Sherlock Holmes and the Egyptian Hall Adventure by Val Andrews

Author:Val Andrews [Andrews, Val]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lume Books
Published: 2015-06-07T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six – Windrush Towers

The bustle of Victoria Station has always fascinated me. The great number of people arriving, full of excitement at the thought of a visit to the Zoological Gardens, or the Tower of London. Then there are the hordes who descend upon the station in the summer months, bound for Brighton, Worthing and other resorts, clutching buckets and spades and wicker hampers filled with comestibles. The air is often unbearably filled with the fretful cries of over-excited children and the laments of elderly persons who have lost either their baggage or their train…

I did not await my train in the apartment designated for that purpose: rather in the comparative comfort of a vast refreshment hall, with its marble columns and steaming urns. It has been said that if one were able to sit long enough in such a place one would eventually see almost everyone that one had known, assuming that they were still in the land of the living. I partook of a cup of coffee and a Chelsea bun, which for their price were good enough, although the china cup was a little on the thick side (which I find dulls the taste). Thence to the bookstall to purchase a newspaper and a copy of ‘The Strand’, and at last I was able to sink back in the tolerable comfort of a first-class carriage.

Although empty when I entered it, alas, before the train started, my carriage was invaded by a rather wild-looking man with a bush of hair and a demoniacal expression. I was about to go to the trouble of changing carriages when the whistle blew, the guard waved his flag, and I realized I had left it too late. I felt sure that the bizarre fellow did not have a first-class ticket and said as much. He leaned toward me from the opposite seat and said, ‘Ticket? I don’t need a ticket! You see, I am the German Kaiser, here on a special mission.’

There followed one of the most terrifying half hours that I have ever spent. The fellow was clearly both demented and dangerous, and I had omitted to bring my service revolver with me. He started to march up and down between the seats, causing me to hastily withdraw my feet. He leaned out of the carriage window, shouting ‘Deuchland Uber Alles!’ He had some ‘secret plans’ for the destruction of Buckingham Palace, which he insisted on showing to me. There was no way in which even an experienced medical man like myself could judge if he would become violent, as such lunatics (sometimes said to have the ‘strength of ten’), quite often do. For the first time that I could remember I found myself wishing that I had taken one of those irritating trains which stop at every town, village and hamlet.

At long last the train shuddered to a stop at a village called Three Bridges and the door of the carriage opened to admit a railway official. ‘All tickets please!’ he demanded.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.