Sherlock Holmes and the King of Clubs Read Online Free Page B

for doing so.
    Irene Hastings – Watson still couldn’t think of her as anyone else – and her brother brushed past him. At the door she gave Watson one final look, and then she was gone.

CHAPTER FIVE

A Second Chance
    T HE DISAPPOINTMENT OF it all suddenly caught up with Watson and he sagged. ‘I have been a fool, haven’t I?’ he said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
    ‘You have been
human
, old friend, and heir to all the failings of that species,’ Holmes replied. ‘And if you
have
been a fool, then so have a great many other men of similar station before you. But in your case …’
    Watson looked up sharply. ‘What?’
    ‘Well, let us say there were … extenuating circumstances … where you were concerned. At the outset, Mrs Channing and her husband – the man you were led to believe was her brother – identified you as a mark for the badger game. After your wife died so unexpectedly, however, they realized there was no one to whom they could expose you.
    ‘But they are of agile intellect, those two, and it soon occurred to them that no man is easier to manipulate and beguile than one thoroughly preoccupied by his grief. You were lonely and the attention of “Mrs Hastings”, as she called herself, was a soothing balm, a pleasant comfort. But all the time it was just a pretence to take more and more of your money. And she did, didn’t she?’
    Watson nodded, ashamed. ‘But why did you not come to me directly, and sooner?’ he asked.
    ‘Would you have believed me, Watson? Or more correctly, would your
heart
have allowed you to believe me? No, my friend, itwas better for you to see the truth with your own eyes. Besides, I had to make absolutely sure of my facts first.’
    ‘But how did you know? I mean … what first put you onto her?’
    ‘That, my dear fellow, was simple,’ Holmes said, idly inspecting the shattered remains of the camera. ‘As you know, I have an excellent eye for detail and a keen memory for faces. And even though I am now retired, I still continue to read the
Police Gazette
with great interest.
    ‘You will remember that I met Mrs Hastings when I attended your wife’s funeral. She was and indeed remains a handsome woman, but I noticed at the time that she overuses her rice make-up in two places, one at the left corner of her mouth, the other on her forehead, between her eyebrows up to her hairline. I confess I did not make much of it at the time, and of course there was no reason why I should. But I am afraid I have lost none of my mistrust of women. It was only upon reading a report in the
Police Gazette
about a certain Mrs Violet Channing that I connected the two events.’
    He paused and regarded Watson keenly. ‘I need hardly explain the term
naevus flammeus
to you.’
    Watson scowled. ‘A port-wine stain?’
    ‘Indeed. As you know, they are much less common than the so-called “salmon patches” which usually occur in newborns and fade with time. The
naevus flammeus
remains and as the years progress the mark or marks tend to become somewhat uneven. This is what Mrs Channing was attempting to disguise with the overuse of powder.’
    ‘There is no crime in that.’
    ‘None at all. Indeed, for what it is worth, the poor woman has my sympathy for the condition. But Mrs Channing was reported to have the self-same affliction, Watson. And so I took it upon myself to investigate her a little more closely.’
    ‘Ever the detective, eh, Holmes?’ Watson said with a hint of bitterness.
    Holmes smiled wryly. ‘Let us say that, even if there was the faintest chance that your Mrs Hastings was in reality thelarcenous Mrs Channing, I could not allow you to be taken in, as had so many men before you. And I dearly wish I had been mistaken, Watson, but unfortunately I was not. The facts I was able to unearth regarding “Mrs Hastings” were suspiciously few. Indeed, as near as I could ascertain, she seemed to have appeared out of thin air, some months after Mrs Channing, on the