“I cannot promise to reciprocate, madame. I am not the law,but I represent justice so far as my feeble powers go. I am ready tolisten, and then I will tell you how I will act.”
“No doubt it was foolish of me to threaten a brave man likeyourself.”
“What was really foolish, madame, is that you have placedyourself in the power of a band of rascals who may blackmail orgive you away.”
“No, no! I am not so simple. Since I have promised to be frank,I may say that no one, save Barney Stockdale and Susan, his wife,have the least idea who their employer is. As to them, well, it is notthe first——” She smiled and nodded with a charming coquettishintimacy.
“I see. You’ve tested them before.”
“They are good hounds who run silent.”
“Such hounds have a way sooner or later of biting the hand thatfeeds them. They will be arrested for this burglary. The police arealready after them.”
“They will take what comes to them. That is what they are paidfor. I shall not appear in the matter.”
“Unless I bring you into it.”
“No, no, you would not. You are a gentleman. It is a woman’ssecret.”
“In the first place, you must give back this manuscript.”
She broke into a ripple of laughter and walked to the fireplace.
There was a calcined mass which she broke up with the poker.
“Shall I give this back?” she asked. So roguish and exquisite didshe look as she stood before us with a challenging smile that I feltof all Holmes’s criminals this was the one whom he would find ithardest to face. However, he was immune from sentiment.
“That seals your fate,” he said coldly. “You are very prompt inyour actions, madame, but you have overdone it on this occasion.”
She threw the poker down with a clatter.
“How hard you are!” she cried. “May I tell you the whole story?”
“I fancy I could tell it to you.”
“But you must look at it with my eyes, Mr. Holmes. You mustrealize it from the point of view of a woman who sees all her life’sambition about to be ruined at the last moment. Is such a womanto be blamed if she protects herself?”
“The original sin was yours.”
“Yes, yes! I admit it. He was a dear boy, Douglas, but it sochanced that he could not fit into my plans. He wanted marriage—marriage, Mr. Holmes—with a penniless commoner. Nothing lesswould serve him. Then he became pertinacious. Because I hadgiven he seemed to think that I still must give, and to him only. Itwas intolerable. At last I had to make him realize it.”
“By hiring ruffians to beat him under your own window.”
“You do indeed seem to know everything. Well, it is true.
Barney and the boys drove him away, and were, I admit, a littlerough in doing so. But what did he do then? Could I have believedthat a gentleman would do such an act? He wrote a book in whichhe described his own story. I, of course, was the wolf; he the lamb.
It was all there, under different names, of course; but who in allLondon would have failed to recognize it? What do you say tothat, Mr. Holmes?”
“Well, he was within his rights.”
“It was as if the air of Italy had got into his blood and broughtwith it the old cruel Italian spirit. He wrote to me and sent mea copy of his book that I might have the torture of anticipation.
There were two copies, he said—one for me, one for his publisher.”
“How did you know the publisher’s had not reached him?”
“I knew who his publisher was. It is not his only novel, youknow. I found out that he had not heard from Italy. Then cameDouglas’s sudden death. So long as that other manuscript was inthe world there was no safety for me. Of course, it must be amonghis effects, and these would be returned to his mother. I set thegang at work. One of them got into the house as servant. I wantedto do the thing honestly. I really and truly did. I was ready to buythe house and everything in it. I offered any price she cared to ask.
I only tried the other way when everything else had failed. Now,Mr. Holmes, granting that I was too hard on Douglas—and, Godknows, I am sorry for it! —what else could I do with my wholefuture at stake?”
Sherlock Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, well,” said he, “I suppose I shall have to compound afelony as usual. How much does it cost to go round the world infirst-class style?”
The lady stared in amazement.
“Could it be done on five thousand pounds?”
“Well, I should think so, indeed!”
“Very good. I think you will sign me a check for that, and I willsee that it comes to Mrs. Maberley. You owe her a little change ofair. Meantime, lady” —he wagged a cautionary forefinger— “havea care! Have a care! You can’t play with edged tools forever withoutcutting those dainty hands.”
The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
Holmes had read carefully a note which the last post hadbrought him. Then, with the dry chuckle which was his nearestapproach to a laugh, he tossed it over to me.
“For a mixture of the modern and the mediaeval, of the practicaland of the wildly fanciful, I think this is surely the limit,” said he.
“What do you make of it, Watson?”
I read as follows:
46, OLD JEWRY,
Nov. 19th.
Re Vampires
SIR:
Our client, Mr. Robert Ferguson, of Ferguson and Muirhead,tea brokers, of Mincing Lane, has made some inquiry from usin a communication of even date concerning vampires. As ourfirm specializes entirely upon the assessment of machinery thematter hardly comes within our purview, and we have thereforerecommended Mr. Ferguson to call upon you and lay the matterbefore you. We have not forgotten your successful action in the caseof Matilda Briggs.
We are, sir,
Faithfully yours,
MORRISON, MORRISON, AND DODD.
per E. J. C.
“Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson,”
said Holmes in a reminiscent voice. “It was a ship which isassociated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the worldis not yet prepared. But what do we know about vampires? Does itcome within our purview either? Anything is better than stagnation,but really we seem to have been switched on to a Grimms’ fairy tale.
Make a long arm, Watson, and see what V has to say.”