‘Watson,’ he commanded, ‘kindly ring for our boots and take your pistol!’
Turning to the large Russian he asked, ‘Are you coming with us, Mr Poliakoff?’
‘I cannot,’ said Poliakoff. ‘Gregori said that I was to bring you his message and then meet him at Miss Wortley-Swan’s house. I must go,’ and he suited action to word and was off.
Once we had dressed, I pocketed my Adams .450 and followed Holmes down the stairs. Although he had a look of grim determination on his face, I could tell that he welcomed the sudden call to action. As he leapt down the steps, two at a time, he called behind to me.
‘Come on, Watson! Come on! The game’s afoot!’
Twenty-Three
The Bear Snarls
We were fortunate in finding a growler rapidly, and were soon travelling at a spanking pace, though I had, as yet, no inkling of our destination.
‘What was the message that Poliakoff brought?’ I asked. Wordlessly Holmes slipped the letter from his pocket and passed it to me. It read:
Mr Holmes,
You were visited yesterday by Colonel Wilmshaw. My contact in the embassy tells me that
Kyriloff knows this. He is afraid that you and Mrs Fordeland are about to make trouble for the count and he proposes to seize the lady in order to prevent you. I dare do nothing, sir. You must help her.
G. Gregorieff
‘Great Heavens!’ I exclaimed. ‘Is it possible that he is right? Would this man Kyriloff attempt to kidnap an English lady in the heart of London?’
Holmes looked at me without an expression. ‘Watson,’ he said, ‘you persist in seeing London as the great city which is the heart of the world’s greatest Empire, and of course it is, but it is exactly for those reasons that it is the easiest place in the world to commit almost any variety of crime.’
‘I’m sure that you are right, Holmes, but to take the lady seems excessive, even for Kyriloff.’
‘Kyriloff,’ said Holmes, ‘knows no excess. If his dreadful masters required it of him, or if he believed that it would serve their purpose, he would not hesitate to kidnap Queen Victoria.
Scotland Yard suspects him of a large number of unsolved killings. I suspect him of more. Both of us believe that he is also responsible for a dozen or so disappearances, including that of the Honourable Hermione Anstruther.‘
‘Great Heavens!’ I repeated. ‘Then Mrs Fordeland is really in danger!’
‘In deadly danger, Watson. Pray that we are in time.’
Suddenly Holmes rapped on the roof of our cab with his stick. ‘Cabbie,’ he said. ‘A whole sovereign for you if you will drop us in front of the hotel, then take the left corner and await us by the gate of the first yard.’
‘Done, sir!’ acknowledged the driver, and in a moment we were jumping out of our conveyance at the foot of the hotel’s steps. Holmes cast a swift glance around, then pointed with his stick.
‘You see,’ he said, ‘those three young men loitering across the way. They are too well dressed for common street loiterers and in the wrong part of town. Those will be three of Kyriloff’s bandits, I’ll be bound. I hope that their presence means that their master has not made his move as yet.’
He strode up the steps and presented his card to the commissionaire. ‘Tell me,’ he asked the man, ‘have those young men been there long?’
‘About a quarter of an hour,’ said the man. ‘I thought they might be waiting for someone, but they haven’t made any enquiry.’
‘Has anyone asked after a guest?’ enquired Holmes.
‘There was a military-looking gent, sir, spoke a bit foreign. He asked after Mrs Fordeland. They told him at the desk as she was in the garden, but he didn’t leave no message.’
‘I am sure he would not,’ said Holmes. ‘Let me warn you, that the military gentleman and the young men across the street mean Mrs Fordeland no good. If they attempt to enter the hotel, do not hesitate to whistle for a constable,’ and he slipped a coin into the commissionaire’s white-gloved hand.
‘It seems we are in time,’ said Holmes as we entered the lobby. ‘Kyriloff will not risk a disturbance in the hotel, but has set his men to watch Mrs Fordeland leave. That is when he will strike. If we are lucky we can forestall him.’
A request for our client at the hotel’s reception desk confirmed that she and her granddaughter were in the garden. A page showed us the way, and we found them taking tea at a garden table.
‘Why, Mr Holmes, Dr Watson,’ she said as we approached. ‘This is an unexpected pleasure. Do you have news?’
‘I fear that it is not a pleasurable errand that brings us here,’ said Holmes. ‘I do have news, but it is not good. For reasons too complicated to explain at present, Major Kyriloff has formed an impression that you and I are conspiring to expose Count Skovinski-Rimkoff and thereby provoke a diplomatic
incident in connection with the Jubilee. His men are watching the hotel’s front and the major himself is in the vicinity. I have every belief that he intends to take you and your granddaughter prisoner.’
The young girl stared at us in astonishment, but her grandmother set her cup down very firmly.
‘That is preposterous!’ she said. ‘What do you wish us to do, Mr Holmes?’
‘It is evident,’ said my friend, ‘that you cannot remain anywhere in London where Kyriloff’s people can find you. If you will be kind enough to make ready, as swiftly as you may, to stay overnight elsewhere, we will leave here and attempt to outwit the major. Once your safety is assured, I can arrange for your luggage to follow you.’
Mrs Fordeland rose. ‘Come, Elizabeth,’ she commanded. ‘We must do as Mr Holmes suggests with all despatch.’
We escorted them to the foot of the main staircase, where they left us to make for their rooms. Holmes detailed me to guard the back entrance to the hotel, and I paced the rear lobby with a hand firmly clasping the pistol in my coat pocket.
It was not many minutes before Holmes joined me, accompanied by Mrs Fordeland and her
granddaughter.
‘Now,’ he said, ‘beyond this door is the hotel’s mews yard, at the bottom of which our cab should await us. If we can reach the vehicle, we can make our way to Scotland Yard, where I will enlist the support of the official police. It is unlikely that they will act directly against Kyriloff, but they dislike his tricks in London and will welcome an opportunity to frustrate him by any means that they can. After which, we shall find a safe lodging for you and your granddaughter.’
He thrust the door open and stepped out into the yard, followed by the ladies, while I brought up the rear with Mrs Fordeland’s bag. We had almost reached the yard’s entrance when a figure in a dark coat stepped in front of us, backed by no fewer than five young men similar to those we had seen at the hotel’s front. It was Major Kyriloff.
‘I am surprised,’ he said, taking a long black cigarette from his mouth, ‘to see a lady like Mrs Fordeland leaving her hotel by the groom’s entrance. I am here to invite you and your pretty
granddaughter to pay a visit to my embassy, where there are matters which the ambassador would like to discuss with you.’
‘I thank you, Major Kyriloff, but you may tell the ambassador that I must refuse his invitation.’
‘But you are a writer and lecturer, Mrs Fordeland. His Excellency is always concerned that the press should receive accurate information about our country. There have been so many calumnies spread in the foreign press that he is at pains to see that there should be no more.’
‘Please assure your ambassador that I have no intention of spreading any calumny about Russia, Major Kyriloff.’
‘You have heard Mrs Fordeland,’ said Holmes. ‘Now please stand out of our way, Major.’