only tried the other way when everything else had failed. Now,Mr. Holmes, granting that I was too hard on Douglas—and, Godknows, I am sorry for it! —what else could I do with my wholefuture at stake?”
Sherlock Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, well,” said he, “I suppose I shall have to compound afelony as usual. How much does it cost to go round the world infirst-class style?”
The lady stared in amazement.
“Could it be done on five thousand pounds?”
“Well, I should think so, indeed!”
“Very good. I think you will sign me a check for that, and I willsee that it comes to Mrs. Maberley. You owe her a little change ofair. Meantime, lady” —he wagged a cautionary forefinger— “havecare! Have a care! You can’t play with edged tools forever withoutcutting those dainty hands.”
The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
Holmes had read carefully a note which the last post hadbrought him. Then, with the dry chuckle which was his nearestapproach to a laugh, he tossed it over to me.
The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes 1299
“For a mixture of the modern and the mediaeval, of the practicaland of the wildly fanciful, I think this is surely the limit,” said he.
Our client, Mr. Robert Ferguson, of Ferguson and Muirhead,tea brokers, of Mincing Lane, has made some inquiry from usin a communication of even date concerning vampires. As ourfirm specializes entirely upon the assessment of machinery thematter hardly comes within our purview, and we have thereforerecommended Mr. Ferguson to call upon you and lay the matterbefore you. We have not forgotten your successful action in the caseof Matilda Briggs.
We are, sir,
Faithfully yours,
MORRISON, MORRISON, AND DODD.
per E. J. C.
“Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson,”
said Holmes in a reminiscent voice. “It was a ship which isassociated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the worldis not yet prepared. But what do we know about vampires? Does itcome within our purview either? Anything is better than stagnation,but really we seem to have been switched on to a Grimms’ fairy tale.
Make a long arm, Watson, and see what V has to say.”
I leaned back and took down the great index volume to whichhe referred. Holmes balanced it on his knee, and his eyes movedslowly and lovingly over the record of old cases, mixed with theaccumulated information of a lifetime.
“Voyage of the Gloria Scott,” he read. “That was a bad business.
I have some recollection that you made a record of it, Watson,though I was unable to congratulate you upon the result. VictorLynch, the forger. Venomous lizard or gila. Remarkable case, that!
Vittoria, the circus belle. Vanderbilt and the Yeggman. Vipers.
Vigor, the Hammersmith wonder. Hullo! Hullo! Good old index.
You can’t beat it. Listen to this, Watson. Vampirism in Hungary.
And again, Vampires in Transylvania.” He turned over the pageswith eagerness, but after a short intent perusal he threw down thegreat book with a snarl of disappointment.
“Rubbish, Watson, rubbish! What have we to do with walkingcorpses who can only be held in their grave by stakes driventhrough their hearts? It’s pure lunacy.”
1300 The Complete Sherlock Holmes
“But surely,” said I, “the vampire was not necessarily a deadman? A living person might have the habit. I have read, forexample, of the old sucking the blood of the young in order toretain their youth.”
“You are right, Watson. It mentions the legend in one of thesereferences. But are we to give serious attention to such things?
This agency stands flat-footed upon the ground, and there it mustremain. The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply.
fear that we cannot take Mr. Robert Ferguson very seriously.
Possibly this note may be from him and may throw some lightupon what is worrying him.”
He took up a second letter which had lain unnoticed uponthe table while he had been absorbed with the first. This hebegan to read with a smile of amusement upon his face whichgradually faded away into an expression of intense interest andconcentration. When he had finished he sat for some little timelost in thought with the letter dangling from his fingers. Finally,with a start, he aroused himself from his reverie.
“Cheeseman’s, Lamberley. Where is Lamberley, Watson?”
“It is in Sussex, South of Horsham.”
“Not very far, eh? And Cheeseman’s?”
“I know that country, Holmes. It is full of old houses whichare named after the men who built them centuries ago. You getOdley’s and Harvey’s and Carriton’s—the folk are forgotten buttheir names live in their houses.”
“Precisely,” said Holmes coldly. It was one of the peculiarities ofhis proud, self-contained nature that though he docketed any freshinformation very quietly and accurately in his brain, he seldommade any acknowledgment to the giver. “I rather fancy we shallknow a good deal more about Cheeseman’s, Lamberley, before weare through. The letter is, as I had hoped, from Robert Ferguson.
By the way, he claims acquaintance with you.”
“With me!”
“You had better read it.”
He handed the letter across. It was headed with the addressquoted.
DEAR MR HOLMES [it said]:
I have been recommended to you by my lawyers, but indeedthe matter is so extraordinarily delicate that it is most difficult todiscuss. It concerns a friend for whom I am acting. This gentlemanmarried some five years ago a Peruvian lady the daughter of aPeruvian merchant, whom he had met in connection with theimportation of nitrates. The lady was very beautiful, but the fact ofher foreign birth and of her alien religion always caused a separationof interests and of feelings between husband and wife, so that afterThe Case Book of Sherlock Holmes 1301.