Part 3 (2/2)
Like so many of our visitors before her, the woht I, however, had noticed the traces of dried yellowish ratulatedthat she h,” she said, ”but I'm not 'ere to discuss the railway timetables I'm 'ere because I'm concerned me Stephen is to lose his job when it ain't his fault”
”Stephen?” I asked ”Is he your son?”
”No, no He's me husband”
I must have shown my surprise at this pronounceh and even Mrs Perkins' mouth turned up in amusement
”Watson, my friend, your delicacy isMrs Perkins has co from Brookwood, where Londoners are sent to be buried, and where Mr Stephen Perkins works I think perhaps Mrs Perkins also works there, hence having suitably sombre attire but the sun-dappled skin of souest nodded, and folded her ungloved hands over her reticule ”You'll be right, Mr Holmes My husband is the stationmaster at the north station, where we take care of the nonconfor much-needed sustenance to both the bereaved and the workers”
Holain ”You run the bar, do you not, Mrs Perkins? The calluses on your hands are suggestive of those generated frohed this ti in soreat odds with her appearance and hat one would expect of a
”I do, 'cept e have some Quakers or other temperance-minded souls to lay to rest They have les you to me?” Holmes asked ”How is your Stephen in trouble?”
”That's the rub of it, Mr Holht know We've been there for a couple of year noith the Cos Never a co at the south station He's been fined for refusing to serve soet any trouble like that But three times in the last twothrough our papers, inspecting our rooms And I keep 'em spotless No one, not even soh, likes to say their final farewells in a room that ain't been swept”
I could not see how this case would interest Hol After all, we had only Mrs Perkins' word that her husband was honest and she herself was falsely dressed inearnestly at h, is there not?” Holmes asked her She nodded, and her face, which till then had been serene, grew agitated
”It's the noises at night, Mr Holmes, that really bother me”
”That seeraveyard”
”It's not a graveyard, Mr Watson, it's a cemetery Built within these last forty years to hold the dead of London That don't bother raveyard And it ain't the sounds of the countryside at night neither, though the quiet did bother , and voices, and the sound of people trying to be silent”
That afternoon, alked over to the offices of the London Necropolis Railway Their premises were purpose built hard by the London and South Western Railway's viaduct at Waterloo, onto which their trains ran When I had ood proportion of patients who, once I could relieve their suffering no more, had chosen to be transported froreen fields of Surrey Their faned the death certificate needed to book a journey upon that sorrowful train, that the service provided was excellently run and the resting placesThis was, however, my first visit to their premises and I looked around with not a little curiosity
An archway of handsome red brick and Portland stone provided access for hearses and ed tunnel leading out under the viaduct ensuring the vehicles could be unloaded and round level were the Co rooms reserved for the lowest class of funeral For there were three classes,the passageway, the ere brightly furnished inter-blossolass roof several storeys above us, at track level
We were greeted by a clerk, as calm, quiet and respectful He led us up a wide stone staircase onto the second-class floor, where there was a rooe of coffins, and began providing us with the advantages of each design
”This is one of our ns for the second-class funeral, in simple el refined to demonstrate the level of respect due to their beloved relative We are also able to provide the 'earth-to-earth' papier-audy displays of life in favour of a natural burial Unless, sirs, you are looking on behalf of a parish, perhaps? We have a si here, which enables us to offer most reasonable terms”
”Alas, sir,” said Holmes, ”You have mistaken us for possible customers, perhaps misled by my friend's profession I need to see one of your directors” He held up a thin finger before the startled man could speak ”One of the Company directors, not a funereal one”
As the clerk rushed off, I remonstrated with Holmes ”You should not have allowed hi”
”On the contrary, Watson, he has given us a great deal of information about the company and its practices without any awareness that he was doing so I ans”
I looked around the room Each coffin was held on a trestle and presented as it would be in a chapel of rest, although no religious sy at these promises of the future Mortality is part of reat many deaths on the battlefield besides Yet undertakers, and their work, made me uncomfortable in a way that those moments of death did not I think perhaps it is the idea that they ht relatives as customers I tried to express this disquiet to Hol a fee for seeing someone in pain? Your own customers, your patients as you call them, are themselves not always in the most rational of states”
”Nor yet are yours,” I retorted
One of the Company directors entered the room before we could continue, and Hol his racefully, without the ruddy coreying hair was neat, and his salt-and-pepper beard triave every appearance of a man in full control of his world
”Mr Holmes? I am Mr James Arrowsmith, one of the three directors of the London Necropolis Company I cannot pretend not to know your name, nor your occupation I can assure you ill be happy to assist you in an investigation, within the limits of both the law and discretion I presu the death of someone whose mortal remains we have laid to rest?”
Holmes raised an eyebrow ”That's possible, of course, but not the pri to accept ations turn out not to be in the best interests of the co, uncomfortable pause Arrowsmith paced the room twice, with his hands clasped behind his back and his head bowed When he reached the mantelpiece, he looked upwards at the discreet clock before turning back to face us
”It is possible,” he said so quietly I strained to hear, ”that our thoughts bend to the sa that concernsin Surrey?” Holularities I've had a clerk looking at what is happening here in London, and have o over the books at both stations There are too many people, Mr Holmes”
”I don't quite follow, Mr Arrows it ill One of the clerks, an excellent lad with a head for nu on the returning train on Tuesdays was greater than the nu the trains to get to London?” I asked
”That's what I suspect, and it would be most unfortunate if it is true Our lease of the line from the London and South Western Railway depends upon us only serving funeral parties andplaces The Railway could terminate our contract if ere found in breach of it”
”And your relationshi+p with the Railway has always been a little strained, I believe?” asked Holmes
”Quite Even if they did not choose to tear up our lease, they could make it more difficult for us to run the professional and calm service we take pride in We've had to ask theines can be discreet, after one driver was drunk and nearly overran the buffers at the cemetery The relationshi+p between the two companies cannot take additional strains”
”On which of the stationin the south station has already been reprimanded for his behaviour towards a custoe I have not, as yet, been able to find any clear evidence on either of them Neither has access to ticket rolls, but both take monies over the bar Their books are all accurate”
”Is there a pattern to the additional passengers?”
”There is not, though it is always on a day e are running pauper funerals, so on a Tuesday or a Thursday”
Holether and tapped his lips with his fingers, a sure sign that he was thinking through the possible reasons for both the nuue fears of Mrs Perkins
”Very well, Mr Arrowsation on your behalf I, like your Company, pride myself on a discrete service that will not draelcome attention on the people involved If I can, I shall report s to yourself to take action Unless, that is, laws are being broken when I may have no option but to call in the authorities”
Mr Arrowsmith looked alarmed at the idea of the police, and the possibility of his Co in the press Given the nature of their work, any such story would likely be taken up with prurient enthusiaser to tell sensational stories I was not alone, after all, in my disquiet about undertakers The one before us, however, nodded slowly
”Tell me what else you need,” he said
Thus it was that the following Tuesday, Hol attire watching a coffin being loaded onto a train in Waterloo
Mr Arrows us as the hurst, aof some six-and-fifty years who had no faed for her to have a second-class funeral and we had duly been shown to a private roo, where Mrs Langhurst was already in situ, arrayed in an elm coffin with simple details I found I could not look upon this poor hose laying to rest ere using for our own ends Holan inspecting the room
His air of distraction, which I soon realised was being assumed, increased ere invited up to the platform to watch the coffin, now securely closed, be loaded into a co the name of the occupant was on the outside of the hearse van Matching cards was also inserted into the coer coach, so that each funeral party travelled in seclusion