Part 2 (2/2)
We heard Mrs Hudson ascending the stairs She knocked and poked her head around the door ”There's a Lady Isabel Burton to see you, Mr Holmes”
”Good show! Send her up, Mrs Hudson!”
Moments later, our visitor stepped in She appeared tired but ht of day, I saw she'd once been a tall and handsoe had now taken its toll
Holreeted her and waved her to an ar, Lady Burton?”
”He has not awoken,” she answered, ”but Dr Baker assuresfor hireed
Holmes indicated that I should settle into the other armchair, and, after I had done so, he strode into the middle of the room and turned to face us
”I wonder, Lady Burton, if there is anything you wish to tell ard to what, Mr Holard to the events of yesterday evening, of course What else?”
She started to pick nervously at the edge of her shawl ”I rather thought it would be you tellingabout it, sir”
”If you wish it, I can do so”
Puzzled, I began, ”Hol me and snapped, ”Not now, Watson!”
Lady Burton looked at him quizzically ”Well then?”
”Well then,” Holmes said ”Since only chapter twenty-one of the Arabian manuscript was stolen, it's safe to proceed on the premise that it was removed by someone who knew exactly what they wanted and exactly where it could be found To reach it, that person had only to do as Inspector Lestrade suggested: ascend the exterior staircase, clih the , cross to the door on their left, enter the bedchamber, and open the trunk”
”Edward Avery,” Lady Burton muttered ”We did not inforht it better that you approach the bookseller”
Ignoring her statement, Holmes went on ”The assumption is that, just as the thief entered, Tho door, which would be to the intruder's right, immediately spotted hi blow to the forehead But why, then, Lady Burton, did Bendyshe not fall backwards? And as he at the other end of the room?”
”I don't know, Mr Holmes”
”It is because there was no intruder, Edward Avery or otherwise”
”If there was no burglar,” I protested, ”how can the , and who killed Bendyshe?”
”I shall answer the last question first, Watson No one killed Thomas Bendyshe He died of natural causes, almost certainly a heart attack When he fell, he struck his head on the corner of the hearth You yourself noted the lack of blood He didn't bleed because his heart had stopped before he even hit the floor”
”But his body wasn't by the fireplace!”
”There were carpet fibres caught up in his watch chain The only way they could have got there is if his body was dragged across the room Also, the corner of the hearth was conspicuously cleaner than the rest It had been wiped down”
”By whom?” I asked
”That, Watson, is the question The metal staircase provides the answer Observe”
Holled doard, with his fingers and thu a rail Hethis peculiar performance, said, ”When one descends a staircase of that sort, one's hands do not grip the rails to either side tightly, but si theht, raised his ar ”But when going up, the hands grip tightly, and one pulls hard in order to relieve sos”
He stopped his aze blankly He sighed ”The bolts, Watson! As Mr McGarrigle noted, they were loose in the brickwork If someone had climbed those reat pressure on the bolts and brick dust would have been dislodged around them, from the top section of the staircase in particular, due to the effect of leverage If, on the other hand, a person had only descended, there would be a lesser amount of dust and it would be more evenly distributed from the topmost to the bottommost bolts As, indeed, it was”
Hol eyes upon Lady Burton ”Furthermore, there was a thin film of soot on the stairs, deposited there, no doubt, by our London peasoupers What say you, , but her face hite to the lips
”It had been disturbed,” Holmes went on ”And I noticed that the heht was stained with the stuff Had you gone up the staircase, the stain would have been at the front It was at the back Hence, you only went down”
Lady Burton burst into tears
Holuest and back again Slowly, a fog of confusion cleared from myto protect your husband's reputation!” I exclaimed
She nodded, and sobbed, ”I was the first to return to the hotel that night Mr McGarrigle was engaged with his staff and did not notice me enter” She pulled her handkerchief from her sleeve and wiped the tears from her face ”I'd been back less than ten minutes before there ca fro for Dr Baker”
I interjected, ”But why did he go to the door of your suite rather than entering through the connecting door?”
”He's known dick and me for many years,” she replied, ”but is not well acquainted with our physician He wasn't aware that I was back, and did not want to burst in upon a er to him”
”And he collapsed in front of you,” Holmes said
She sniffed and more tears fell ”He suddenly clutched his chest and dropped like a stone As you say, his head iainst the hearth, but I'ave way I rushed to hi for the hotelinterrupted her discourse When I esture to stop me We waited, and after a couple of h her voice rasped with emotion
”You must understand,” she said, ”there has been a stain onman He spent his childhood on the continent, and has, in consequence, been regarded by lish This prejudice increased when he worked for Sir Charles Napier in India and was sent to investigate certain establishments of bad repute His report was rather too detailed, and when it fell into the wrong hands, it was employed by those jealous of his accomplishments to cast a shadow over hi and hard to prove the suspicions unfounded, and has taken risks and endured hardshi+ps that would have killed lesser men And now, just as he's achieved widespread acclaiht, this - this - this awful chapter twenty-one! I cannot allow him to be reood he has ever done!”
Holed Bendyshe away from the fireplace - which you then wiped - took the manuscript, climbed out of the , descended the h the le”
”Yes I ah for all of that”
”Did it not occur to you that by staging the burglary you could have sent an innocent man to the scaffold?”
”Edward Avery? He is not an innocent o to Richard Besides, I knew there'd be nothing but circuht have been ruined-which he deserves-but it would have gone no further”
Sherlock Holmes paced over to theand looked down at Baker Street He took his pipe froainst his chin ”I understand your ree with them Sir Richard's achievements will be remembered not because he followed the mob, or did as he was told, or allowed others to make decisions for hiement If he believes that chapter twenty-one of The Perfue and understanding, then I cannot doubt hiards it as his final project,” I added ”He told me it is his most important work Do you really intend to deprive him of it?”
She buried her face in her hands ”He will be vilified”
”Perhaps so,” Holmes murmured ”But he knows the risk and he chooses it Obviously, he's prepared to sacrifice his reputation in the short terenerations, whothan we do”
The detective turned away from theand faced Lady Burton ”I'm afraid I cannot permit your interference You will tell me where chapter twenty-one is hidden and I will see to it that the material is returned to Sir Richard Your part in its disappearance will not be mentioned Not, that is, unless you refuse me”