Free The Secret Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes by June Thomson Page B

obvious – Vigor, the Hammersmith Wonder, the only contortionist on tonight’s bill.
    ‘Vigor remained concealed under the stool until Badger and Miss Budd left to fetch the manager. Once they had gone, he emerged from his hiding place and slipped unseen out of the dressing-room.
    ‘As to motive, I hardly think you need me to explain that. Vigor’s imprecations against Mademoiselle Rossignol made it quite clear that she had recently transferred her affections from him to Miro, the Islington Marvel, the man with the performing seals.’
    Lestrade, looking suitably impressed as well as chastened, shook my old friend warmly by the hand.
    ‘Thank you, Mr Holmes. I must admit that there were times when I doubted you could supply the answer to the mystery. You and Dr Watson are leaving now, are you? Then good-night to you both. I shall have to stay on here to supervise the removal of Mademoiselle Rossignol’s body and then charge Vigor with her murder.’
    Outside the stage-door, Holmes hailed a cab, remarking with an amused twinkle in his eyes as the hansom set off. ‘No doubt you will write up the case, Watson. Your reading public will expect a colourful account from you, suitably embellished.’
    ‘I may do so, Holmes,’ I replied, with pretended indifference. ‘It certainly has some unusual features. But the same can besaid for so many of your other investigations that it is difficult to decide which ones merit publication.’
    In fact, my mind was already made up.
    No account of the case will ever find its way into print. * I should not wish to pass on to my readers, especially those admirers of the undoubted talents of Mademoiselle Rossignol, whom I still cannot bring myself to refer to as Miss Lizzie Biggs, any of my own lost illusions concerning the French Nightingale. It is better that they should remain in ignorance of the truth, as I wish it could have been so on my part.
    I shall therefore confine myself to writing this confidential report entirely for my own benefit in order to keep on record the full details of the case and to remind myself of the wisdom of the old adage: All that glisters is not gold.
    * Although the account is undated, the use of the word ‘our’ in this context suggests that Dr John H. Watson was living permanently at 221B Baker Street and was not there merely on a visit. The case must therefore be assigned either to the period before his marriage to Miss Mary Morstan in the late 1880s or to the time following Mrs Watson’s death in the mid-1890s, after which he again took up residence in Baker Street. From the internal evidence, I am inclined to favour the earlier dating. (Dr John F. Watson)
    * Goldini’s was an Italian restaurant in Gloucester Road, Kensington. It was here that Mr Sherlock Holmes arranged to meet Dr John H. Watson for coffee and a curaçao, requesting him to bring with him certain house-breaking tools and a revolver. Vide ‘The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans’. (Dr John F. Watson)
    † I have been unable to trace the Cambridge music-hall, other than a smaller establishment in the East End of London, and suggest it is a pseudonym for the Oxford, where many famous performers appeared, which was situated in Oxford Street. It was demolished after the First World War. (Dr John F. Watson)
    ‡ Mr Sherlock Holmes and Dr John H. Watson stopped at Marcini’s restaurant after the successful conclusion to the Hound of the Baskervilles case for ‘a little dinner’ before going on to hear the De Reszkes, the famous Polish brothers, sing in Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, for which performance Mr Sherlock Holmes had reserved a box. (Dr John F. Watson)
    * Benjamin Godard, the French composer, was born in Paris on 18th August 1849 and died in Cannes on 10th January 1895. His best-known opera was Jocelyn (1881) which included the well-known ‘Berceuse’ or Cradle Song. Operatic arias became a popular music-hall feature after Charles Morton presented extracts from