Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly Read Online Free PDF Page A

years. He is not evil. I wish him well. I hope he may thrive elsewhere. But I have taken the only course open to me.”
    â€œElsewhere?” Sherlock Holmes put more into the two syllables than I would have thought possible. Winter became ingratiating.
    â€œThis will seem a strange world to you, sir. I have the advantage of living in it for some years and understanding the best interests of individual boys.”
    â€œCapital,” said Holmes expressionlessly, and for a moment the headmaster seemed to believe that he was safe. But Sherlock Holmes never took his eyes off him.
    â€œPatrick Riley is a sensitive boy,” Winter explained, as if with a little difficulty, “whatever his faults or virtues. I believe his reaction to being caught demonstrates that—his refusal to take his medicine. I fear, gentlemen, the Royal Navy is not the best place for a boy of the sensitive poetic spirit, the young philosopher, the scholar whose whole heart is in his books.”
    â€œAnd is Patrick Riley such a boy?” Holmes inquired politely.
    Reginald Winter smiled again and made another gesture of infinite good nature.
    â€œThe worst I could say before this incident was that during two years he had not been a good mixer. Riley prefers to keep himself to himself. Normal boys do not like that sort of thing. It makes a fellow seem as if he thinks himself better than they. A little more sociability or geniality would have made him popular enough.”
    â€œAnd was he unpopular?” I asked, “Do I take it that he has been bully-ragged?
    â€œNo!” Mr Winter looked startled, “No boy is bullied at St Vincent’s, sir. In case you think so, perhaps it is best that you should form your own conclusions of his character when you meet him—for meet him you shall, I promise you that. He is fortunate to have such counsel for his defence!”
    Having failed once, he tried a second time to smile us into friendship. Not a muscle in Holmes’s face moved.
    â€œI am not here as anyone’s counsel, Mr Winter. You have found the boy guilty of theft. The boy denies it and, whatever the pressure put upon him, has not changed his plea. Sir John Fisher has asked me to establish the truth. That is all. Though, of course, there is also the allegation against him of an attempt to kill himself. Attempted suicide is a crime as surely as theft.”
    The headmaster shook his head sympathetically. He mistakenly believed he was out of the wood now.
    â€œEven without the matter of theft, it would be difficult to keep him after the second incident. We are not equipped to care for a boy who may attempt anything of that kind. Meanwhile, the others believe that it confirms his guilt. Would an innocent boy behave in such a manner? They naturally think not. Suicide is bound to be regarded as a sign of cowardice in the face of adversity.”
    The opinion which Reginald Winter attributed to his boys was surely his own.
    â€œYes,” said Holmes, languidly arrogant, “the cowardice of the late Captain Lawrence Oates, who deliberately walked out into a South Pole blizzard in order that his companions might have a better chance of survival on their doomed trek homewards.”
    Reginald Winter tried to smile, but temper was getting the better of him.
    â€œThat was not what I meant, Mr Holmes. It rests on my conscience that a boy in my school should condemn himself twice, as a thief and a coward, by attempting such a dreadful thing. But there is a world of difference …” Then, as he sat on the padded top of his fire-surround, he stopped and smiled down at us, as if he realised that a joke had been practised on him.
    â€œAre you playing games with me, Mr Holmes? They say it is your habit.”
    â€œDo they, Mr Winter? Do they say that indeed? Then let me tell you something for your comfort.”
    â€œComfort, sir?” There was a mocking curiosity in this query, but I knew from the cold,