Free Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly by Donald Thomas Page A

say.”
    â€œVery well. You took the order, then counted out the money for him—a ten-shilling note and a sixpence, I imagine. You handed it to him and he left. Was that all?”
    â€œNot quite, Mr Holmes. I noticed that he had signed the order as ‘John Porson,’ when it was made out to ‘J. L. Porson.’ I asked him to insert the ‘L.,’ which he did.”
    â€œAnd that was all?”
    â€œHe showed me his exeat permit. St Vincent’s won’t allow the boys to have more than a certain amount in their pockets. The rest must be banked with their housemasters when they come back from holidays. To stop them getting more through the post, they have to show their permits for being out of the school grounds when they bring the orders here. We check the name and the amount. That’s a school rule, nothing to do with the Royal Mail.”
    â€œMost interesting,” said Holmes thoughtfully. “And you were subsequently asked to go to the school and see if you could identify the boy who cashed the postal order?”
    â€œPetty Officer Carter came down and asked me. I went up on the Monday, two days later. Very upset he was, Mr Carter.”
    â€œIn what way?”
    â€œFor the honour of the service, Mr Holmes. Twice he said something like, ‘This is the sort of boy the Royal Navy can do without.’”
    â€œHardly surprising under the circumstances,” I suggested.
    â€œThe identification was in what they call the Parents’ Waiting Room, near the head’s study. I was asked to look at eight of the cadets as they stood in a row. I remembered that the boy I served definitely had a grey edging to his jacket, like one of the Engineer Cadets. From what I see, not many of them is an engineer, which made it easier. Also, the one I served wore glasses, and he was about so high.”
    She raised her hand to indicate a height of five feet and six or seven inches.
    â€œAnd what made you pick out the boy in question?”
    Miss Henslowe withdrew again to her defensive line.
    â€œTo be honest, people round here always say that they all look alike in those uniforms. I suppose that’s the idea. And even two days is a long time to wait when you didn’t think at the time there was any reason to remember someone.”
    â€œBut even so, you picked one out?”
    She huffed a sigh at the difficulty of it all.
    â€œThere’s a difference, isn’t there, Mr Holmes? If someone shows you eight cadets and says it’s definitely one of them, then you can pick whichever one looks most like. That’s how it seemed to be. If they’d shown me two hundred cadets, I might have picked another.”
    â€œOr you could have picked no one.”
    She shook her head.
    â€œFrom everything that was said, they knew who did it and he was there. Even Mr Carter on Saturday seemed to know which boy it was the navy could do without. I thought the fairest thing was to say I couldn’t be sure, but if it was one of those eight, he was the one I picked out. That was fair, wasn’t it? At least I got the others out of trouble, didn’t I? The headmaster didn’t say anything. And on the way out, Mr Carter said that it couldn’t have been any of the other seven. They were all at the boats until after three.”
    â€œAnd the boy you picked was Patrick Riley?”
    â€œI told Mr Winter exactly the same as I told you. I was busy at the counter, but this one was wearing glasses and had the grey edging to his jacket.”
    â€œBoth of which could have been borrowed.”
    â€œI suppose they could. But Mr Winter was fair about that. He told me to take no notice of whether they had the grey braid or not. Three had and five hadn’t. Then, to begin with, all of them had to stand in line without glasses and afterwards with glasses on. I suppose they borrowed spectacles for the ones that never wore them. Most boys don’t.”
    My