
Those readers who are also familiar with the Town of Cambridge usually perceive it as a rather bucolic cloistered and serene sanctum sanctorum of intellectual pursuits. In truth, it is nothing of the sort. It is the energetic center of science and research that drive industry, architecture and modern warfare throughout the Empire. Within its hallowed walls not only are the finest scientific minds struggling to unlock the secrets of Nature but many are also competing with each other for the prestige, pride and accolades that accompany great discoveries. The latter years of the Nineteenth Century had witnessed countless unimaginable – except to the creative few – breakthroughs in all branches of science. Many of them had their conception, gestation and birth in Cambridge, including several that were brought into being in the very building to which we were now making our way.
“Is this not,” I queried, “supposed to be a secret project known only to a select few approved by the Admiralty?”
“Exactly,” he replied and said nothing more.
“Very well then, just how do you expect that the two of us can jolly well waltz in and not be subject to arrest?”
“We are among the select few.”
“Are we indeed? And just how did we become so privileged?”
Holmes turned and looked at me and gave a sly smile. “The porter of the building as well as the reigning directors of the department received a telegram from Admiralty House informing them that recent concerns about breaches in secrecy had required a review of their procedures and they have appointed the famous detective, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, to carry out the task. They will please give him their full cooperation.”
“Pulling the strings of your older brother, Mycroft?”
“He does come in handy from time to time. Curiously, he stressed that this project was of great import to the Empire and that if it was going off the rails, then he expected me to get if fixed promptly. I assured him I would do my best.”
“Was that all it took?”
“Mycroft also told them that we would be honored to join the oversized-foreheaded crew at their High Table for lunch and deliver a lecture.”
I could not help laughing. “Oh, an honor indeed. Do try your best not to suggest that the lot of them are pompous egg-heads.”
Holmes gave me another sly smile, leading me to suspect that my advice might be ignored.
Within fifteen minutes we had made our way past the friendly shops of Regent Street, turned left onto Downing and then right into the narrow confines of Free School Lane. At the far end, we entered the porter’s lodge where a rotund and smiling porter met us and immediately produced a copy of the latest issue of The Strand and insisted, as the “price of admission” that Holmes and I sign it. He then led us through a warren of narrow hallways which could be distinguished from one another, not by any distinctive features of interior architecture, for there were none but by the various and sundry smells of chemicals wafting from the rooms of the Cavendish Laboratory. With each new odor I could see a slightly raised eyebrow and a nod of recognition pass across my colleague’s face. His profound knowledge of chemicals was hard at work.
Chapter Four
The Usual Suspects
BY THE TIME WE REACHED the second floor on the north end of the old building the chemical scents had given way to that distinctive smell that I had recently come to associate with the transmission of electricity if one increases the amperage to the point that sparks begin to fly. The office we were led to was situated solidly in the midst of this assault upon the olfactory senses. The nameplate on the door read Colonel Doctor Lysander Stark. The porter knocked and on hearing “Ja” opened the door. The office was on the small side and rather long and narrow. On the left-hand wall were bookcases filled with volumes and files from floor to ceiling and arranged so that every one of the several thousand items was aligned at the same angle and the same distance from the edge of the shelf. The other wall held an extensive displ
ay of framed certificates, citations, mounted pages from newspapers, and photographs. The earliest items bore the name of Ludwig Zimmerman, but all of the pictures featured the same man, who was also the same chap that was sitting facing us at a desk at the far end of the office. He was not smiling.
He rose as we entered and I thought that I had never seen a man quite so thin. A bit more good Hertfordshire beef would have done him no harm. He was not, however, unhealthy and his erect carriage gave evidence of military training at some time in his past. He motioned us to two chairs in front of his desk but did not come around to greet us.
“Herr Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. Biten, be seated. I am frightfully busy heute Morgen, but a few minutes of my time I have agreed to make. So kindly begin your .. your… Untersuchung.” He spoke with a refined German accent and then immediately sat down again and stared at Holmes.
