by Hugh Ashton
We sat in silence for some minutes, until I spoke. “ Do you wish me to carry my revolver ? ”
Holmes considered this for a few seconds. “ I think not. It could cause the police to pay undue attention to us. A blackthorn, or failing that, your ashplant, will be sufficient, I believe.”
“ Very well,” I answered him. “ I will be happy to accede to your wishes in this regard.”
“ You will do well to remember,” he reminded me once more as we set off, “ that should we encounter opposition, we can expect no assistance from the authorities. Even Mycroft himself will be forced to disavow any knowledge of our activities.”
It took us some considerable time to make our way on foot from Baker-street to Whitechapel, and I was heartily glad when Holmes led the way into a public house, though the establishment was hardly of the type that I would have selected under other circumstances.
“ The beer here is of a quality that I have happily failed to encounter elsewhere,” he whispered smilingly in my ear. “ However, I advise you to drink it with as good a grace as you can muster.”
The somewhat dirty glass that he pressed into my hand as he led the way to an isolated table in the corner of the room did little to inspire me with confidence, and the taste of the brew it contained was, as I had been warned, hardly to my taste, or indeed, to the taste of any man with a civilised palate.
Holmes sipped his beer with a nonchalance that I found it hard to emulate, and gazed around the room in a seemingly aimless fashion while he filled his pipe with a vile ship’s tobacco. To all intents and purposes, he was one of the idlers who were partaking of the foul brew served in the place. His seemingly absent-minded actions would seem to have no purpose to those who lacked his acquaintance, but to me, familiar with his moods and gestures, he was in fact scanning the assembly of rough and ready characters for a significant sign.
Without any apparent change in his attitude, he spoke to me. “ Finish your beer as quickly as you can, Watson. It would never do to leave any behind, as that would draw unnecessary attention to ourselves.” He followed his own advice, swallowing the ale with enviable ease, and waited for me to follow suit before rising to his feet and sauntering in a leisurely fashion out of the door.
He walked briskly through the foul alleys that formed the streets in that part of London, seemingly heedless of the filth that surrounded us, and I did my best to stifle my natural repugnance as I followed him.
“ Why did we leave the inn at that time in such haste ? ” I asked him as softly as I could under the circumstances under which we found ourselves.
He answered me in similar low tones. “ I had observed two men whom I had previously noted asbeing Abrahams’ captors enter the bar and purchase drinks. The coast, if not clear, is at least less heavily encumbered.”
“ But they will not be the only guards,” I objected.
“ To be sure, that is so. However, the odds will be slightly more in our favour, do you not agree, with two safely out of the way ? Never fear, we have not much further to go,” he added, viewing the fashion in which I was avoiding the foul messes covering our path. “ Here,” he hissed suddenly, looking all around, and having satisfied himself that we were unobserved, darted into a doorway located in a deserted alleyway.
“ Do you loiter in the roadway and keep watch,” he whispered to me, withdrawing his row of picklocks from inside his coat. “ At the first sign of anyone approaching, whistle some tune such as the Londonderry Air.”
I turned my back on him, and gazed anxiously up and down the street, listening to the sounds of Holmes struggling against the lock. After a mercifully short time, during which my nerves were stretched to almost breaking point, I heard a loud snap as the lock was freed.
“ Now, Watson, now ! ” my friend hissed, and I followed him as swiftly as I could through the doorway into the darkened house, whereupon he shut the door behind us, leaving me temporarily unable to perceive anything. We paused and both of us strained our ears to determine if we were alone in the house. After nearly a minute's listening, or so it seemed to me, my friend grasped my arm. “ Listen,” he breathed. “ Do you not hear it ? ” It seemed to me that there was more than a touch of humour in his voice, faint though it was. I listened hard, and could just hear a faint sound of snoring, seemingly proceeding from the first floor. I smiled to myself in the darkness. If two of our adversaries were refreshing themselves at the hostelry we had just departed, and the others were asleep, our task of rescuing Abrahams would be an easy one, it seemed to me.
