Sherlock Holmes in Something the Cat Dragged In Read Online Free PDF

them Detective Rogers is not to be left alone for a minute, nor is anyone to enter his room save those identified by other medical staff.”
    Holmes eyed him approvingly. “That is sensible. He may be the only person who knows who abducted his temporary employer and where the man may be now. Meanwhile, Watson and I shall make our own inquiries.”
    Lestrade and Harrison took their leave and Miss Emily turned to us. “Do you think I should keep Mandalay in for a few days?”
    â€œI do. He is a sensible cat, but he will not be popular with Brand’s friends if they discover how he betrayed them. Still, he has done well, and if Lord Northgate survives, he will no doubt give Mandalay more salmon.”
    I may add that as we departed the suite Miss Emily, feeling her cat had indeed done well, gave him the remainder of the salmon, to his extreme and vocal pleasure.
    * * * *
    We began our own inquiries the next day. It was my task to drop into a number of the more respectable hotels in the area, and in their public bars to drink a glass of something mild while casting an eye over the patrons. I was not looking for Persimmon Brand, but a man of somewhat higher caliber named Western.
    â€œHe is in a similar line of work to Brand’s occupation of fencing,” Holmes informed me. “He was born a gentleman, but came down in the world. He has a minor grudge against Brand, but he won’t speak for that.”
    â€œThen why will he?”
    â€œBecause you will tell him that Brand is dabbling in government secrets that may injure the Monarchy and the reputation of the country,” Holmes replied. “Western was, in a way, cheated of his hereditary rights, and for that he has had to make his own way, but whatever Frederick Western may be now, he comes of a line of men who served their country. Men draw lines, Watson; they say to themselves that they may do this and that, but these are venial sins, done to make a living. They frown on actions they see as beyond that point, thus do they feel themselves still superior. Tell Western something of what has happened, using no names but that of Brand. Western will tell you what he knows and may agree to be helpful, since in that way he both harms an old enemy and convinces himself that he is not truly a criminal.”
    * * * *
    It took me into the second day, but I found Frederick Western in the bar of The Royal Prince in Wapping. He was a man with moderate pretensions to good looks and wearing some smartness of dress. I thought him to be in his early to mid thirties and a little under six feet in height, while his figure was that of a man whose excesses did not run to either drink or gluttony. I allowed myself to drift towards him, agreed with a remark that he made to someone who seemed to be a casual acquaintance, and when he looked favorably on me, I offered him a drink.
    â€œThank you, sir.”
    I nodded and introduced myself. “Doctor John Watson.”
    â€œFrederick Western, of the Northampton Westerns.”
    His voice was well bred, though slightly overlaid with more recent and less polite accents, so that I saw what Holmes had meant. Here was a man who had fallen to making a living by nefarious means, but had never forgotten his roots. Holmes had also told me somewhat of the family.
    So I smiled in recognition. “Ah, you mean the Pentwood estate? I had heard that all that had gone, not entailed, and sold up to strangers. A pity, a valiant family and very well regarded before the direct line died.”
    He stared. “You know of them then?”
    I merely nodded, not pointing out that I could hardly have said what I had if I had not known of them.
    Western smiled, an expression of great charm, and I saw that the warmth was genuine. He was pleased to discover someone who knew his family name and spoke well of them; from then on I had a friend. We shared drinks, talk, I mentioned my war service, and eventually I invited him to