The Adventure of the Pharaoh's Curse (The Assassination of Sherlock Holmes Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

a mad, unreasoning terror. “It is not of this world. Something has come into that museum which is beyond the ken of reason.”
    Holmes shook his head. “I am not prepared to admit the possibility of diabolical intrusions into the affairs of men.”
    “Denying the power of the Father of Evil does not lessen Him, Mr. Holmes. No one in their right mind would go near that crypt at night, and only the foolhardy would approach it by day. No, it’s more than a man’s nerves can stand.” He reached for his glass and rapidly drained it.
    Lestrade vainly attempted to get some additional words out of Mr. Bedford, but the man mutely shook his head. Holmes could tell that Bedford would say no more that night and motioned Lestrade and I towards the door. He glanced at me and his lips curled up in a crooked grin. “It will not be the first time we have ventured into a haunted crypt, eh, Watson? And this one has been nicely set up for us in the heart of London. We don’t have to first trudge three miles through the Berkshire grass-lands. Shall we see what awaits us at the British Museum?”
    §
    We regained our cab, which swept us along Great Russell Street before turning on Great Orme Street, a narrow thoroughfare lined with high, thin, yellow-brick edifices. There was hardly a corner of London that did not remind me of some adventure that Holmes and I had coursed together. Holmes gestured to one house in particular. “Recall, Watson, the house of Mrs. Warren, and over there, the high red house with stone facings, where the unlamented Gorgiano met his grisly fate.”
    I smiled at the sight of the locale of one of his great deductions, but it was rapidly passed by our speeding cab. We soon approached the front steps of the Museum, whose sight still filled me with respectful admiration for this mighty center of learning. The original design, imitating that of a Greek temple was handsome, but in the half-century since it was completed, the soot-riddled air of London had unfortunately turned it a deep, distressing greyish-black. I hoped the new Government might see fit to have it thoroughly scrubbed back to its former glory.
    My eyebrows rose when we passed by the front entrance, but Lestrade explained that the building was shut tight for the night, and only the rear doors were still accessible. The cab turned at Montague Street, and I thought to glance over at Holmes. His heavily-lidded eyes appeared deep in thought at the sight of his old rooms. Finally turning again along the northeast side of the Museum, we reached our goal.
    At the sight of Lestrade descending from the cab, a uniformed guard held open the door. When we entered the back foyer, a man of about fifty years of age threw aside a journal and sprang up to meet us. He was stout and approaching corpulence, with a face filled with drooping rolls of skin. Wispy tufts of hair swept over his pate, while narrowed eyes squinted from behind thick spectacles. His suit was rumpled and his cravat loosely knotted. He held out a hand, which possessed a somewhat limp grasp, but his manner was affable.
    With a raise of his bushy eyebrows I detected that this man recognized my still-famous friend. “Ah, Mr. Holmes, it is a great pleasure,” said he, excitably. “Inspector Lestrade had given us hope that you might soon be making an appearance upon the scene, but I hardly dared believe it would be tonight.”
    “Mr. Holmes, allow me to introduce Mr. Walter Brundage, the Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the Museum,” said Lestrade.
    As he led us to his office, Brundage smiled broadly. “I am also a great admirer of yours, Mr. Holmes. And this must be Dr. Watson. We are indebted to you, sir. I have read every story you have written. You know, I am myself a detective of sorts.”
    I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Oh, yes?”
    “Indeed, early in my career I was assigned to investigate why papyrus scrolls from our excavation sites, and supposedly guarded by our local