The girl turned at the sound of the woman’s footsteps, and after a last glance at the plaque, began to make her way towards where the woman was waiting, a few feet from where I stood.
“Hurry up!” I heard the woman say in a sharp whisper. “If we miss that train, you’ll know about it!”
In order to have something to do which would get me out of their way, I picked up a tall stack of hymn books, and carried them across to a low wooden cupboard, which stood at the other side of the door; there I pretended to sort them for a few moments until I heard the door close, whereupon I gathered the books together again and carried them back to where I had found them. When I looked round, Holmes was standing behind me.
“Hello!” I cried in surprise. “Where did you disappear to?”
“I simply crouched between the pews,” said he. “I don’t think the woman suspected anything.”
“She came in so quickly I was unable to make myself scarce,” I remarked, “but I don’t think she paid me any attention.”
My friend nodded. “I have made a decision,” said he, as he pulled open the door and we emerged into the noise of Ludgate Hill once more. “I have gone carefully over Miss Borrow’s testimony with her again. It seems to me that she has acted very sensibly so far, and it would be unworthy of us to let her down now. The more I consider her story, the less I like the sound of it. Now, Hartley Lessingham and his cronies, including Miss Rogerson, are travelling to the race meeting at Towcester tomorrow. I am therefore going to go down to Leicestershire in the morning to look things over for myself. I should very much value your company.”
“I should be very pleased to give it.”
“Good man! I should warn you, though, Watson, that our position, legally speaking, may be a trifle precarious.”
“What do you mean?”
“I intend to enter East Harrington Hall while its master is absent. I have arranged with Miss Borrow that she will admit us, but as she is a minor, legally speaking I am not sure that that will count for anything in the eyes of the law.”
“What do you hope to do there?”
“That rather depends on what I discover. Apart from anything else, however, I wish to see for myself the condition of Miss Borrow’s brother. I should thus be obliged if you would bring with you tomorrow your stethoscope and anything else you feel you may need for an examination of the boy. Having listened again to Miss Borrow’s account of the matter, I am seriously concerned that they are, as she suspects, trying to kill him.”
“What! But I thought it would be in Hartley Lessingham’s interests to have the children living there in good health for as long as possible, so that he can enjoy their money.”
“Yes, but he only needs to keep one of them alive to qualify for it,” returned Holmes in a grim tone. “He can afford to let the boy die without diminishing his income. That is what especially concerns me, and why we must go down there without delay. But here is a cab! If you will accompany me back to Baker Street, we can discuss the matter further, and make our final plans for tomorrow!”
East Harrington Hall
We met at eight o’clock on Saturday morning at Euston station, as we had arranged, and caught a fast train to the north. I had equipped myself with tweeds and a cap, as my friend had suggested, and he was similarly attired, his idea being that we should be less likely to attract attention on the East Harrington estate in rural garb than if we appeared to be city men. In my pocket I had my stethoscope and a few other odds and ends, which I thought might prove useful if I was able to examine Miss Borrow’s brother. I asked Holmes if he had received any reply, either from Margaret Hartley Lessingham or from Edgar Shepherd, but he shook his head. He had with him a large-scale map of the East Harrington district, which he had purchased the previous afternoon, and this he studied for some time in silence.
“It seems likely,” said he at length, as he folded the map up and slipped it into his pocket, “that Hartley Lessingham’s party will get a connection to Northampton and pick up a train for Towcester there. The distance from East Harrington to Towcester is about forty miles, and the journey will involve at least one change of train, probably two, so it will take them a fair while. All being well, therefore, they should have departed from East Harrington some considerable time before we get there, and the way will be clear for our little inspection!”
With that, my companion lapsed into silence once more, and I was left to my own thoughts. Much of the countryside through which our train passed that morning had a wet, bedraggled appearance, but as we reached the midland counties it was evident that they had experienced exceptionally heavy rain in recent weeks. A great many of the fields beside the railway line were flooded, to a greater or lesser extent. In some, not a blade of grass was to be seen, and save for the regular interruption of trimmed hawthorn hedges, the countryside beside the line might have been one vast shallow lake.
We changed trains at Rugby and alighted at length at a small wayside station, the only travellers to do so. As the little branch train with its two short carriages pulled away from us across the flat landscape, I took stock of our surroundings. The station was situated where the railway line crossed a small country road on the level. Save for a couple of station buildings and the crossing-keeper’s cottage, there was no sign of habitation upon that broad, flat landscape. The fields beside the road were all flooded to some extent, and the road, which was slightly higher than the surrounding land, appeared like a narrow muddy causeway across the wet plain. Above us, the clouds were leaden-coloured and heavy, and appeared likely at any minute to disgorge more rain onto the sodden countryside.
“This should be the most direct route,” said Holmes, indicating the road to the west, and we set off in that direction. The countryside soon proved to be not quite so flat as I had at first supposed, but undulated gently, like a ruffled counterpane thrown carelessly across the land. Presently, when we had been walking for about half an hour and had not seen a soul, our road turned a corner and dipped slightly, and we found our way barred by a broad sheet of water, which appeared about two feet deep in the middle. It was impossible to get round it, and we were just examining the best direction to take to wade through it when a farm cart pulled by a gigantic horse came up behind us. The driver reined in his horse and invited us to climb up beside him.
“I’ll get you on a-ways, through the worst of it,” said he in an affable tone. “Where be you bound for?”
“We’re taking a walk for our health, and to see the countryside,” I responded.
“You’ve picked a rum time for it, if I may say so,” said he with a chuckle. “Mind you, the wild geese are a sight at the moment,” he added. “Thousands of ’em, there are. They come every year when the fields are flooded. You’d be interested in that, I suppose, sir?”
“Certainly,” said Holmes. “Would that be on the East Harrington estate?”
“That’s it, sir! Over by the river, on the water meadows. Them’s as watery as water meadows can be at the moment, too,” he added with a chuckle, “but that’s how the geese like ’em!”
For several miles, the cart trundled on across the Leicester-shire countryside, the huge horse never once breaking his gentle jog-trot, and the driver displaying a similar rhythm in his conversation. Holmes remained silent throughout this journey, but I could see that he was in a state of heightened tension.
Presently, as the driver announced that he was turning off down a lane to the left, we alighted, thanked him warmly for his assistance and continued on foot. I had observed that the hedge on our right had given way in the last half mile or so to a high brick wall.