shoulder and voice in my ear.
'I won't permit you to spend two nights running perched in a chair, Russell. Come and have some food with us.'
I stood up sheepishly and put on the tiresome spectacles. 'May I wash first?' I asked to a point halfway between Holmes and his brother.
'Of course,' exclaimed Mycroft Holmes. He ushered me down a hall to a small room with a daybed. 'This will be yours while you are here, and the bath and such are through here. I borrowed a few things from a neighbour, if you would like to shed your present attire.' He looked a bit embarrassed at the inescapable intimacy of this offer, but I thanked him warmly, and he looked relieved. He was quite obviously no more accustomed to having to take the needs of a female into account than Holmes had been before I walked into him on the downs.
'Just one thing,' I added hesitantly, and saw the anxiety come back to his corpulent face. 'Your brother's injuries — he really should not be allowed to spend the night in a chair. If he would be better in here —?'
His face cleared. 'No, worry not, Miss Russell. I have sufficient space for the both of you,' and he left me for his imminent food.
I washed quickly and dressed in a thick blue robe I found hanging in the wardrobe. My hair I left pinned up on my head, escaping tendrils and all. My feet went gratefully into a pair of slightly too small carpet slippers, and I went to join the brothers at the table.
When I walked into the room, Mycroft immediately scraped back his chair, stood up, and went to pull out a chair for me. Holmes (returned now to his normal self, white teeth and all) watched him for a moment, looked at me, laid his serviette on the table, and slowly stood, smiling curiously. I was seated, Mycroft took his seat, and Holmes sat, a peculiar twist to the corner of his lips. Reminders of my femininity always took him by surprise. However, I could not hold him to blame, for they took me by surprise as well.
The roast capon was delicious, the breads fresh, the wine sparkled on the tongue. We spoke of inconsequentials and finished with a platter of cheese, among which I was pleased to find a piece of old Stilton. Mycroft and I shared it, leaving the cheddar to Holmes. It was a most satisfying meal. I said as much as I pushed back my plate.
'A full stomach, a slightly tipsy brain, and the knowledge of a safe place to sleep. What more could a person ask? Thank you, Mr. Holmes.' We adjourned to the fire, and Mycroft poured out three large brandies. I looked at my glass and wished for bed, and sighed quietly.
'Will you see a doctor tonight, Holmes?'
'I will not see a doctor, no. It must not be known that we are here.'
'What of the Club, and the cook? They must know, surely.'
'The Club is discreet,' said Mycroft, 'and I told the cook that I was exceedingly hungry.'
'So, no doctor. Even Watson?'
'Especially Watson.'
I sighed again. 'I suppose this is another of your tests of my abilities at basic first-aid, or some such. Very well, bring on the gauze.'
Mycroft went off to find the necessaries, and Holmes removed his jacket and began to undo his buttons.
'How may I distract you this time?' I asked sympathetically.
'The story of Moriarty and the Reichenbach Falls, perhaps?'
'I need no distraction, Russell,' he said curtly. 'I believe I have already told you that a mind which cannot control its body's emotional reactions is no mind worth having.'
'As surely you should know, Holmes,' I responded tartly. 'Perhaps you could turn your mind to closing the physical reaction of those holes in your back. This shirt is beyond salvation.'
The gauze that met my eyes was stained brown, and underneath it the skin was a mass of purple bruises and scabs. However, all but the worst of the wounds were intact, and only one, puckered by several sutures, was angry and red.
'I think there may be some bit of débris left in this one,' I said. I looked over at Mycroft, who had perched fastidiously in a corner during the work. 'Can you bring me something for a hot poultice?'
For the next half hour I held heated poultices to Holmes' side as he and Mycroft reviewed the known facts of the two attempts. Holmes had me insert my part of the story as he lit a pipe with unsteady hands.
'And the bomb?' asked Mycroft at the end of it.
'In Russell's haversack.'
Mycroft retrieved it and sat with it on the table in front of him, lifting up wires and gently prodding connexions. 'I will have a friend look at this tomorrow, but it does look similar to the one you took from the Western Street bank attempt some years ago.'
'And yet, you know, I had placed that man, Dickson his name was, on the bottom of the list of possibilities. In the five years since he was released, Inspector Lestrade informed me, he has married, had two children, made a success of himself at his father-in-law's music shop, and worships his family. An unlikely candidate.'
As Holmes talked an unpleasant suspicion began to unfurl itself in my mind. When his voice stopped I blurted it out.
'Holmes, you said that Mrs. Hudson was out of the way, but do you think we should ask Watson to move into an hotel for two or three days, or go visit a relative, until we know what's going on?'
The thin back went rigid beneath my hands, and he jerked, cursed, and turned more slowly to me, aghast. 'My God, Russell, how could 1 — Mycroft, you're on the telephone. You talk to him, Russell. Do not let him know where you are, or that I am with you. You know his number? Good. Oh, if anything has happened to him through my utter and absolute, boneheaded stupidity — 'I held the telephone to my ear and waited to be connected. Watson usually retired early, and it was after eleven o'clock. Holmes gnawed on his thumb as he waited, watching my face. Finally the connexion was made and the sleepy voice came up on the line.
'Hmmmph?'
'Watson, dear Uncle John, is that you? Mary here, I must — no, I am fine. Listen Uncle, I — no, Holmes is well, or was well, when I spoke with him last. Listen to me, Uncle John, you must listen to me. Are you listening? Good, yes, I am sorry that it is so late, I know I woke you, but you must leave your house, tonight, as soon as possible. Yes, I know it is late, but surely there is an hotel that would take you in, even at this hour? The what? Yes, good. Now you must take some things and go now. What? No, I have no time for explanations, but there have been two bombs set, one for Holmes and one for me, and — yes. No. No, mine did not go off, and Holmes had only minor injuries, but Uncle John, you may be in great danger and must leave your house at once. Now. Yes, Mrs. Hudson is safe and sound. No, Holmes is not with me, I don't know exactly where he is.' I turned my back carefully so I could not see Holmes, and thus preserve an iota of the truth. 'He told me to ring you. No, I am not in Oxford, I'm at the house of a friend. Now please go; I will call you at the hotel when I've heard something from Holmes. And Uncle, you must not mention this call to anyone, do you understand? No one must think that Holmes is anywhere but safely at home. You are not terribly good at dissimulation, I know, but it is terribly important. You know what the newspapers would do if they heard of it. Go to your hotel, stay there, talk to no one, until I call. Please? Ah, thank you. My mind will rest easier. You won't delay, will you? Good. Goodbye.'
I rang off and looked at Holmes. 'Mrs. Hudson?' I asked.
'No need to disturb her at this hour. The morning is soon enough.'
The tension subsided in the room, and the weariness crept back into my bones. I lightly fastened the dressings over Holmes' back, picked up my glass, and lifted it to the two brothers.
'Gentlemen, I bid you good night. I trust our plans may wait until morning for their formulation?'
'When brains are fresher,' said Holmes, as if quoting someone whose opinions he considered suspect — Oscar Wilde perhaps. 'Good night, Russell.'
'I trust, Holmes, that you will allow your body some rest tonight.'
He reached for his pipe.
'Russell, there are times when the infirmities of the body may be used as a means of concentrating the mind. I should be something of a fool were I not to take advantage of that phenomenon.'
This from a man who could not even sit back in a chair. I unclenched my jaw and spoke with deliberate cruelty.
'No doubt that marvellous concentration explains why you neglected to include Watson in your calculations.'
