Sherlock Holmes: The Dark Reckoning Read Online Free

When they reached the end, they turned left into Oxford Street and then
right into Regent Street.  After a short walk along Regent Street, they turned
into the maze of tiny side streets.  As they navigated their way through the
back streets, Holmes noticed the transition in the area.  Here, the buildings
were old slums, decaying remnants of an age gone by.  The two men walked
through narrow passageways where the buildings loomed overhead, creating an
oppressive atmosphere.  The buildings prevented much sunlight reaching the
passages, which made it feel much colder, and more depressing.  This was where
many of the poorer inhabitants of the city lived, discreetly hidden from view,
so as to make it easier for the wealthy to forget about.
    The contrast between this and the busy, bustling streets
they had just left was alarming.  Although most people avoided these streets,
and spent little time even acknowledging them, such areas existed all over London, serving as a sad indictment of a ruling class that didn’t care.  The buildings
sagged under their own weight, once proud roofs now drooped between their
supports.  Missing slates allowed rain to enter and rot the timbers inside. 
Broken drainpipes hung precariously above.  Many windows were either boarded up
or cracked, and most were too grimy to see through, thus providing an effective
barrier to keep the poverty within out of sight.
    Holmes knew this type of area well, as it attracted so much
crime.  Theft, extortion, prostitution and murder were all commonplace.  So
many crimes went unnoticed, simply because the authorities decided that the victims
didn’t matter enough to bother about.  Useless wretches choked on their own
vomit as they lay oblivious to the World in opium dens; pathetic carcasses believing
they had nothing to live for.
    Some of the alleys in this area were only a few feet wide,
with buildings looming up on either side.  Holmes thought that these buildings
somehow mimicked the ruling classes with their ability to suppress those
unfortunate enough to dwell within.
    Ahead of the two men, a small group of children were playing
in an alley by skidding across a patch of ice.  Their clothes were little more
than dirty rags, but their faces were smiling, until they noticed the two
well-dressed gentlemen approaching.  The children stopped playing and eyed the
two men with suspicion.  Holmes approached them and offered each a farthing.  He
knew that if he gave them any more, it would probably be stolen from them and
they may get hurt in the process.  They all smiled up at him with appreciation,
though their happy dirty faces could not conceal the sad, sunken eyes and gaunt,
pale features.
    “Why did we have to come this way, Holmes?” asked Watson
with compassion, although he already knew the answer.
    “Is it not obvious, Watson?” Holmes replied, sadly, “These
people should not have to live like this.  The abject poverty in this area is
overwhelming, and I find it utterly abhorrent.  How many of those children that
we just passed by will die before reaching adulthood?  I can already see the
effects of living in such disease-ridden squalor in their young, tainted eyes. 
How many of those children will end up lying dead in the arms of their weeping
mothers?  What crime did these children commit to deserve such a miserable
existence?  They committed no crime.”
    Holmes became silent as he surveyed the area.  The two men
had stopped walking as Holmes looked around, slowly shaking his head.
    He turned to Watson and continued, “I feel as though all the
people who end up here indirectly pay, in suffering, the price required to keep
the privileged few on their luxurious pedestals.  There is so much crime here,
but it’s mostly committed out of sheer desperation; mothers turning to
prostitution and fathers stealing whatever they can just to provide their
children with a few scraps of food.  It’s all so ugly, Watson, and I cannot
abide