Read Online Sherlock Holmes In Montague Street Volume 2 by David Marcum - Free Book Online

and pass it to him under the front door.”
    â€œWhat, do you mean it was he you chased across the grounds last night?”
    â€œThat is a thing I am pretty certain of. If we had Mr. Mellis’s boot here we could make sure by comparing it with the piece of paper I cut out, as you will remember, in the entrance hall. As we have the will, though, that will scarcely be necessary. What he will do now, I expect, will be to go to the recess again on the vague chance of the will being there now, after all, assuming that his second dose of mesmerism has somehow miscarried. If Miss Garth were here he might try his tricks again, and that is why I got you to send her out.”
    â€œAnd where did you find the will?”
    â€œNow you come to practical details. You will remember that I asked about the handyman’s tool-house? Well, I paid it a visit at six o’clock this morning, and found therein some very excellent carpenter’s tools in a chest. I took a selection of them to the small staircase, and took out the tread of a stair - the one that the pivoted framing-plank rested on.”
    â€œAnd you found the will there?”
    â€œThe will, as I rather expected when I examined the recess last night, had slipped down a rather wide crack at the end of the stair timber, which, you know, formed, so to speak, the floor of the recess. The fact was, the stair-tread didn’t quite reach as far as the back of the recess. The opening wasn’t very distinct to see, but I soon felt it with my fingers. When Miss Garth, in her hypnotic condition on Saturday night, dropped the will into the recess, it shot straight to the back corner and fell down the slit. That was why Mellis found it empty, and why Miss Garth also found it empty on returning there last night under hypnotic influence. You observed her terrible state of nervous agitation when she failed to carry out the command that haunted her. It was frightful. Something like what happens to a suddenly awakened somnambulist, perhaps. Anyway, that is all over. I found the will under the end of the stair-tread, and here it is. If you will come to the small staircase now you shall see where the paper slipped out of sight. Perhaps we shall meet Mr. Mellis.”
    â€œHe’s a scoundrel,” said Mr. Crellan. “It’s a pity we can’t punish him.”
    â€œThat’s impossible, of course. Where’s your proof? And if you had any I’m not sure that a hypnotist is responsible at law for what his subject does. Even if he were, moving a will from one part of the house to another is scarcely a legal crime. The explanation I have given you accounts entirely for the disturbed manner of Miss Garth in the presence of Mellis. She merely felt an indefinite sense of his power over her. Indeed, there is all the possibility that, finding her an easy subject, he had already practiced his influence by way of experiment. A hypnotist, as you will see in the books, has always an easier task with a person he has hypnotized before.”
    As Holmes had guessed, in the corridor they met Mr. Mellis. He was a thin, dark man of about thirty-five, with large, bony features, and a slight stoop. Mr. Crellan glared at him ferociously.
    â€œWell, sir, and what do you want?” he asked.
    Mr. Mellis looked surprised. “Really, that’s a very extraordinary remark, Mr. Crellan,” he said. “This is my late uncle’s house. I might, with at least as much reason, ask you what you want.”
    â€œI’m here, sir, as Mr. Holford’s executor.”
    â€œAppointed by will?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAnd is the will in existence?”
    â€œWell - the fact is - we couldn’t find it - ”
    â€œThen, what do you mean, sir, by calling yourself an executor with no will to warrant you?” interrupted Mellis. “Get out of this house. If there’s no will, I administrate.”
    â€œBut there is a will,” roared Mr.