Denis Smith: The Mammoth Book of the New Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes

The church clock had struck ten, and I was straining my ears to catch any sound from the lane, when I was startled as Holmes plucked suddenly at my sleeve. I stiffened, all my senses alert. His keen hearing had evidently detected a sound I had missed, and I waited tensely to see what would happen next.

What happened was so utterly unforeseen that I almost cried aloud in surprise. I was leaning forward slightly, to detect any sign of movement along the path at the side of the house, when there came all at once a rustling noise from the bushes behind me. I bit my lip to stifle a gasp. So concentrated had my thoughts been upon listening for sounds from the lane, that it had never occurred to me that an intruder might take a more circuitous route to the cottage, by the open land to the south. I held myself perfectly still, scarcely daring even to breathe, lest that slight movement give away our presence. After a moment, the sound came again, a little closer. It crossed my mind that it might be a fox, then, before I knew it, I could feel the movement as well as hear it, and could hear also heavy breathing. I was standing slightly to the right of my two companions, and someone, or something, was approaching immediately behind my right shoulder. Then, so close that his coat brushed my sleeve as he passed, a dark, burly figure in a long coat pushed through the bushes, stepped on to the lawn and made his way to the back of the house.

There he bent to the lock of the French windows, and a slight, metallic, scraping noise came to my ears. Clearly, he was trying to force the lock with a knife or similar implement. After a moment, Holmes plucked my sleeve once more and stepped out upon the lawn. Silently, and with great caution, the three of us approached the stooping, intent figure, then, at a signal from Holmes we made a sudden dash and flung ourselves upon him. With a desperate wail of fear, he fell to the ground in a heap, and the knife tumbled from his hand and clattered on to the flagstones below.

Quickly Holmes lit a lantern, as Potter and I held our quarry in a firm grip. Then he held the lantern up to the intruder’s face, and I gasped in surprise. For the mysterious nocturnal visitor was none other than Mr Potter’s neighbour, Major Loxley.

‘I think you had best explain yourself,’ said Holmes in a severe tone. ‘Have you the key to these windows, Mr Potter?’

Potter found the key, and in a minute we were in the study of the cottage, with all the lamps lit. Major Loxley sat slumped in a chair, his head in his hands, moaning softly to himself, like a man in the last reaches of despair.

‘Well, Major,’ said Potter at length. ‘We await your explanation! What is the meaning of this?’

‘The meaning,’ returned Loxley in a broken voice, ‘is that I am ruined!’

‘Come, come,’ said Holmes. ‘You were a good friend and neighbour of Major Ullathorne’s. Though your present behaviour is astounding, I am sure there must be some explanation for it, and perhaps, if that explanation is good enough, Mr Potter can be persuaded not to press charges.’

‘You do not understand,’ said Loxley, looking up. ‘Any charges that Potter might bring against me are as nothing, and I would face them without concern. But to explain my actions I must reveal my shame.’

‘We must have an explanation,’ insisted Holmes.

‘Very well,’ said Loxley after a moment. ‘It can make little difference now. You perhaps know something of the history of the Royal Medway Regiment? Few regiments have had a more honoured history. We were represented with distinction in the Peninsular Campaign, at Waterloo, in the Crimea, India and elsewhere. In recent years, however, the regiment has been on home duties, at Chatham and Dover, and here at Woolwich, to where the regimental headquarters was moved some years ago. During this time, a terrible change has come over the regiment. It may not be apparent to outside observers, but it is clear enough to those who know it from within, and who knew it in its better days. It is as if a corruption has entered into the body of the regiment, and once in, can neither be driven out nor destroyed, but must inevitably spread, in the end, to all parts. My opinion as to the origins and cause of this has varied over the years. There have been times when I have felt that the blame lay entirely with one man, or one small group of men, the few rotten apples in the barrel, which inevitably corrupt the rest; at other times it has seemed to me as if a general malaise has swept over the whole regiment, like the visitation of a plague.

‘I will not trouble you with the details. It is enough to tell you that colossal amounts of public money have found their way into private pockets, and that the regiment’s guard duties at the Royal Arsenal and the Royal Dockyards have provided ample opportunities for personal enrichment for those who sought it, from petty pilfering and the unauthorised sale of public property, to frauds on a scale so massive and audacious that you would scarcely believe them possible.

‘A few years ago I was offered something by someone I knew. It was only a trifle, and seemed unimportant. In my own defence I will say that I did not fully understand at the time that I was accepting stolen property, although I think I knew in my heart that the transaction was not an entirely honest one. But having thus accepted a part of this corrupt bounty, I subsequently found it much more difficult to resist the persuasive pressures which were put upon me to play a part in various fraudulent schemes. Thus, little by little, I slipped into the mire of dishonesty.

‘At length, the few remaining honest men in the regiment began to see what was taking place about them, although it had been concealed with diabolical cunning. Your uncle and I had both been retired some years by this time, Mr Potter. Late last year, he was secretly approached, as a man of outstanding character, and asked to conduct a discreet investigation into the matter, as he subsequently confided to me in the strictest confidence. No one could be certain who, among the present strength of the regiment, could be trusted and who could not, which is why they had turned, in desperation, to Major Ullathorne. As an honoured former officer of the regiment he was welcome wherever the Royal Medway was represented, and could freely go anywhere, and see anything. His brief was, by conversations and discreet enquiries, to discover, if he could, the heart of the corruption which had infected the regiment. All this, I say, he confided to me, never suspecting for a minute that I myself had been touched by the tainted finger of corruption.

‘I was prepared for the worst. Had Ullathorne lit upon any fact which implicated me in any way I should have accepted whatever fate had in store for me. In the meantime I kept my shameful secret locked in my breast, and feigned ignorance whenever he spoke to me of the corruption he was uncovering.

‘Unfortunately, discreet as Ullathorne was in his enquiries, his enemies got wind of what was afoot. The first I knew of it was when they approached me, and asked me to find out what he had discovered. I told them I knew nothing, but they were not satisfied, and told me that, unless I helped them, my own part in the shameful business would be exposed to public view. I knew that this was no idle threat, and gave them a small amount of the information which I had gleaned from my conversations with Ullathorne. One thing I did know – which I told them, as I did not believe it would be of any use to them – was that Major Ullathorne had had a safe fitted, late last year, in order to keep secure the documents relating to his investigation. Until you showed it to me yesterday, I had absolutely no idea where the safe was situated and had made no attempt whatever to discover it, deeming it better for me, under the circumstances, to remain in ignorance. What I did not know, I could not be forced to reveal to another. I did have one other piece of information concerning the safe, however. Ullathorne had informed me one evening that the lock was of the combination type, and that the key to the combination was hidden in a book.’