Alex Auswaks - Sherlock Holmes in Russia

This happened in 190*.

Sherlock Holmes had come to Nijni-Novgorod partly on holiday, partly to acquaint himself better with faraway Russia, of which the English have only a vague notion. Although there were no professional reasons for his visit, nevertheless, it was still noted locally. No matter how hard he tried not to be noticed, to remain aloof as he strolled around the town, he was followed by a bevy of curious citizens and heard his name whispered behind his back. Of course, he thought that all this attention was idle curiosity, but things turned out otherwise.

He was staying at the Post Hotel (by the Black Pond). On his third day, returning to his room, he was told by a porter that a gentleman had asked for him, and when told that he was out, had requested that he leave a message to indicate at what time he would be available for consultation.

‘When is he coming for my answer?’ asked Holmes.

‘This very evening,’ the hotel porter answered.

‘Splendid!’ said the detective. ‘I wasn’t intending to go anywhere in any case.’

The porter went off and Holmes stretched himself out on the settee with a local newspaper.

Here it must be said that the famous English detective had once spent two years in Buenos Aires, where he had boarded with a family of Russian émigrés. This close association with them resulted in his being fluent in Russian, both as regards knowledge of the language and pronunciation. Of course, he could never get rid of his English accent, but he spoke with such clarity, and his knowledge of the language was so profound, one would have thought he had spent an uninterrupted ten years in Russia.

Having read one newspaper, he picked up another, but soon his lids grew heavy. He covered his face against flies with a newspaper and dozed off.

A light tap at the door woke him. He must have slept for some time, because it was already dark outside. He rose, changed swiftly and said in his resonant voice, ‘Come in!’

The door opened and a thickset, middle-aged man came in. He was a man of some presence, wearing a summer coat cut in the latest fashion. In one gloved hand he held a felt hat and a silver-handled gold-monogrammed cane. He bowed courteously and asked to be excused for having called without an appointment.

‘You must be the gentleman who called earlier,’ said Holmes.

‘Indeed I am! I was here some hours ago but, unfortunately, missed you. I do beg of you to hear me out—’

‘I am at your service,’ Sherlock Holmes bowed. ‘I presume that you need my assistance in some matter, but I am surprised how you found out who I am, and that I am here at all.’

‘Oh!’ exclaimed the stranger. ‘The whole town is talking about you. In any case, your fame has crossed the sea and it is not surprising that, hearing of your arrival, I immediately decided to meet you.’

Flattered by such a response, Sherlock Holmes smiled and bowed. ‘Do take off your coat and make yourself comfortable.’

The guest threw off his coat and approached the detective, ‘Allow me, then, the honour of presenting myself. Ivan Vladimirovitch Terehoff,’ he said, giving his name, patronymic and surname. ‘I am a local merchant and a member of the First Guild.’ He gave a little bow.

‘Very pleased to meet you,’ answered the detective. ‘How can I be of service to you?’

Terehoff sank into an armchair, lit a cigarette and began his story. ‘I sell linen, lingerie and fashionable goods of every sort. My father and grandfather were also in the same line of business. Ours is an old and well-established family business. Usually, I trade in town, but every summer we have a fair. Our fair dates from the thirteenth century and traders come from Central Asia, Siberia and many, many other faraway places. For the period of this Great Fair I rent premises in the Commercial Centre. That is where I now have a shop, along the right-hand side of the arcade.

‘Up until this year everything went well, and I had nothing to worry about. But this year, a whole series of unusual events have shocked not only my employees, but also my prospective customers who, by the way, are already gathering for the fair.

‘Before the shop was ready to open, my three assistants and I were putting away merchandise on the shelves and decorating the display windows. We had worked by the light of electric lamps. I had opened the shop myself and locked it up myself, first having switched off the electric lights when we were done for the day. I put the locks on the door and the metal grill over the windows. I turned to go, when the senior shop assistant leapt to my side. His face was as pale as our linen. He was trembling.

‘“What’s happened?” ‘ I asked in alarm.

‘“For God’s sake,” ‘ he whispered. ‘“For God’s sake, look in the display window.” ‘

‘I looked, and stepped back in horror.

‘Some sort of creature resembling a human figure wrapped in a shroud danced as if possessed inside my shop, shaking itself all over as it danced.

‘The two other shop assistants were struck dumb. They were as terrified as my senior assistant and I were at that moment.

‘We stood there for several minutes, rooted to the spot.

‘I’m not timid by nature. I’ve been educated abroad, and I’m a university graduate. I’m not one to believe in black magic.

‘But even I was a little afraid. Not for long, though.

‘I recovered, took myself in hand and began to undo the locks.

‘But just in case, I sent one of the shop assistants to fetch a policeman and ordered the senior assistant to watch the apparition through the window.

‘Hardly had I taken the second lock off, when he yelled out, “Gone! God preserve us sinful creatures.”

‘He said that it had vanished all of a sudden and the shop was plunged into darkness again.

‘The policeman now appeared with the assistant sent for him.

‘“There is someone in the shop,” I said to the policeman. “Come in with me and let’s look.”

‘I unlocked the door, switched on the lights and with great difficulty persuaded the assistants to follow me inside. The shop was exactly as we had left it. There was no trace of the apparition, no sign of revelry. The five of us searched every nook and cranny. We searched under the counters, in drawers and boxes, turned over the entire stock. A mouse would not have eluded us. But … all our exertions were in vain. Was it a figment of our imagination? I decided that that was the case.

‘Evidently my staff thought otherwise.

‘The next day we continued with our work.

‘But in the evening, just as I locked up the shop, the entire incident was re-enacted.

‘The pale apparition shook and pranced about. Now I had a chance to look at it. There was no face, just a skull and a set of terrifying bared teeth.

‘The apparition skipped in a paroxysm on the same spot, threatening us with a long knife, which it held in one bony hand.

‘We trembled in terror. We wanted to run.

‘I made a superhuman effort and again unlocked the shop. That very instance the apparition vanished.

‘Inside, it was as if nothing had happened.

‘My employees fled and a crowd of people from neighbouring shops gathered round me. The whole of the Commercial Centre was there. Everyone was terrified, confused, bewildered, dismayed. Some of those present had caught a brief glimpse of the apparition. They were now describing it to the others who, in their turn, were torn between fear and curiosity.

‘Someone said to sprinkle holy water inside the shop and conduct prayers.

‘The more courageous went in with me and, again, the shop was searched. And yet again, nothing and nobody.