Dan Simmons - The Fifth Heart

As if reading his thoughts, Sigerson said, “Yes, the scale of the Potala is hard to fathom . . . especially since the rest of Lhasa is so pathetic: sagging mud-and-timber homes, endless narrow alleyways filled with dog carcasses and unspeakable refuse. But rising above all that . . . this . To give you a sense of its scale, all of Britain’s Parliament would fit along the lower third of the Potala, with Big Ben rising only to the high point of the staircase. The temples and lamas’ residences are all higher than that in the structure.”

“I don’t see how you did it, Mr. Sigerson,” Clarence King said flatly. “I just don’t understand how you did it.”

“Did what, Mr. King?”

“Got into Tibet . . . all the way to Lhasa. Scores of Europeans have tried it. None have succeeded. Surely you couldn’t have disguised yourself as a Tibetan pilgrim as so many of our explorers have . . . down to shaving one’s head and wearing saffron rags. The Tibetan authorities always find them out. And you’re far too tall to pass yourself off as a Tibetan.”

Sigerson smiled. “I did not disguise myself in any way. I simply told the sheriffs, warlords, soldiers, and palace police whom I met that I was a pilgrim.”

“And did your fellow travelers over the high passes also get to Lhasa?” asked John Hay.

“No. They were all turned back near the border.”

“I don’t understand,” King said a final time.

“We Norwegians are a persistent race,” offered emissary Mr. Vollebæk.

The last slide filled the screen. It was taken from a distance but showed Sigerson sitting on a low boulder in a courtyard talking to a young boy in a saffron robe. The brown-skinned lad’s head was shaved save for a single topknot, and his back was to the camera.

“The thirteenth Dalai Lama,” said Sigerson. “He was sixteen years old when I was allowed multiple audiences with him in the winter of eighteen ninety-one, ’ninety-two. The audiences were a double honor since His Holiness was in seclusion away from the Potala, receiving intense and rigorous instruction for the role he was soon to assume.”

“I’ve read that most of the young Dalai Lamas don’t live long enough to assume temporal power,” said John Hay.

“This is true,” said Sigerson. “The ninth through twelfth Dalai Lamas all died young, many presumed to have been murdered by their acting regents, all of whom have a tendency to cling to power. This young man’s predecessor, the twelfth Dalai Lama, died after his regent arranged for his bedroom ceiling to collapse on him while he slept.”

“Mother of God,” whispered King.

“One of the few religious concepts that Tibetan Buddhists do not recognize in some form,” Sigerson said without any obvious irony.

“May we ask what you discussed with the thirteenth Dalai Lama?” Hay asked diffidently.

“The nature of reality,” said Jan Sigerson/Sigurdson.

The Vollebæk family was the first to depart. Handshakes and announcements that it had been a wonderful evening filled the huge mahogany-walled foyer.

When Clarence King asked a servant to fetch his cape, hat, and walking stick, Sigerson surprised James—and the others it seemed—by saying, “Could I please speak to you gentlemen in Mr. Hay’s study for one minute?”

The study was still overheated and smelling of limelight, although servants had already removed the screen and bulky projector.

“I have to go soon,” grumped King. “I have to travel to New York tomorrow before heading to Mexico and . . .”

“This will take only a second, gentlemen,” said Sigerson, presuming the liberty of closing the door of Hay’s study behind him.

“I need to talk to all of you tomorrow at ten a.m.,” said Sigerson in a voice that James had not heard from him yet. If it was not a tone of absolute command, it was very close to it. “Mr. Hay, may I presume upon your good graces a final time to allow the meeting here in your study?”

“I . . . well . . . on Monday I must . . . well, yes. If it’s a brief meeting.”

“It will be brief,” said Sigerson.

“Not possible,” said Clarence King. “I have the noon train to New York to meet and several . . .”

“Mr. King,” Sigerson said softly, “I would not ask you to come back unless it were of extreme importance. One might say it is a matter of life and death. And it involves your friend Mr. Henry Adams.”

Hay and King looked at each other, and James could almost imagine the near-telepathy at work between the old friends.

“Damn it, man,” barked King, “don’t make a mystery out of it if it’s something that involves Adams. Tell us now why you have us gathered here.”

“I’m sorry but it must be tomorrow morning here at ten o’clock,” said Sigerson. “I understand that Mrs. Hay will be out of the house for most of the day so we will not be disturbed. Do I have your solemn promises that you will be here?”

“I also have plans to . . .” began Henry James and then stopped when he saw the hawk-like intensity of Sigerson’s glance at him. The Norwegian was quite obviously mad as a hatter and it seemed safer for James to play along with the others present than to become the sole object of the madman’s attention.

John Hay, Henry James, and Clarence King promised to be there. King did not sound happy.

“Thank you,” said Jan Sigerson and opened the door to the study as if releasing them all from his control, but only for the time being.

They assembled in Hay’s study promptly at 10 a.m. and took the same seats they’d occupied the night before: John Hay behind his broad desk; Clarence King and Henry James in leather wingback chairs set on both sides of the desk and still turned toward the wall of books where the screen had been. King was grumbling. Hay looked embarrassed that this was happening in his home. The internationally renowned wordsmith Henry James kept his mouth shut.

At ten minutes after ten, King said, “What the hell? That impertinent Norwegian orders us . . . orders us . . . to be at his beck and call at ten a.m. and then he doesn’t show up? I’ve boxed men’s ears for less.”

“Benson told me that Sigerson left the house very early this morning. Very early,” said Hay. “And Benson said that he was carrying his portmanteau.”

“Have you counted the silver?” said King.

James concentrated on not speaking. He’d gone to Sigerson’s room at eight that morning only to find the room empty. His first impulse had been also to pack and flee, but then he realized that the imposter’s absence might give him a way to make things right with John and Clara—perhaps even with King if the Norwegian lunatic did not reappear.

At quarter after ten, all three men stood.

“I see no need . . .” began Hay.

“If he thinks . . .” began King.

James was straightening his waistcoat and trying to get his thoughts in proper alignment.

A stranger stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

It took even Henry James, who’d met the man in this form only a few years before, to see that it was Sherlock Holmes. The Sigerson make-up had disguised the Englishman more than James had given it credit for. Holmes was now in a proper British suit. His hair was now brown, not black, and receding much more dramatically than had Sigerson’s spiky top. With the mustache and make-up around the nose and eyes removed, this version of Sigerson/Holmes looked even leaner, a face that seemed all sharp cheekbones, deep shadows, hawk nose, strong chin, and those piercing eyes.

“Be seated, gentlemen,” said Holmes. His upper-class British accent had returned. “And thank you for coming.”