Notes From the Dispatch Box of John H Watson, MD

by Ashton, Hugh

  “ I discovered a duplicate container in the accustomed place in the kitchen. I opened it, and the sugar in there appeared, other than one small part, to be as it should be. There was a subtle difference in texture, which could not have been detected by the lamplight the previous evening when I prepared the cocoa, but was apparent in the morning daylight. If I had not been wearing my pince-nez—the ones I left behind me when I visited you in London—I would never have seen anything. I was not wearing them the previous night when I prepared Annabel’s drink.”

  “ Aha ! ” cried Holmes. “ Observe the cunning with which this trap was set. It would have been a relatively simple matter to mix sufficient poison throughout the whole of the sugar, but they merely sprinkled a concentration on top of the container, meaning that it would be almost impossible to detect the presence of the poison in the container once the fatal dose had been administered. It would then appear, Madame, as if you had deliberately added a spoonful of the rat poison, for this is what appears to have been the fatal agent, to the cocoa. Had the whole of the sugar been laced, or replaced, with the poison, there would also have been an obvious danger of ingestion by those for whom the poison was not intended, and the death of your step-daughter might have been considered the result of a tragic accident. The method adopted makes the action look more deliberate.” He paused, allowing Mme. Montpensier and myself to consider his words before he continued. “ What did you do with the substitute container containing the adulterated sugar ? ”

  “ I hurried outside and smashed it to smithereens, hiding the pieces under the rhododendrons. The sugar spilled over the ground, and I was unable to hide it. I knew it was inevitable that I would be revealed as the one who had prepared the fatal beverage and given it to my Annabel. Why it was not revealed at the inquest, I have no idea, but now believe that it was part of this plot to incriminate me. However, can you blame me for wanting to hide my actions ? ”

  “ Madame, it is a serious matter to conceal the truth from the law, even when the truth may not be incriminating. The fact that you have covered up your part in this tragedy until now has probably convinced the police of your guilt as a murderess. I am currently attempting to establish your innocence in their eyes, and I must remind you once more that I require your full cooperation to accomplish this.”

  “ I understand,” she replied meekly.

  “ The police have discovered both the shards of the sugar jar, and the remains of the sugar that it contained. From what you tell us, though, the sugar may well be harmless, and the poison will not appear in any laboratory tests that may be carried out on it. Pray continue with your narrative.”

  “ After I had disposed of the fatal jar, I went back inside. It was cold in the garden, and I was shaking, but not with cold. It was with terror, Mr. Holmes. Terror of what I might discover, and terror of being falsely accused, and being unable to defend myself against such false accusations. I steeled myself to learn the worst, and made my way to Annabel’s room, to discover her a lifeless corpse, and to realise that I—I who loved her as if I were her own mother—had been the instrument of her death ! ” At this, her sobs broke out anew, and it was pitiful to behold this woman, who appeared to be the victim of as foul a plot as can be imagined. “ From there,” she eventually continued, “ I have told you the rest. Overcome with shame at my own cowardice, and horror at what had occurred, I fainted, and was revived by my maid, Hannah.”

  “ Let us discuss the question of your servants, if we may,” said Holmes. “ Hannah told us that she had been your dresser at the time of your theatrical career, and has remained in your service since then.”

  “ That is correct. Hannah is a dear soul to me, and has helped me through many a bad time. She was as devoted to Annabel as I was, and it is my opinion that she grieves for the girl as much as I do myself.”

  “ Very well. I take it that Sarah was originally in Mr. Colethorpe’s service, and joined your household when you married him ? The cook, Mrs. Gresham, I take to have been employed when you married Mr. Stevens.”

  “ That is correct on both counts.”

  “ How in the world could you know that, Holmes ? ” I could not refrain from asking.