“ Follow me,” Holmes commanded me in his breathless whisper. “ Take hold of my coat-tails if you cannot see.” My friend, who possessed an almost cat-like ability to make his way in the dark, led the way down the stairs to the cellar of the house, where a feeble light came from the outside through a grating. There I recognised, albeit with some difficulty, Sir David Abrahams, dressed in the remnants of what must have been expensive clothing, but now befouled and tattered almost beyond description.
“ Thank God you are here again ! ” exclaimed Sir David. “ I feared that you would be unable to return.”
For answer, Holmes merely placed a finger to his lips.
“ I understand,” replied Abrahams, in a lower tone. “ How many of my captors are here, do you know ? ”
“ We do not know,” Holmes told him in the same whisper. “ How many are there in all, do you know ? ”
“ I have seen but the three.”
“ Then there is only the one here,” said Holmes, “ and from the sound of him, he is fast asleep. “ The other two are refreshing themselves at a nearby tavern. Come, let us go.” He placed a hand under the other's armpit, and I took the other arm, and we attempted to raise him to a standing posture. Our efforts were foiled, however, by the chains, which had remained unnoticed by us, fastening the prisoner's wrists to a ring set into the wall. We therefore lowered him gently to his former sitting position, and Holmes brought out his picklocks once more. A few minutes' work and the shackles fell to the floor. As we raised Abrahams to his feet, with horror we heard the sound of the key rattling in the front door above us, and the door being opened, to the accompaniment of what appeared to be curses and oaths, though in a language unknown to me.
“ They have returned ! ” exclaimed Abrahams.
“ Never fear,” Holmes reassured him. “ Watson and I are ready to take on these men.”
I gripped my ashplant firmly with my right hand, while supporting Abrahams as best I could with my left. Holmes had withdrawn his riding-crop from its hiding-place, and had moved to a position where he would be hidden when the cellar door opened.
We could hear the tread of heavy feet descending the steps, and the door-handle rattled, but our visitors seemed to be experiencing some difficulty in opening the door. I noticed that Holmes had quietly slipped two small wedges into the doorframe, effectively barring entry to intruders. There was a series of heavy thuds against the door as our visitors presumably launched an attack on it. After several of these assaults, the door suddenly sprang open, and a large heavily-bearded man crashed into the room, stumbling. Holmes swiftly stepped forward, and raised his riding-crop to strike his victim smartly behind the ear, whereupon he slumped to the floor, seemingly senseless.
My friend stepped forward to examine the body, but another man entered the room, a revolver in his hand, which was pointed directly at Holmes.
“ You may put that down,” he exclaimed in a guttural voice, gesticulating with the pistol at Holmes’ weapon.
Holmes shrugged, and let the riding-crop fall to the floor. As his assailant's eyes followed its descent, I stepped forward, and dealt the ruffian a smart blow over the wrist with my stick. He let out a howl of pain and dropped the gun on the floor, from which Sherlock
Holmes deftly retrieved it.
“ I think we may leave now,” he said to me. “ Assist Sir David up the stairs, Watson, while I make sure that our friends do not follow us.”
I did as requested, Abrahams proving to have a little more strength than had at first appeared, and Holmes followed, walking backwards up the staircase, the barrel of the revolver pointing steadily at our would-be assailant.
As we left the house, we could hear the sound of the third man upstairs. “ Quick, Watson ! ” Holmes said. “ It is time we were on our way. Take this road,” he commanded, pointing to the road opposite to the direction which we had taken to reach the house.
The brute who had threatened us with the revolver stepped out of the house as if to follow us, but a motion of Holmes' hand holding the revolver, added to the appearance of a small group of navvies at the end of the street, seemed to dissuade him from his intentions.
We hurried to a slightly more salubrious part of the city, and Holmes summoned a four-wheeler. After one glance at our tattered appearance, the jarvey was reluctant to allow us into his vehicle until Holmes produced a half-sovereign and demanded in his most commanding tones that we be taken to Baker-street.