Holmes smiled warmly at the cool professor and spoke. “We do apologize, Colonel Stark, for interrupting your work, but please bear with us, sir. You must understand that it is only because Her Majesty’s government views your work as so important that they are bothering to review your procedures for maintaining secrecy. I assure you that the efforts of your colleagues, even the esteemed Professors Stewart and Ewing, have not merited such attention as they are not considered to be of sufficient strategic value to the British Empire. Were it not for the unique and critical nature of the research you are leading I can tell you, quite frankly, I would not be here.”
Professor Stark smiled and I could see his body relax and incline itself ever so slightly toward Holmes. “We are pleased that in London someone there finally is understanding how significant is the research that here is undertaken. Although I can assure you that guarding confidentiality is not a problem, nevertheless by your concern we are encouraged. I assume your visit is caused by the flight of our dear old crazy lady, Miss Ring. She is very useful to us but highly, we would say, exzenter. “Eccentric” is your English word, I believe. She is no doubt over the Matterhorn in a balloon lofting as we speak and we expect her in a few days to return. Are there other issues, sir? Biten, your questions, Herr Holmes.”
Holmes, using his most respectful manner, proceeded to pose a question concerning the members of the team who had been assigned to the secret project and to ask for reassurance concerning their trustworthiness. The professor responded.
“Let me begin with my capable assistant, Professor Elise Carpenter. She is a brilliant mathematician and engineer. It is a pity she is a woman working in a man’s field of endeavor. She has been at Cambridge since as a student fifteen years ago she was first admitted. Here at the University is her entire life. Never does she travel anywhere. Of her integrity, there can be no question. As to our clerk and bookkeeper, Mr. Malcolm Ferguson, with respect to engineering and any aspect of any science he is an imbecile. However, appointed by the Parsons Company he was and is unquestionably loyal to them to the point of obsessive concern for the reading of every note we make and accounting for every last farthing I spend on the project. Out of necessity, I tolerate his presence.
“I have three younger people also to this project assigned. One has already passed his doctoral examinations and the others are on their way. Mr. Jeremiah Hayling-Kynynmound is a clever enough junge but in his rowboat far more interested than the laboratory. However, he is a useful idiot and capable of doing what he is told in the carrying out the experiments. Then there is our orphan boy, Dr. Victor Hatherley. For someone from such a mongrel lineage, he is quite surprisingly brilliant. He would not dare betray anything related to this project else his mother would flail him within an inch of his life, but, of course, with those of mixed race you can never be entirely sure. What runs in their blood you have no idea. And then finally, we have Miss Philippa Fawcett. Her mother is a raving suffragette and the daughter holds similar radical views, but she is sensible enough not in my laboratory to give them voice. Frankly, it is a shame that she also is a woman. Otherwise, she could look forward to being offered a paid position in the University. She is exceptionally bright. What else do you wish to know?”
“I did not hear anything about Miss Ring,” said Holmes.
“Our mad woman? She has no need for money and is involved in this project only because of her devotion to her son and his to her. She is useful in our dealings with the functionars in Whitehall and the Admiralty. For any insight into her psyche, I suggest that you consult Dr. Freud in Vienna. You have heard of him, I assume, Herr Holmes?”
“Indeed, I have, sir. Fortunately, I am only responsible for assessing the risk to official secrecy and not psychological similarities to tragic figures from ancient Greece. So, if I may, you have addressed the matter of the competence of your staff, now perhaps you could explain what criteria you used to ascertain whether or not they are people of integrity.”
The professor shrugged his boney shoulders. “We know them, and we know their people. Every one of them, except Miss Philippa, here in Cambridge has spent the past ten years or more. We would have known by now whether or not they could be trusted. The only other exception is the clerk and he, I must believe, to Charles Parsons is well-known or else he would not have been selected.”
“Ah, yes. Of course,” said Holmes. “That does make sense. Quite logical. But it looks as though you have missed one member. The most important one. The leader of the enterprise.”