  “ By the way in which they referred to Mme. Montpensier here. Hannah referred to her as ‘ Mme. Montpensier’ with an air of being familiar with the true French pronunciation. It was obviously an appellation with which she was familiar. Since you informed us that you had only recently reverted to that name, I knew that she had a long acquaintance with you, even before she confirmed this with her own lips. On the other hand, Mrs. Gresham used only the terms ‘ my mistress’ or ‘ the mistress’ in her conversation with us. All very well and proper, one might think, for a new servant, or one in Mrs. Gresham’s position, but it was obvious to me, though, when we visited the kitchen, that all had been arranged for the benefit of the present principal of that realm, and had been for many years. I therefore hazarded, rightly, that Mrs. Gresham had ruled her domain since the time of Mr. Stevens. As to the last, Sarah, she never referred to you as other than ‘ Mrs. Colethorpe’, thereby clearly indicating her loyalties.’

  “ Truly remarkable, Holmes,’ I told him, marvelling once more at the skill with which he read the minds of those about him with the same ease as that with which he traced footprints in muddy ground.

  “ It is nothing,” waving a deprecatory hand. “ I have reason to believe, Madame, that the recent events were instigated by your present husband.”

  Mme. Montpensier started in surprise. “ So that note that was found was true ? The wretch has been skulking around this house and terrifying my poor Annabel ? ”

  “ By no means. He would not expose himself to such a risk. His foul schemes were carried out with the aid of his creature, the kitchen-maid Sarah.”

  “ And the meaning of the note ? ” I wondered aloud. “ What is meant by that ? ”

  “ Later, Watson. For now, Madame, I would like your permission to send for Sarah and for me to search her room.”

  “ Certainly you may, though I have no idea what you expect to find there.”

  “ I have my ideas,” Holmes remarked grimly. “ Watson, I will require you to prevent Sarah from entering the room while I am searching it, or leaving the house, as I fear she may attempt to do if she learns of what I am doing.”

  “ Very well,” I replied, though I was unsure how to best accomplish the task.

  Holmes left the room and we heard his tread as he ascended the stairs.

  “ I think we had best call for Sarah and keep her in this room,” said Mme. Montpensier, a suggestion to which I readily assented. She rang the bell, and requested Hannah, who answered, to send Sarah Nolan to us.

  In two or three minutes, the kitchen-maid entered, a sullen look on her face.

  “ Yes, madam ? ” she said, with an air that bordered on insolence.

  “ You are to stay here and not leave the room until you are given permission,” answered her mistress.

  The girl took on a sulky expression and looked around her. “ Where’s the other two gentlemen that were here ? ” she asked, with more than a little aggression in her voice.

  “ One has returned to London, and the other is upstairs searching your room,” I told her.

  Immediately her face changed, and her mouth hung open. She said nothing, but suddenly turned quickly and made for the door. I was able to intercept her on the way, and stood between the door and her, barring her way. Her fists beat frantically against my chest before she raised her hands in an attempt to claw my face with her nails. I seized her by the wrists as she screamed such words as I never wish to hear again from the mouth of a woman.

  “ You have no right ! ” was the general tenor of her remarks, though expressed in different words, over and over again. At length Mme. Montpensier rose from her seat, and delivered two stinging slaps to the girl’s cheeks, upon which she ceased her ranting and allowed her arms to fall to her sides as she started to weep.

&nb
sp; “ You little wretch ! ” Mme. Montpensier addressed her. “ How dare you worm your way into this house, you poisonous serpent ? ”

  Through her tears, Sarah responded, “ It wasn’t what was meant to happen, madam. Forgive me ! Please forgive me ! ”

  “ That, I think, will be a matter for the judge and jury at your trial, Sarah,” replied Holmes, entering the room. “ Madame, if you would ring for Hannah and send her to the police to take this woman,” with a nod to Sarah, “ into custody, I would be much obliged.” He reached in his pocket, and held out a small morocco-bound notebook. “ Where did you get this ? ” he demanded of the kitchen-maid.

  “ That is Annabel’s memorandum book ! ” cried Mme. Montpensier. “ It was a gift to her from me three years ago. How did you come by it, Sarah ? ”

  There was no answer, as the girl stood sullenly, her eyes on the floor, repeating at intervals, “ Forgive me”.

