by Mitch Cullin
But I was not yet willing to return to Baker Street; rather, on that sunny spring afternoon, I set off towards Montague Street, savouring the experience of strolling along the thoroughfares Mrs. Keller had known so well. And all the while, I imagined what might await me when I stepped into Portman's garden. In time, I found myself there—having passed through the empty shop, along the shadowy aisles, out the back—at the garden's centre where the small bench was encircled by the boxwood hedge. I paused to admire the view, surveying the perennial beds and the roses along the perimeter wall. There was a slight breeze, and looking beyond the hedge, I observed the foxglove and geraniums and lilies swaying. Presently, I seated myself upon the bench and waited for the armonica to play. I had brought with me several of John's Bradley cigarettes, and removing one from my waistcoat, I began to smoke while listening for the music. And it was as I stayed there, peering at the hedge, relishing the scents of the garden, which mixed not unfavourably with the tobacco, that a tangible feeling of longing and isolation began to stir within me.
The breeze increased in strength, but only for a moment. The hedge shuddered wildly; the perennials wavered this way and that. The breeze settled, and in the ensuing quiet, I realised that the music would not, while the day dimmed, play for the likes of me. How regrettable that that alluring instrument, whose strains were so possessing, so richly emblematic, would fail to arouse me as before. How could it ever be the same? She had taken her life; she had gone. And what did it matter if, eventually, everything was to be lost, vanquished, or if there existed no ultimate reason, or pattern, or logic to all which was done on the earth? For she was not there, and yet I remained. Never had I felt such incomprehensible emptiness within myself, and just then, as my body moved from the bench, did I begin to understand how utterly alone I was in the world. So with dusk's fast approach, I would take nothing away from the garden, except that impossible vacancy, that absence inside which still had the weight of another person—a gap which formed the contour of a singular, curious woman who never once beheld my true self.
SOURCES OF ILLUSTRATIONS
The three illustrations in A Slight Trick of the Mind were originally printed in New Observations on the Natural History of Bees, by Francis Huber (London: W. & C. Tait, and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1821).
ALSO BY MITCH CULLIN
Whompyjawed
Branches
Tideland
The Cosmology of Bing
From the Place in the Valley
Deep in the Forest
UnderSurface
PUBLISHED BY NAN A. TALESE
AN IMPRINT OF DOUBLEDAY
a division of Random House, Inc.
DOUBLEDAY is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Title page photo courtesy of Geoff Graham/Nonstock Photography/Veer
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cullin, Mitch, 1968–
A slight trick of the mind : a novel / Mitch Cullin.— 1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN 0-385-51526-X
1. Holmes, Sherlock (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Private investigators—Fiction. 3. Aged men—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3553.U319S55 2005
813'.54—dc22 2004046038
Copyright © 2005 by Mitch Cullin
All Rights Reserved
www.doubleday.com
v1.0
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
Part I
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Part II
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Part III
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Sources of Illustrations
Also by Mitch Cullin
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
Part I
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Part II
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Part III
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Sources of Illustrations
Also by Mitch Cullin
Copyright Page
