hotel, but has set his men to watch Mrs Fordeland leave. That is when he will strike. If we are lucky we can forestall him.’
A request for our client at the hotel’s reception desk confirmed that she and her granddaughter were in the garden. A page showed us the way, and we found them taking tea at a garden table.
‘Why, Mr Holmes, Dr Watson,’ she said as we approached. ‘This is an unexpected pleasure. Do you have news?’
‘I fear that it is not a pleasurable errand that brings us here,’ said Holmes. ‘I do have news, but it is not good. For reasons too complicated to explain at present, Major Kyriloff has formed an impression that you and I are conspiring to expose Count Skovinski-Rimkoff and thereby provoke a diplomatic
incident in connection with the Jubilee. His men are watching the hotel’s front and the major himself is in the vicinity. I have every belief that he intends to take you and your granddaughter prisoner.’
The young girl stared at us in astonishment, but her grandmother set her cup down very firmly.
‘That is preposterous!’ she said. ‘What do you wish us to do, Mr Holmes?’
‘It is evident,’ said my friend, ‘that you cannot remain anywhere in London where Kyriloff’s people can find you. If you will be kind enough to make ready, as swiftly as you may, to stay overnight elsewhere, we will leave here and attempt to outwit the major. Once your safety is assured, I can arrange for your luggage to follow you.’
Mrs Fordeland rose. ‘Come, Elizabeth,’ she commanded. ‘We must do as Mr Holmes suggests with all despatch.’
We escorted them to the foot of the main staircase, where they left us to make for their rooms. Holmes detailed me to guard the back entrance to the hotel, and I paced the rear lobby with a hand firmly clasping the pistol in my coat pocket.
It was not many minutes before Holmes joined me, accompanied by Mrs Fordeland and her
granddaughter.
‘Now,’ he said, ‘beyond this door is the hotel’s mews yard, at the bottom of which our cab should await us. If we can reach the vehicle, we can make our way to Scotland Yard, where I will enlist the support of the official police. It is unlikely that they will act directly against Kyriloff, but they dislike his tricks in London and will welcome an opportunity to frustrate him by any means that they can. After which, we shall find a safe lodging for you and your granddaughter.’
He thrust the door open and stepped out into the yard, followed by the ladies, while I brought up the rear with Mrs Fordeland’s bag. We had almost reached the yard’s entrance when a figure in a dark coat stepped in front of us, backed by no fewer than five young men similar to those we had seen at the hotel’s front. It was Major Kyriloff.
‘I am surprised,’ he said, taking a long black cigarette from his mouth, ‘to see a lady like Mrs Fordeland leaving her hotel by the groom’s entrance. I am here to invite you and your pretty
granddaughter to pay a visit to my embassy, where there are matters which the ambassador would like to discuss with you.’
‘I thank you, Major Kyriloff, but you may tell the ambassador that I must refuse his invitation.’
‘But you are a writer and lecturer, Mrs Fordeland. His Excellency is always concerned that the press should receive accurate information about our country. There have been so many calumnies spread in the foreign press that he is at pains to see that there should be no more.’
‘Please assure your ambassador that I have no intention of spreading any calumny about Russia, Major Kyriloff.’
‘You have heard Mrs Fordeland,’ said Holmes. ‘Now please stand out of our way, Major.’
The Russian’s eyes narrowed. ‘Then I must be blunt with both of you. You, Mrs Fordeland, when a guest in our country, were witness to an unfortunate incident which, upon investigation, turned out to be one of those tragic accidents which sometimes occur in the hunting field. That explanation was given to you, in case you had imagined that something else had occurred. I am fully aware that you have not referred to the matter either in print or in your lectures, but now I see you in London associating with a man who is already known to me. You, Mr Holmes, have been at pains in the past to make my work here in London difficult, at the behest, no doubt, of your brother. When, in addition, I know that you have been visited by a certain army officer, it is abundantly clear to me that a plot has been hatched to discredit a member of the Imperial family. It is my duty to prevent such a plot.’
‘Major Kyriloff,’ said Holmes, ‘you appear to suffer from that distortion of the perceptions that drives people to imagine plots where there are none. Watson will confirm that it is called paranoia. Now, kindly stand aside.’
‘I have five young men at my disposal, Mr Holmes. I do not think you will get very far if you try the issue with them.’
‘I warn you, Kyriloff, I am armed,’ said Holmes.
The major smiled again. ‘So, Mr Holmes, are my companions and I. Now, might I suggest that you stand back and permit me to escort the ladies to our embassy?’
Holmes had stood with one hand clenched behind him. Now Mrs Fordeland took something from her reticule and pressed it into his hand.
Holmes swung his hand from behind his back and lifted it. I saw each of Kyriloff’s bodyguards tense and slip a hand into his coat, then pause as they saw what my friend was holding aloft.
‘This,’ said Holmes, ‘is a whistle of the kind carried by every member of the Metropolitan Police force.
I imagine that, at this time of day, there will be three or four constables within earshot, maybe more.
Would you care to repeat your threats, or to offer violence to my client or myself under the eyes of police officers? You know as well as I do that there are officers at Scotland Yard who would be delighted at an excuse to lock you up or to have you deported. If you make a move against my client and the rest of our party, I shall give them that opportunity.’
Kyriloff’s eyes narrowed and he took a long draw on his cigarette. The pause lengthened, then, without another word, he stepped aside and motioned to his men to do the same. We walked past them in silence, to find our cab waiting on the street.
‘Scotland Yard!’ Holmes told the cabby. ‘I shall double that sovereign if you give us all speed.’
Our driver cracked his whip and we were away. As I fell back in the seat, Holmes said, ‘I thank you for recalling the whistle, Mrs Fordeland. It was precisely what was needed.’
‘It certainly seemed to do the trick,’ she agreed.
‘It served for the moment, but Kyriloff will not leave you alone, nor will he be made any the better by being bested. We must still take strong measures for your safety.’
We rounded a corner and, a few yards further on, our cab came to a sudden halt. Holmes leapt up and thrust his head from a window.
‘What is the trouble, cabby?’
‘The street’s blocked, sir. A couple of brewery drays.’
‘Go back!’ commanded Holmes. ‘Go back at once! Go through Little Ayton Street!’
Our vehicle began the cumbersome process of turning in the street and had almost completed the manoeuvre when the cabby exclaimed, ‘It’s behind us as well, sir! There’s a couple more wagons entangled that way.’
Again Holmes sprang to the window and looked. When he turned back his face was solemn.
‘He has trapped us,’ he said. ‘These are not accidents. We have been bottled in by Kyriloff.’
Twenty-Four
A Royal Refuge
‘Can you not use the whistle again?’ I asked. ‘Hardly,’ he said. ‘I grant you that it will be heard by several constables, but the moment they enter this street from either end they will see an entanglement of vehicles. They will assume that they have been summoned for that reason and will attempt to deal with the confusion. Meanwhile, under cover of the mayhem he has created, Kyriloff and his minions will come for us. I do not like it, Watson.’
Holmes thrust his head from the window again, and I heard him instructing the driver. ‘You see that arched gateway, ahead on the left? Take us in there, as fast as you can. Take us right in!’
We started again and soon I saw stone pillars pass the windows as we entered a courtyard of some