Once there, we requested Mrs. Hudson to prepare a bath for Abrahams, and once he was cleansed of the filth that coated him, I proceeded to examine him for any signs of injury or illness, fortunately discovering none such.
Abrahams’ own garments being in a state beyond repair, and he being closer to my size than that of Holmes, I clad him in some of my clothes, which fitted him tolerably well, and for which he expressed his sincere thanks.
In the meantime, Holmes had commanded a nourishing repast, and following my examination and his reclothing, Abrahams fell to with a hearty appetite. He had just finished eating when Mrs. Hudson knocked on our door.
“ Pardon me, sir,” she said to Holmes, “ but there's a foreign gentleman to see you. Shall I show him in ? ”
“ To be sure,” answered Holmes, briskly rubbing his hands together. “ I have a good idea of who this might be, and I look forward to meeting him.”
“ Very good, sir,” replied our landlady, leaving us.
“ Sir David,” Holmes said in an urgent tone, “ I strongly recommend that you lie on the bed in that room. I feel that this is an interview at which your presence would not be conducive to mutual understanding.”
“ I hardly comprehend your meaning,” answered Abrahams, but he suffered me to lead him into the bed-room, where he lay on the bed.
As I re-entered the sitting-room, and closed the door behind me, there was a firm knock, repeated four times, on our sitting-room door. Holmes strode to the door and opened it.
“ Welcome, Your Illustrious Highness,” he greeted our visitor, a giant bear of a man, swathed, despite the weather, in a barbaric fur robe.
“ Who is this ? ” I asked Holmes, as our visitor seemed disinclined to speak, contenting himself with a piercing glare which he directed at every corner of the room in turn.
“ Our visitor is Count Alexei Alexandrovich Orloff, one of the Second Secretaries at Chesham House, that is to say the Russian Embassy, and the leader of those here in Britain working for the Okhrana.”
“ And you, my friend, must be the Devil himself that you know such things without a word being spoken,” our visitor retorted in a deep rumbling voice which betrayed his surprise at Holmes' words. “ My work with the Okhrana is known to few men.”
“ Then you must include me as one of that select company,” replied Holmes suavely. “ Your work in that area has not gone unnoticed by some.”
A flush darkened the other's cheek. “ I was not aware that my fame had preceded me so far.” His tone was cold and brusque. “ Maybe you also know why I am here today ? ”
“ I assume that I am correct in my belief that you are in search of knowledge as to Sir David Abrahams' whereabouts and you think I may be able to assist you in that regard.”
Our visitor bowed slightly in Holmes' direction. “ I can tell that you are all that has been said about you. And the answer to my question ? ”
Holmes spread his hands. “ Alas, I am unable to inform you of his precise whereabouts, since his leaving Whitechapel.”
Fire flashed in the other's eyes, but his voice remained steady as he spoke to my friend. “ Have a care, Mr. Holmes. You may think yourself safe now, but the time will come when you may regret your present insolence. I will ask you more directly : do you know the precise whereabouts of Sir David Abrahams at this time ? ”
“ I cannot answer your question,” Holmes answered him evenly.
“ In that case, I can only repeat my advice to you to have a care. Should you at any time in the future discover the whereabouts of our mutual friend, I believe you know where you may find me.”
So saying, the Russian retrieved his hat from the table where he had thrown it, and showed himself out of the room.
“ Well ! ” exclaimed Holmes, laughing. “ We certainly attract the cream of the crop, do we not, Watson ? ”
For myself, I was somewhat worried by the threats that had been uttered, and I said as much to Holmes.
“ Pish ! ” he answered me. “ Even were he or his minions to attempt any mischief, he knows well that such an attempt would not remain unpunished. He is well aware of the position that brother Mycroft holds, and of my relationship to him.”
We were startled by Abraham's voice, coming from the bedroom, whose door was now slightly ajar. “ Do not be so sure of that, Holmes,” our guest said. “ Count Orloff himself may not be anxious to invite retribution on himself, but he will have no qualms about sacrificing his minions on the altar of revenge, should he feel sufficiently crossed in his path.”