  “ It is of course your step-daughter’s,” Holmes answered himself. “ I discovered it secreted under the mattress in Sarah’s room. I took the liberty of leafing through the pages, and I discovered what I expected to find. Watson, pray make notes of this conversation. They may prove to be evidence in the trial.”

  “ What exactly did you expect to find, Mr. Holmes ? ”

  “ The draft of a novel, or rather a short work of fiction, written by your daughter. I am no great judge of literature, but it seemed to me that it was not well-written, I am afraid. However, there was one page missing. A page in which the heroine describes her fear of death resulting from poison, and her terror concerning a man outside her window. That page had been removed with a pair of nail-scissors. Sarah, can you read ? ”

  Our eyes turned to Sarah, who had turned pale. “ Yes, sir,” she whispered. “ I was taught how to read and write at the orphanage.”

  “ And who told you about this little book ? ”

  “ It was Mr. Colethorpe told me, sir.”

  “ Did he mention how it was that Miss Stevens came to be writing in this book ? ”

  “ No, sir, he did not. All he told me is that there was a book in Miss Annabel’s desk, and what it looked like.”

  “ When did you remove it from her desk ? ”

  “ About three months ago, sir.”

  “ I remember. About that time, Annabel was distracted and somewhat distraught,” said Mme. Montpensier. “ She had lost something, but she refused to tell me what it was that had gone astray.”

  “ Perhaps she was embarrassed about her writing. I believe this is often the case with young authors,” Holmes explained. “ Though there is nothing that I have seen here that appears overly personal, it may be that she felt that she had revealed too much of herself in these pages.”

  “ You knew this book was in Sarah’s room ? ”

  “ I did not know of a certainty, but I had my suspicions.”

  “ But how did you know that it was there, and that it had not been written on that fateful night ? ”

  “ Remember the appearance of the desk earlier, Watson. Can you recall what was there ? Remember that the page in question was written in blue-black ink.”

  “ I remember.”

  “ Remember also that there was no such ink as that in the desk. There was black ink and red ink, but no blue-black ink. Also, you will note that there were no steel-nibbed pens in the desk, such as were used to write in the notebook, only fountain pens. Hence my remark to you, which you considered mysterious at the time, regarding the eating of soup with a fork. Why would anyone deliberately choose a clumsy and inefficient method of writing when a more convenient one was to hand ? The use of a steel-nibbed pen to write the piece was presumably a deliberate affectation, as was the use of the blue-black ink, and made me believe that there was something of the artistic temperament at work. From my knowledge of this type of mind, I may reasonably conclude that having lost the manuscript of her oeuvre, Miss Stevens thereupon removed all memory of the means used to produce it—that is to say, the pens and the ink. At any event, we may be certain that the paper found on the desk was not written on the night that Miss Stevens met her untimely end. When did you put it there, Sarah ? ”

  “ When I got up in the morning, before anyone else was awake.”

  “ And the rat poison in the sugar container which you substituted ? ”

  Sarah looked at him, obviously astounded at Holmes’ deduction, but made no comment, simply replying to his question. “ Just that evening, sir. I had the other jar in my room all ready. Mr. Colethorpe had given it to me the last time he stayed here. It was easy enough for me to change them over when Cook’s back was turned, and to slip upstairs and hide the other one in Mrs. Colethorpe’s room.” She stared at Mme. Montpensier with a look that spoke of poisonous hatred, for which I could not divine the cause.

  You were aided in this by two things, were you not ? The first being the indisposition of Mrs. Gresham that night, allowing you undisturbed access to the kitchen. The second was the fact that your mistress elected on that night to prepare the drink herself. How did you know that it would be on that night that she would prepare the cocoa ? ”

  “ I did not. Since Miss Annabel was feeling unwell that evening, though, it seemed to me that that evening she would make the cocoa, as she had done before when Miss Annabel was in that kind of state. There had been other occasions when I had guessed that she would make the cocoa, but this was the first time that I had changed the jar and she had actually done it.”

