Chapter 7: Damsel In Distress

It was not quite noon but already the day qualified as a red-letter one for Rupert Swann. After breakfasting late, he had been about to fill a pipe when there was a light tap at his door and the housekeeper entered – it was standard practice that she did not need to wait for an invitation. She was smiling broadly as she walked over to Swann. “Good morning,” he said. “You seem to be pleased with life.”

“Good morning,” she replied. “I’m not as pleased as you will be in a moment. You have a visitor.”

She handed Swann a card. He looked at it and his eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw the name – Sherlock Holmes! He gaped at the woman. “You are not particularly noted for a sense of humour, Mrs Grimes. I take it this is not a joke.”

“No. It is the gentleman himself.”

Swann struggled to recover from his astonishment. “Well, we must not allow a man of such eminence to wait. Please ask him to come up.”

“I’ve taken the liberty. He is at your door now. I’ll show him in as I leave.” She departed and the illustrious caller entered.

Holmes, tweed-suited, stood by the door for a moment, removing his cloth cap as he took in the room and its occupant. Swann noted that apart from hair colour – his was mid-brown and quite thick, Holmes’s black and thinning – the two men were broadly alike in appearance, being about an inch above six feet in height and of slim build, Holmes somewhat the more slender of the two. Both had hawkish facial contours and piercing grey eyes. As to age, Holmes was the senior by a decade or so.

Swann strode towards his renowned southern counterpart. “Mr Holmes, you are most heartily welcome, though I never expected to see you.” They shook hands, Swann noting that Holmes’s fingers were at least as strong and sinewy as his own. He went on: “I am astounded and delighted in equal measure. May I ask to what I owe this honour?”

“To the railway timetables, Mr Swann. I fear that I have been poaching on your grounds by dealing with a case in the North Riding of your splendid county. While there I made the acquaintance of a police inspector who extolled your virtues. He said that you have been of great value to the forces of law and order in this part of the world. I happened to arrive in Leeds a short while ago and was faced with a wait of an hour and a half for the next London train. The inspector had given me your address and it occurred to me that if you happened to be at home, you might spare me a little of your time.”

“I’m very pleased to do so, Mr Holmes. If you could stay longer, I would be even happier.”

“Alas, I cannot do that. My presence in the capital is required early tomorrow. My companion, Dr Watson, is at the railway station here, keeping an eye on our luggage. However, I was struck by the thought that a man with your formidable reputation might be prepared to exchange a few words with me.”

Swann smiled. “Well, Mr Holmes, you certainly flatter me, as did your informant in the police force, though it is true that I have helped the constabulary at times.”

“Ah, yes. I suppose they come to you as they do to me, when they are at their wits’ end.”

“There are occasions when I think that is the case. But I hope you have time enough to take a drink and perhaps join me in a fill of tobacco.”

“Gladly. I can stay for half an hour or so, if that suits you.”

“It certainly does. Please take a seat by the hearth. Would sherry be to your liking?”

“It would.”

Swann poured the drinks and offered his tobacco jar to Holmes, who examined his host’s preferred brand with eyes, nose and fingers. “Hmn,” he said, “this dark flake is quite distinctive. Strong, with a touch of Perique and a whiff of Latakia. It is expensive, so you clearly do not need to practise economy, at least with respect to smoking.”

“No. I am fortunate in that way.”

Swann was inspecting the pipes on his mantel shelf, deciding which to select. He had not realised that his guest was looking in the same direction. “A nice array, Mr Swann, said Holmes. “I perceive that the one in the middle with the rounded bowl is your current favourite.”

What sorcery was this? There were seven handsome briar pipes lined up in the rack. How did Holmes know that Swann had for a short time been smoking one of them more than any of the others? “You are quite right,” he said. “No doubt I am somewhat dim-witted but it is not clear to me how you arrived at that conclusion, especially from what seemed like a brief glance.”

Holmes gave a dry smile. “Observation, sir. The pipes have their bowls turned outwards and six of them bear pronounced marks of recent reaming, indicating that you probably attended to all of them at the same time. It is surely a reasonable assumption that you also dealt with the seventh at that juncture, yet that one already has a decidedly thicker carbon deposit than any of the others. I therefore deduce that it has lately been used more than any of the others.”

Swann laughed. “Good gracious,” he replied, “and I had thought of myself as fairly sharp-eyed.”

“Well, I could not have been entirely sure,” Said Holmes, “but the inference seemed permissible.”

“An amazing demonstration. Please help yourself to a fill.” Both men got their pipes drawing well and the conversation moved on to the way each went about his work. Too soon for Swann’s liking, Holmes announced that he needed to leave for the railway station. On departing, he said that he would be happy to receive Swann at Baker Street, if the Yorkshireman were ever to find himself in London.

As he watched Holmes climb into a waiting cab, Swann was thinking that whatever the future held, he had surely just experienced one of the highlights of his life. Dazed by what had just taken place, he felt the need for air. It was the first Monday in May, warm and sunny, so he selected a pipe – the round-bowled one which Holmes had singled out – crossed the street and sat on a bench in the Park Square public gardens. He was side-on to his rooms and happened to be looking in their direction when a cab drew up outside the building. The vehicle moved off, revealing a woman standing on the pavement.