For a moment, Professor Stark looked at Holmes quizzically, and then his visage changed into outright anger and he shouted, “Are you suggesting that I myself could be suspected? How dare you question my integrity!”
“Oh come, come, professor. That is not it at all. But you must understand that I was sent by Whitehall to report on everybody, and if I failed to include the name of the most important person then, well sir, they would just send me back to do it all over again. You must understand that, sir. So please no offense. I am reporting to … what do you call them …functionars and regierungsbeamters?”
The professor’s face softened into a thin smile. “Ah, I see that England’s famous detective has learned a little German. And yes, I do understand your situation. So very well, Herr Holmes please tell your blokes, I believe that is what you call them, that Professor Lysander Stark is a treacherous spy for the Kaiser and any day now to Berlin with a two-ton steam turbine on his back he may run off.” He laughed at his own joke. Holmes smiled in return.
“And you may also remind them that I have in the success of this project an entgeltliche, what you in this country call a pecuniary interest. I already own many shares in the new company of Mr. Parsons and an agreement with many more based on the completion and future commercial value of our research I will be rewarded. Is that sufficient information to take to your government to convince them that I am a spy?”
“More than sufficient, and I thank you for your wit. I shall file a report accordingly. Now, as you are the fuhrer of this project may I ask you to select the first of your staff for us to speak with?”
Stark nodded and reached over and pulled on a bell cord. Within seconds, a small, bespectacled woman came scurrying into his office. “Yes, Professor. You called, Professor?”
“Miss Fitzwilliams, go and ask Doctor Carpenter if she could join us.”
“Yes Professor,” the woman replied and then scurried off again. Less than a minute later another woman entered the office. I would have placed her age at around thirty-five. Unlike the secretary this lady was tall, at least as tall as I am and maybe an inch more. Her blonde hair was pulled onto the back of her head, accentuating her beautiful face, flawless pale complexion, and bright blue eyes. I have nowhere near the ability of Sherlock Holmes to read the expression on people’s faces, but even I could detect a look of concern and worry on her lovely countenance.
The professor rose from his chair and spoke to us. “Herr Holmes and Doctor Watson, allow me to introduce Doctor Carpenter, one of the most knowledgeable engineers in all of England. We have taken her away from the laboratory
where she spends her entire days, and evenings and weekends and we apologize for doing so, Doctor Carpenter.”
The woman engineer did not immediately look at Holmes and me. She kept looking at Stark. I thought I saw a tiny shaking of his head as he looked back directly at her followed by a flicker of a smile and a nod. It all happened quickly and she then turned to us with a friendly smile and, with a trace of a Cornwall accent, held out her hand.
“I have heard of you two gentlemen from my students. You have some fans here in Cambridge even if I cannot claim to be amongst them. Neither can I claim to have been interrogated by a detective before. I do enjoy new adventures and discoveries, however, so please come and join me in the laboratory and we can have a chat.”
“No, no,” interjected Stark. “Mr. Holmes has been cleared to speak with us but not to view the laboratory. Why do you not just take him down to the examination hall? It is not being used today and should be quite private.”
“Of course, Doctor Stark,” the woman replied. “Good suggestion. Thank you, doctor.”
She then turned to us and said, “Gentlemen, please follow me.” She led us back down a stairwell and into a large cavernous hall at the north end of the building. The entire room was filled with several hundred small individual desks and chairs. Professor Carpenter quickly pushed three of them into a close circle and motioned to Holmes and me to occupy two of them while she sat in the third.
“Gentlemen, I am Elise Carpenter. I direct the project’s laboratory and supervise the research fellows working there. How may I be of assistance to you?”
“Madam Professor,” Holmes began, “as your time is precious I will come directly to the point. Concerns have been expressed regarding the ability of your laboratory to continue to carry out highly confidential research that has been assigned to you by the Admiralty. These concerns are of sufficient depth that they reached the ears of certain officials in Whitehall and as a result I have been requested to look into the matter and report back.”
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