Read Sherlock Holmes In Montague Street Volume 2 for Free Online Page B

cannot have been got at, the more difficult our position is from a legal point of view. What shall we do now?”
    â€œIs the nurse still about the place?”
    â€œYes, I believe so.”
    â€œThen I’ll speak to her.”
    The nurse came in response to Mr. Crellan’s summons: a sharp-featured, pragmatical woman of forty-five. She took the seat offered her, and waited for Holmes’s questions.
    â€œYou were in attendance on Mr. Holford, I believe, Mrs. Turton, since the beginning of his last illness?”
    â€œSince October 24 th .”
    â€œWere you present when Mr. Mellis came to see his uncle last Saturday?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œCan you tell me what took place?”
    â€œAs to what the gentleman said to Mr. Holford,” the nurse replied, bridling slightly, “of course I don’t know anything, it not being my business and not intended for my ears. Mr. Crellan was there, and knows as much as I do, and so does Miss Garth. I only know that Mr. Mellis stayed for a few minutes and then went out of the room with Miss Garth.”
    â€œHow long was Miss Garth gone?”
    â€œI don’t know, ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, perhaps.”
    â€œNow Mrs. Turton, I want you to tell me in confidence - it is very important - whether you, at any time, heard Mr. Holford during his illness say anything of his wishes as to how his property was to be left in case of his death?”
    The nurse started and looked keenly from Holmes to Mr. Crellan and back again.
    â€œIs it the will you mean?” she asked sharply.
    â€œYes. Did he mention it?”
    â€œYou mean you can’t find the will, isn’t that it?”
    â€œWell, suppose it is, what then?”
    â€œSuppose won’t do,” the nurse answered shortly; “I do know something about the will, and I believe you can’t find it.”
    â€œI’m sure, Mrs. Turton, that if you know anything about the will you will tell Mr. Crellan in the interests of right and justice.”
    â€œAnd who’s to protect me against the spite of those I shall offend if I tell you?”
    Mr. Crellan interposed.
    â€œWhatever you tell us, Mrs. Turton,” he said, “will be held in the strictest confidence, and the source of our information shall not be divulged. For that I give you my word of honor. And, I need scarcely add, I will see that you come to no harm by anything you may say.”
    â€œThen the will is lost. I may understand that?”
    Holmes’s features were impassive and impenetrable. But in Mr. Crellan’s disturbed face the nurse saw a plain answer in the affirmative.
    â€œYes,” she said, “I see that’s the trouble. Well, I know who took it.”
    â€œThen who was it?”
    â€œ Miss Garth! ”
    â€œMiss Garth! Nonsense!” cried Mr. Crellan, starting upright. “Nonsense!”
    â€œIt may be nonsense,” the nurse replied slowly, with a monotonous emphasis on each word. “It may be nonsense, but it’s a fact. I saw her take it.”
    Mr. Crellan simply gasped. Holmes drew his chair a little nearer.
    â€œIf you saw her take it,” he said gently, closely watching the woman’s face the while, “then, of course, there’s no doubt.”
    â€œI tell you I saw her take it,” the nurse repeated. “What was in it, and what her game was in taking it, I don’t know. But it was in that bureau, wasn’t it?”
    â€œYes - probably.”
    â€œIn the right hand top drawer?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œA white paper in a blue envelope?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œThen I saw her take it, as I said before. She unlocked that drawer before my eyes, took it out, and locked the drawer again.”
    Mr. Crellan turned blankly to Holmes, but Holmes kept his eyes on the nurse’s face.
    â€œWhen did this occur?” he asked, “and how?”
    â€œIt was on Saturday night, rather late.