Read Online The Perils of Sherlock Holmes by Loren D. Estleman - Free Book Online

nor how much of himself he has sacrificed to its operation. This I know from what I have seen. Richard does not advertise his worth.”
    “Please, Your Ladyship,” protested the clerk.
    She smiled at him sadly, dismissing his plea. “When you work closely with someone, as I have with Richard when the firm was shorthanded, you learn things his employer doesn’t know. Richard’s financial situation is heinous. Aside from his responsibilities as a husband, he has pledged to repay the many debts left by his late father, and his mother is seriously ill.
    “Richard is the first member of his family to pursue a career in business,” she continued. “His father was a mesmerist upon the stage, and his mother was a magician’s assistant. When I learned that he had inherited some of their skills, a plan began to materialise.”
    The clerk interrupted. “The plan was mine. Lady Chislehurst went along purely out of the goodness of her heart.”
    “You needn’t claim responsibility,” said she. “I’m proud of the idea. My husband is a good man, Mr. Holmes, but his order of values is not always sound. When the firm suffered, he should have chosen an area to practise economy that would not affect his employees. When he told me there would be no Christmas gratuities this year, I knew from experience I could not change his mind through talk. I decided instead to work upon his conscience. I suppose you know the rest.”
    Holmes appeared unmoved.
    “Your plan was dangerous, Madame. Any number of tragedies might have befallen your husband as he wandered in his sleep.”
    “That was unexpected, and alarumed me greatly.” Her expression was remorseful. “It did not happen the first time. I obtained the Devil’s-foot herb from Richard, but I misheard his instructions and misjudged the amount I put in Timothy’s tea. Afterwards, Richard and I decided not to use the drug again. If the mere image of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come did not bring about the desired conversion, that was that.”
    “I am shamed.” This was a new voice.
    “Timothy!” Lady Chislehurst turned to face her husband, who was standing upon the threshold to the hallway. None of us had seen him open the door, with the possible exception of Holmes, whose red-Indian countenance betrayed no reaction.
    “I am not shamed for you,” he added hastily, “but for myself. Were I not so caught up in commerce, I would have seen what effect my measures to preserve the firm was having upon the people I depend upon.”
    His wife stepped towards him just as he strode forwards. He took her in his arms. “I’m sorry, Beth. Can you ever forgive me?”
    “There is one way,” said she.
    “Of course.” He looked at his clerk. “Richard, I want you in early tomorrow.”
    The young man was dismayed. “Tomorrow is Christmas Day!”
    “All the more reason to start early, so we can count out the holiday gratuities, beginning with yours. If we work hard we should be able to deliver them all by midday. Then you and your wife will join us here for Christmas dinner. Mrs. MacTeague has a fair way with a goose and plum pudding, and the claret the late Mr. Scrooge put down in ’39 should be at its peak.”
    “Bless you, sir!”
    “Bless
you
, Beth!”
    “God bless us everyone!” I exclaimed.
    Four curious faces turned my way.
    “Surely you are more familiar with those words than most,” I told the earl and his wife. “Lady Chislehurst especially. She must have studied ‘A Christmas Carol’ closely whilst engineering her little conspiracy.”
    “I haven’t read it in years. My husband doesn’t approve of the story. I thought about it, naturally, but my real inspiration came when I discovered the secret passage and the equipment inside.”
    Holmes said, “Do you mean to say the apparatus was there already?”
    “The magic lantern is an old model,” explained Richard: “an ancestor, as it were, of the ones employed by the magicians with whom my mother performed. I