Chapter Text
Holmes swiftly dispatched a telegram to Milverton, requesting a meeting in our rooms. We received in reply a business card, ostentatiously showy and characterising him as an ‘agent’, stating that he would call on us at half past six. My friend spent the rest of the day in trying to divert himself from thinking about the monster we were to confront by playing his violin and updating his commonplace books. For my part, I studied some articles in the latest issue of the Lancet. I harboured ambitions of setting up a practice once I had recovered sufficiently, and this was the best way for me to keep in touch with my profession.
Milverton was prompt to his appointment. I spied him through the window as he left his carriage. His business card was not the only thing about him which was ostentatious – he wore a heavy astrakhan overcoat. He was plump and wore little round glasses, the effect of which being that he looked rather like Mr Pickwick. When he entered our sitting room, he looked around and gave a sniff of disdain. Then his eyes fell on me.
“This gentleman,” he said to Holmes, “is it discrete? Is it right?”
Holmes bristled. “Dr Watson is my friend and partner. He knows all the facts of the case.”
“Ah, the good doctor.” Milverton gave a smirk which made my skin crawl. “Very well, we can begin. Has the Lady Eva empowered you to accept my terms?”
“On the contrary, she has asked me to negotiate on her behalf.”
“Negotiate?”
“The price you ask is too high. Two thousand pounds would be a drain on the Lady’s resources.”
“Are you familiar with the content of the letters, Mr Holmes?”
“Perfectly.”
“Then you will appreciate how valuable they are.” Milverton paused, wiping his glass with a cloth, making us wait. “I could not possibly think of accepting a mere two thousand pounds for papers which could cause such a scandal."
"But surely," I put in, "it would be better for you to accept the sum we offer than to ruin Lady Eva? That cannot profit you in any way.”
Milverton laughed coldly. “On the contrary. I have several similar cases maturing at the moment. If I made an example of Lady Eva, I would find them all much more open to reason. You disappoint me, Mr Holmes. I thought you were a man of some intelligence. Pray give my regards to your client.”
He turned to go, but Holmes sprang to the door.
“Not so fast, Milverton,” he said, a cold gleam in his eyes. “I have not finished with you yet. You cannot leave this room without passing me, and I don’t believe you have that capability.”
Quick as a flash, Milverton drew a small pistol from his inside pocket. “This gives me the capability, wouldn’t you agree?”
I had seized a chair from the dining table, ready to defend my friend, but Milverton seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. “I wouldn’t advise trying any heroics, doctor. Put down the chair.” He directed Holmes to join me by the table so he could cover us both. He smirked again. “A friendly word of advice, Holmes – I know what you are. Stay out of my way if you would like to maintain your current lifestyle. You may tell Lady Eva that if she does not pay the two thousand pounds by the sixteenth, there will most certainly be no marriage on the eighteenth.”
With that, he left. I instinctively reached for Holmes’s hand, and he gripped me tight, as though I was an anchor in a storm. Silence persisted between us for several minutes while we breathed in unison.
“Holmes,” I said eventually, “if he reveals that you are not human, that would be dangerous.”
He turned to me, squeezing my hand, his face determined if not a little shocked. “Then I must stop him before he can. I need to think.”
So saying, he relinquished my hand and went to fold himself up in his chair with his black clay pipe. Knowing he would require silence, I sat opposite him and attempted to read the evening paper. Holmes smoked and thought for fully half an hour before rising with an air of decision and disappearing into his bedroom. He emerged again a short while later, clad in more casual clothes than was his usual habit.
“You have a plan?” I asked.
“I do,” he affirmed. “I am not sure how long I will be gone, but I will report as soon as I have definite information.”
~*~
Holmes had not returned by the time I retired to bed, and I only saw him briefly the following morning. Indeed, that became the pattern for the next few days – he would leave early and return late. Where he went, I did not know, for he declined to discuss his work. He would only tell me that things were progressing as he could wish, promising that he would give me the details once the picture was complete.
On the fifth day following our meeting with Milverton, my friend returned to our rooms in the late afternoon. I knew there must have been some development.
“What’s happened?” I asked as he helped himself to a biscuit from the plate Mrs Hudson had left on our table.
“What makes you think something has?” he returned, raising a wry eyebrow at me.
“The fact that you are back here at five when you have been returning after ten for the past four days,” I replied.
“Very good,” he said with a light laugh. “What has happened is that I have gathered all the data I need, and I am now ready to make my move.”
“Tell me everything,” I urged.
He laughed heartily. “Of course, my boy. Do you mind if I change while we talk?”
“Not at all.”
