Free The Secret Fiend by Shane Peacock

live it out when asked about such a maneuver!”
    It is almost as if Sigerson Trismegistus Bell once had to fight like that too.
    “So I should –”
    “The point is,” continues Bell, leaning against the lab table now, “you must deliver a crushing blow that puts you to the advantage, then, rather than continuing to fight at a distance, you must take him to the ground … and fight dirty. Get your hands on him … and do him evil. And do it in a forthright manner, wherever you strike! I am sorry to have to speak this way, but you asked me about fighting a devil and I told you. THAT is how you do it.”

    Sherlock keeps Beatrice and Louise in sight, about one hundred feet in front. They are bait that he does not want to lose. As he watches his friend up ahead, he thinks about how she reacted to his plan last night. It wasn’t what he expected. She seemed reluctant to be part of it at first.
    “But you want to do this alone?” she had said.
    “Yes. I have my reasons.”
    “Why, Sherlock? Shouldn’t we bring the police, or at least Master Lestrade?”
    “That won’t be necessary. I have a feeling that this will be a personal encounter, anyway … a fight between me and someone I know.”
    “You do?”
    “When it is over, you won’t be bothered by the so-called Spring Heeled Jack anymore, I assure you.”
    “But this will be very dangerous. I saw ’im clearly – ’is face, ’is strength when ’e carried Louise – I know what ’e is capable of. You must bring ’elp!”
    “I shall have three advantages. First, I have been taught self-defense of a most effective and violent kind. Second, I will bring a weapon with me. And third, he shall not expect to be attacked. I will have the drop on him, as it were.”
    “I still think –”
    “Not another word. Bring Louise, take the same route home you took on the night you were attacked, arriving at Westminster at half past eight.”
    She didn’t seem afraid, not in the least. That surprised him too. Her objections were solely to his being alone, for his safety. She is a brave and remarkable girl, who indeed cares for him.

    He is alert as he approaches the bridge, eyeing the balustrades, the tops of the buildings beyond, the shadows.He keeps rotating his gaze, left hand firmly on the horsewhip. Crew knows how to strike without warning.
    There are a few dim lights in the House of Commons – as always, a sort of golden glow surrounds it. He wonders if Mr. Disraeli is in there somewhere, trying to keep England strong and safe.
    It may be his imagination, but everyone he passes tonight seems to be on edge. There is tension in London. It isn’t surprising. The newspapers have been carrying many lead stories about the potential for revolution on the streets of England – some adding that “the Jew” is not the right man for the job at this time in history. And today, right on the front page of
The Times
, no less, was another unsettling article that will have caught many eyes.
    A faithful reader of the
Daily Telegraph
and any sensation paper he can find, Sherlock would not even have seen it had Dupin not drawn his attention its way.

    “Sherlock ’olmes!” cried the old vendor, as the boy made his way through Trafalgar Square to school that morning. “There is something in
The Times
that I knows you will be wanting to see.” He snapped open the paper and poked a finger at a headline.
    DISTURBING ATTACK AT WESTMINSTER BRIDGE
    A frightening incident, drawn to this reporter’sattention by an anonymous source, seems to have taken place on Westminster Bridge in the early morning of February 29 . Two young ladies, names withheld to protect their reputations, are said to have been attacked by a fiend dressed as the Spring Heeled Jack. Though when first questioned about this, Scotland Yard denied it as “nonsense,” another source momentarily gave it credence, and upon further enquiries, The Yard admitted that a complaint had indeed been made, but for “good