Sherlock Holmes Read Online Free Page B

looked round and saw a
tea tray in the corner of the room. Upon it were dirty mugs, a milk
jug and a large, white tea pot. "Mr Cox, are those the mugs you
used last night?"
    Cox nodded. "Yes, sir. None of
us felt much like washing up this morning and, in any case, the
copper said we were to touch nothing until a detective
arrived."
    Holmes went over to the tray and
closely examined the contents of both the cups and the milk jug. He
then carefully raised the lid of the teapot and placed his nose in
the opening. As I watched, he gently inhaled and, as he did so,
raised an eyebrow. Carefully, he put his hand inside the pot and
withdrew a drop of cold tea on his finger tip. This he placed on
his tongue and I could see an expression of recognition and
confirmation upon his face.
    Beckoning me over to him, he
spoke quietly in my ear. “Taste that, Watson, and give me your
opinion.”
    I put down my notebook and
pencil and dipped my index finger into the residue of stewed tea
inside the pot. Tasting the drop I had taken, I was at first struck
by the bitterness of tannin but, beneath that, there was something
more. “Laudanum!”
    Holmes nodded. “Yes, it is as I
thought.”
    Turning back to Mr Cox, Holmes
informed them that they were free to go. It must be said that they
all looked greatly relieved and seemed eager to go home to sleep
and cleanse their bodies of the Laudanum.
    Once outside the canteen, Holmes
sought out the police inspector that Mycroft had admonished. He
saluted at our approach and seemed a little wary. Holmes put his
forefinger to his lip, saying, “Tell me, Inspector, is there any
news of the Chinaman?”
    “No, Mr Holmes. There is no
trace. One of the rear doors to the museum was found unlocked this
morning and it appears that the home address he gave was
false.”
    Holmes had clearly expected
little more. “If you please, Inspector, lead the way to the
unlocked door.”
    At the rear of the museum we
were shown a glazed and barred door. Holmes took out his magnifying
glass and examined the door knob. He then opened the door before
going on all fours. Being early spring, the sun was still low in
the sky and sunlight flooded in through the open doorway.
    Putting his head in a position
where he was almost touching the ground, Holmes moved to a point
where the sunlight illuminated every imperfection in the flagged
floor.
    “There were three of them. You
can plainly see the marks from their soft soled shoes. Ah, but
what’s this?” Holmes took from his coat pocket a small envelope and
a metal spatula and began to scrape at what appeared to be a muddy
mark on the floor. Gathering a small amount of the material, Holmes
sealed it in the envelope and stowed it carefully away.
    For the first time that morning,
I saw in Holmes an inkling of pleasure brought about by the
gathering of some physical evidence which, I knew, he would
minutely analyse.
    Turning to the Inspector, Holmes
touched his hat and bade him a “Good morning” before sweeping out
of the museum.
     

Chapter 5 - A curious clue and a
musical olive branch.
     
    Once back in our rooms at Baker
Street, Holmes removed the small envelope from his pocket before
tossing his coat onto a chair. In minutes, he was engrossed with
his microscope examining the sample of mud he has taken from the
museum floor.
    “It is most curious, Watson,
that in this great metropolis of ours the soil structures we find
are so varied that they can be tied to specific locations within
the city. The one I obtained this morning, for example, is mainly
an alluvial clay which is found predominantly east of the river.”
Holmes looked up from his microscope and pursed his lips. He looked
a little puzzled, saying, "…and yet, there is something more here.
There is a peculiar sand present that is not native to the city and
also a clay that I cannot readily identify.”
    This I found quite astounding as
Holmes’ knowledge of both the geography of the city and its geology
was