Sherlock Holmes and the King of Clubs Read Online Free PDF Page A

run from the police, went to ground. From there it was a small matter to keep the woman under observance until her own actions condemned her.’
    ‘Then we must report her, Holmes! We cannot allow her to continue with such an abhorrent business!’
    ‘There is, I believe, no need for that. To bring them to book now might only cause the very embarrassment and exposure that their victims were hoping to avoid. Besides, after tonight’s little encounter, I fancy they will go to ground once more.’
    ‘Then they will have got away with it.’
    ‘Perhaps,’ Holmes replied enigmatically.
    ‘What does that mean?’
    ‘It means that upon reaching their lodgings in Tooting, the Channings will pack their bags and leave the city for pastures new. But as they gather their belongings, they will discover three curious things. One – the notebooks in which they recorded all the sordid details of their victims will have mysteriously disappeared. Two – so will the vile collection of photographs they used in their demands for payment. And three – all the paperwork relating to their several well-stocked bank accounts will have been destroyed, rendering them all but penniless; for to make any attempt to reclaim those accounts may well invite close scrutiny of their somewhat questionable finances – firstly from the banks themselves, and then, in due course, from the police.’
    ‘You have well and truly ruined them, then?’
    ‘Let us just say that I have lost none of my skill at breaking and entering.’
    Watson snapped his fingers as something else suddenly became clear to him. ‘And those letters you posted earlier this evening …?’
    ‘Were all addressed to those same victims, informing them– anonymously, of course – that they have nothing further to fear from their blackmailer, and suggesting they learn a salutary lesson from the experience.’
    ‘So there
is
some justice, then.’
    ‘There is nearly always
some
justice, old friend,’ Holmes agreed softly.
    ‘And there is no fool like an old fool,’ Watson grumbled. ‘And I will be perfectly honest with you, Holmes: I doubt that I have ever felt so old or so foolish.’
    Unexpectedly Holmes smiled, and the light of good humour entered his grey eyes. ‘Then allow me to give you a second chance to recapture your salad days.’
    ‘Salad? You’ve lost me, Holmes.’
    ‘I must confess, as much as I enjoy my life in Sussex and my study of bees, it falls far short of the adventurous life you and I once enjoyed in Baker Street. It is, as Browning would have it, “That’s the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over, lest you should think he never could recapture the first fine careless rapture!”’
    ‘You are, as usual, speaking in riddles and displaying a knowledge of verse that I never before suspected.’
    ‘Then I will say it plainly,’ Holmes replied. ‘We cannot go back, Watson. But we may go forward. I have recently been thinking of travel … but where is the pleasure in travelling alone?’
    ‘Where were you thinking of going?’
    ‘Austria,’ came the startling reply.
    ‘Austria!’
    ‘Yes. For some time now I have been corresponding with the neurologist, Dr Freud. He appears to be a most fascinating man and one I will enjoy meeting, for I am keen to discuss at greater length a diagnostic technique he calls
psychoanalysis
. What do you say, old friend?’
    ‘I am hardly enamoured of Freud’s theories,’ Watson said. ‘Indeed, I heartily disapprove of some.’
    ‘But
Vienna
, man!’
    Watson could hardly deny the temptation. But still he hesitated. ‘When do you plan to leave, Holmes? I mean, I have myduties as a locum to consider….’
    ‘Then first thing tomorrow morning,’ Holmes said, clapping him on the arm, ‘arrange for a replacement, and I will take care of everything else. Within forty-eight hours, my friend, we will be on our way – and who knows? Once again, if we are lucky, the game may well be afoot!’

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