“ Well, well, we can cross that bridge if and when we arrive at it,” replied Holmes, seemingly unconcerned by this possible threat to his safety. “ Our question now is how to keep you safe, Sir David.”
“ The bank can manage without me for some time,” said Abrahams. “ I hardly think that it is necessary for me to go into the office for a few days.”
“ Nonetheless, your bank and your home will be the main locations that they will be watching,” Holmes told him. “ It will be best for you to avoid these places until such time as the fangs of this snake have been drawn.”
“ It seems to me,” I added, “ that these rooms here in Baker-street likewise form a target for observation. But cannot Mycroft provide some protection for Sir David ? ” I asked. “ Or even, given Sir David's links to a certain Royal personage, maybe the same measure of protection could be afforded to Sir David as to his Royal Highness ? ”
Holmes, who had appeared deep in thought, sprang up with a cry. “ Why, Watson, you have it ! ” he exclaimed. “ You have solved the problem of how to keep Sir David safe from the attentions of Orloff and his bunch of beauties.” He crossed to the bureau and scribbled a few lines on a piece of paper before placing it in an envelope, and ringing the bell for Billy, our page. “ Billy, take this message to my brother in Whitehall. The address is on the envelope, do you see ? Give it into his hands, and to no-one else. Then wait for his answer, which you are to bring straight back to me. If anyone attempts to stop you, present my card to them. Do you understand me ? ”
On his giving an affirmative answer which pleased Holmes, Billy ran off, clutching the envelope and the card. I was full of curiosity as to what Holmes intended, but he was not to be drawn on the subject, instead discussing the art of the fiddle with Sir David as if the situation in which we currently found ourselves were a normal one, and Abrahams had simply passed by and decided on a whim to pay us a call.
For myself, unable to join in the conversation, the time passed slowly, and I stood up and observed the pa
ssers by from the window. After some time, a carriage drew up in the street below, and to my surprise, the page-boy Billy descended from it, followed by two soldiers in the uniform of the Guards. I drew Holmes' attention to the sight, and he rubbed his hands together with satisfaction.
“ I have to confess that I hardly expected Mycroft to act so fast,” he said, as the soldiers entered the front door of the house. Shortly afterwards, Billy led the procession into our rooms, proudly puffing out his chest as if he had been promoted to colonel of a regiment of the Guards.
The soldiers, a sergeant and a corporal, halted at attention. “ Sir David Abrahams ? ” the sergeant enquired of our guest, who nodded, seemingly dumbfounded, in response. “ If you will be good enough to come with us, sir ? ” As if in a trance, Abrahams rose, and, flanked by the two soldiers, made for the door. “ Do you know where they are taking me, Holmes ? ” he asked.
“ Indeed I do,” smiled my friend. “ And I have no doubt in my mind that you will find it congenial. Farewell. I may call upon you in a day or so.”
I could hardly contain my curiosity as Abrahams and the soldiers entered the carriage, which drew away. Holmes was chuckling softly to himself as he saw my bewildered countenance.
“ Where is he going ? “ I asked.
“ Why, to Marlborough House, to stay at the residence of the Prince of Wales, who is currently in Biarritz. It was your words that gave me the idea. There is nowhere that old Abrahams will be safer than there, guarded by the cream of our Army.”
“ I had no idea that Mycroft possessed such influence,” I said.
“ Why, man, believe me when I say that this is a small part of the power he possesses. When Mycroft speaks, Prime Ministers and Princes listen and take note.”
“ I am puzzled, though,” I confessed to Holmes. “ You told me that Abrahams had worked for the Okhrana. Why are they now pursuing him ? ”
“ That is something I am unwilling to answer at present,” he told me, “ but we can hardly assume that the danger will disappear simply because Abrahams is safe. I cannot leave London at this time, given the danger he perceives himself to be in. It is a confounded nuisance, as there are rumours of a case on the Continent that demands my attention. Still, for a few days, I believe there is little useful that you or I can achieve in this regard.”