I followed him into his bedroom, where he sat at his dressing table and began to remove his makeup. I perched on the edge of his bed to listen to him.
“On leaving home after our meeting with Milverton, I proceeded to my old lodgings on Montague Street. I had a long talk with the maid, Lucy, with whom I was always on a friendly footing. She informed me that she was friends with a young lady named Agatha, who is Milverton’s maid. She agreed to introduce me, so we travelled together to the hostelry where they meet, once she had finished her duties. It transpired that Miss Agatha has been in Milverton’s employ for several years. She is frightened of him, for he always seems to be aware of her movements and secrets. He works hard to ensure that his servants remain ignorant of his true occupation, but it seems she has divined something of it. She agreed to help me in my intelligence gathering, and we agreed that I would enter the house, disguised as a plumber, to learn what I could.”
So that is where you have been?” I asked.
“Precisely so,” he confirmed. “From a combination of my own observations and Agatha’s wisdom, I am now fully apprised of the layout of the house and the habits of its inhabitants.”
“What, then, do you intend to do?”
He did not answer me right away. Instead, he stood, crossed the room, and donned his dressing gown. He now turned to me and gave a smile of supreme confidence.
“I intend to burgle Milverton’s house tonight.”
His words turned me cold. In that single moment I became sensible of very possible outcome of such an action – detection, capture, the end of an honourable career in disgrace. Last, and worst of all, I envisaged my friend at the mercy of that monster. I could not supress a shudder.
“This is madness, Holmes,” I cried. “Think what you are doing.”
“I have thought it all out carefully. You know well that I don’t rush into things, and I certainly would not take so dangerous a course if any other were possible. If you look at it clearly and fairly, you must agree that it is morally justifiable, even if it’s technically criminal.”
I thought it over for a few moments. “Alright, it’s morally justifiable.”
“That being the case, I have only to consider the personal risk. What possible weight could that have when Milverton has threatened so many?”
“Including you,” I pointed out. “But apart from that, you would place yourself in such a false position.”
“There is no other possible way to regain those letters. He will send Lady Eva’s documents to her fiancé tomorrow and then be onto his next victim. Tonight is best chance to disable him.”
I sighed. “Well, I don’t like, but I suppose it be. When do we start?”
“You are not coming.”
“Then you are not going,” I remonstrated in a tone which would brook no denial. “I give you my word of honour, and I never broke it in my life, that I will go straight to the police and give you away unless you let me share this danger with you.”
“You can’t help me.”
“How can you possibly know that? Neither of us knows what might happen, and I won’t let you face it alone.”
“I will not put you in danger.”
“And yet you’re perfectly happy to risk yourself.”
“Why does it bother you so much?”
“Because I love you,” I snapped.
For several moments we looked at each other, breathing hard. Holmes’s face was a picture of surprise. My confession sat between us, suffusing the air. When I felt calmer, I gently took his hands in mine.
“I love you,” I repeated, my voice soft. “I want to help you.”
He twined his fingers with mine and gave me a shy smile. “Very well, my dear. Be it so.”
He leaned it then and kissed me, brief and soft. It was easy, but it felt like everything. We rested our foreheads together afterwards, smiling giddily.
“It would be amusing if we ended up in the same cell,” he observed.
I laughed. “Let’s hope it won’t come to that. Now, what are we to do?”
He gave himself a little shake. “You will be pleased to hear that I have a first-class burgling kit. Have you quiet shoes?”
“I have some old tennis shoes.”
“That will do. We shall need masks too.”
“I can make some out of black silk.”
“There are hidden depths to you, my dear,” he said with a chuckle. “Agatha will leave the gate unlatched, and there will be a light in her window as a signal that the coast is clear. We will enter the house through the conservatory, which leads directly onto the study. This houses a large safe in which Milverton keeps all of his papers. I shall, in touch, by glad to have you there to stand watch while I break into it.”
“You may rely on me,” I vowed.
“I know,” he replied. “It would be as well for us to dine before we leave, to give the illusion of a normal evening. I will go to see Mrs Hudson.”
“And I will get started on making our masks.”
“Good man,” he said warmly.
It was my turn then to lean in for a kiss. I could feel him smile as I lingered longer previously. When we pulled back, a charming blush tinged his normally pale cheeks.
“I would do anything to keep you safe,” I told him.
“Thank you,” he murmured.
With one last squeeze of my hands, he left me. It was a strange thing that whilst I was fully conscious of how dangerous our night’s work was to be, my overwhelming feelings were of excitement for the adventure and sheer happiness that my affections were reciprocated. For a few moments I bounced on the balls of my feet, then I went in search of my materials.