  We were interrupted by a knock at the door, and a member of the local constabulary entered, escorted by the faithful Hannah.

  “ Ah, Sergeant,” Holmes said to him. “ My name is Sherlock Holmes. You may have heard my name ? ”

  “ Indeed I have, sir. May I help you ? ”

  “ Indeed you may, and you will be helping your own career if you do so by arresting this young lady and taking her to the station.”

  “ Indeed, sir ? ” said the stolid defender of the law, looking at the obviously terrified Sarah. “ On what charge ? ”

  “ On the charge of the murder of Miss Annabel Stevens,” said Holmes. “ There may be other charges pertaining to conspiracy to pervert justice and so on, but murder will suffice for now.”

  “ Very good, sir,” answered the policeman, obviously somewhat taken aback. “ This is the one what did it, then ? I’m very glad that that’s all cleared up.”

  “ One more thing, Sergeant. When you return to the station, contact Inspector Lestrade at Scotland Yard and inform him of the arrest. He will no doubt wish to come here and take charge.”

  “ Don’t let them send me to prison, madam ! ” shrieked the kitchen-maid, as the constable led her away.

  “ I will gladly see you hanged for your foul deeds,” replied her mistress. “ And I hope that your soul burns in hellfire for evermore ! ”

  With these words, she slammed the door on the departing policeman and his charge and turned to us.

  “ I apologise for my outburst just now,” she said. “ I cannot conceive of how such a one as that came to be so wicked.”

  “ Love,” stated Holmes. “ Love of one even more wicked than she. A powerful and destructive force.”

  “ Love of whom ? ”

  “ Of your husband, Mr. Ferdinand Colethorpe. I had guessed some time ago from your description of his habits and actions that this was not his only household. He has been maintaining another wife and possibly a family for some time now, I am sure. His marriage to you was, I am sorry to say, more the result of attraction to your late husband’s money than of his attraction to your personal charms. When he discovered the terms of Mr. Stevens’ will, he realised that the obstacle to his future wealth was your step-daughter, who had to be eliminated if he was to gain financially.

  You told me earlier that Sarah was previously his servant. My guess, which I am certain will be confirmed when the police question him, is that he had at some time, and possibly still is, in her eyes at least, Sarah’s lover.”

&n
bsp; “ My God ! Can such a man be suffered to walk this earth ? ” burst out Mme Montpensier.

  “ It is quite likely that he had promised her not only his love, but a share of the money he imagined he would acquire on your step-daughter’s death. In any case, he had planned thoroughly. The poison was to be administered by your hand—forgive me, Madame,” he said gently as Mme. Montpensier broke into a fresh fit of weeping. “ He would be safely away from the house, none to know where, and he would be free of any suspicion.”

  “ The page from the notebook ? ”

  “ We may assume that he came across this literary effort as the result of searching the desk. Seeing the passage, he realised that it would fit his plan perfectly. It may be, on the other hand, that he refined his plan as a result of reading that passage. In any event, it was perfectly suited for his needs. Sarah, being able to read and write, could be trusted to steal the correct memorandum book, and to locate the correct passage, remove it, and keep it until it was needed to provide a masterful piece of misdirection.”

  zz

  Holmes’ deductions were soon proven to be correct when he and I made our way back to London and called in at the police station where Colethorpe, or Richards, to give him his proper name, was being interviewed by Lestrade.

  “ What a pitiful shrimp of a man he is, to be sure,” remarked Holmes as an aside to me when we first saw him, and indeed, it was hard to determine how the small pink-faced man with his thin sandy hair had managed to engage the affections and trust of Mme. Montpensier. He spoke in a pitiful whine as he answered the questions that Lestrade and Holmes put to him, confirming the evidence that I had recorded during Holmes’ interrogation of Sarah, showing little remorse at the relation of his deeds with which he was confronted.

  As had been foretold, Richards was married to another, and had lived at Holborn with his family for the past ten years. A firm of lawyers with which he had been employed in the past had had dealings with the late Mr. Stevens, and it was from this source that he had learned of the latter’s wealth, and his demise.