The doctor who owned the house and occupied the ground floor received a large number of visitors, especially before noon, and Swann assumed for a moment that the woman was a patient. However, after pausing briefly to look at the two nameplates, she stepped into the short hallway and started to go up the stairs. As Swann occupied the whole of the upper floor, it appeared that the caller was seeking him, so he hurried to the house and found her tapping on his door. “Good morning,” he said. “Are you looking for me?”

“Yes, if you are Rupert Swann.”

“Guilty,” Swann answered with a smile as he opened the door. “Come in and tell me how I can help you.” He noted that she was about five feet five inches in height and of very slim build. She had short, light-brown hair, delicate features and a pale complexion.

A minute later the visitor had taken off her hat and topcoat and was seated by the fireplace, facing Swann. She declined the offer of a drink. “I must apologise for calling on you without giving notice,” she said, “but I came on the spur of the moment, hoping that I would find you at home and that you might be willing to speak with me. I have had a serious misfortune, Mr Swann, and I cannot think of anyone else to whom I could turn.”

Swann nodded. “Please tell me what is troubling you.”

“Well, I have never before had occasion to consult a detective, so I suppose I should say something about myself.”

“That is usually helpful.”

“My name is Lydia Cummings. My home is in Woodhouse Lane, only a short distance from here. I am thirty-eight years of age, single and have no siblings. I live alone in the house I inherited from my parents. Father died six years ago and mother left us early last year. I was passably well provided for and have a small income, which I supplement by giving private music lessons. I play in the Walmsley string quartet and beyond the time I spend with the other three members of that group I have virtually no social life. If you wish to know anything more about me, please ask.”

“You have introduced yourself admirably, Miss Cummings. Now, what has brought you here?”

“My violin has been stolen, Mr Swann. That is to say my best one. I have another, but the Stainer is incomparably superior to that.”

“A Stainer,” Swann replied. “I am no expert in such matters, but I seem to recall reading an article about high-class violins and that name was mentioned.”

“It would have been. Jacob Stainer – he later changed his forename to Jacobus – worked in the Tyrol at about the same time as the great luthiers of Cremona. He spent some time with the earliest of them and made violins at least as fine as theirs. In fact, for a long time many players preferred his instruments to those of Stradivari, Guarneri, Amati, or any of the other makers whose names are now more widely known than his. It was only when virtuosi began to perform in larger concert halls that the fuller tones of the violins made in Lombardy became more popular. Nevertheless, Stainers are still much in demand and very valuable.”

“You are most informative, Miss Cummings. How did you come by the Stainer and how did you lose possession of it?”

The woman’s voice began to tremble as she answered. She was clearly on the verge of tears. “It was made in the mid-seventeenth century and came into my family four generations ago. My great-grandfather acquired it, handed it to my grandfather, who in turn passed it to my father, and he gave it to me.”

“I see. And in what way did it disappear?”

“On Saturday evening I visited my aunt in Dewsbury. She is my only living relative and is very ill. I took my violin because she loves to hear me play it, and she has very few other pleasures in life. I returned on the late train and when I left it, I had almost reached the exit before realising that I had put the violin in the rack above my head and walked off without it. No doubt that was stupid of me, but I was preoccupied with worry about my aunt, and the likelihood that I shall have to take her into my home quite soon. I do not relish that prospect because I have become accustomed to living alone and would have difficulty in sharing my house with anyone else.”

“I fully understand, Miss Cummings. I too live by myself and would not care to do otherwise. No doubt you retraced your steps when you noticed that you had left the violin.”

“Yes, I did. Leeds was the terminus for that train, so it was still at the platform. I rushed to the compartment in which I had been seated. I expected to recover my treasure, but it was not there. I was frantic. There had been very few passengers and by the time I discovered my loss, all of them had disappeared, apart from an elderly couple, walking very slowly and not carrying anything. The guard was still on board and I consulted him. He was as helpful as possible in the circumstances. The train was short. We looked all the way through it, to no avail. Next we went to the left luggage and lost property counter, but nothing had been handed in. I left my name and address there and called again yesterday and once more today, without success.”

Swann nodded. “I see. Now, was there anyone else in your compartment?”

“Yes, a man. He was in place before I boarded the train, so I don’t know where he got on. We did not exchange any words and I was the first to disembark, though he must have followed immediately and moved very quickly.”

“Can you describe him?”

“With regard to build he was quite thin. I cannot tell you his height because he was seated the whole time, but I got the impression that he was probably no taller than me. He was dressed in a dark-grey suit, very much the worse for wear, and black shoes, badly in need of polish. He had no hat, so I could see that his hair was black, rather long and unkempt, and I would say that he had not shaved for two or three days. His face put me in mind of a weasel. I think that is all I can say about him.”

“And a good picture it is, too. In a case like this, every detail is potentially important and your description may be helpful. Have you been to the police?”

“Yes. The sergeant with whom I spoke was very sympathetic, but I’m afraid he did not give me much cause for hope.”

“He and his fellow officers have a great deal on their hands, so I fear it is unlikely that they will be able to give your case the attention it deserves. A private agent is usually in a better position to concentrate on a single matter when necessary. Would you be able to recognise your violin?”

“Definitely. There are certain things peculiar to Stainers. They are somewhat different in shape from most of those made in Cremona at same time. The F-holes – those are the sound outlets – are also distinctive in that they are usually fully circular at the ends, which is unusual, and they are often slightly asymmetrical, the right-hand one a little higher than that on the left. However, those are general points. Fortunately I do not have to rely on them.”