A Study in Sherlock

The men being, after discussion and debate, in agreement with the plan as Chan Ho elucidated it, each was dispatched to his assigned task.

Zhang would designate three men to remain in the doorway of his own establishment, hard by the street-facing window of the rooms Mr. Neville St. Clair took at the Lascar’s. These men would be given a simple task, the successful accomplishment of which would demand much patience, but little effort.

“My men’s duties being successfully performed,” Zhang said skeptically, “I still see no guarantee we will achieve the result we desire.”

“We will achieve it,” Chan responded. “I have set a watch upon Mr. Neville St. Clair these few weeks past. He is a man of punctilious habits, to be depended upon. Taking leave of Hugh Boone, Mr. Neville St. Clair spends a quarter of an hour at the open window, reliably each day. Perhaps, to make the transition, he requires the fresh air.” The men all laughed, for, with the wharves, the gutters, and the opium houses, the air of Upper Swandam Lane was generally agreed to be the worst in all London.

Zhang having been satisfied as to that point, Wing prepared to go off to speak to his friends among the constabulary—Chan noted a small, superior smile in Zhang’s direction when he made this promise—to get their agreement to be in place at the required moment. Wing also would be instructing the officers as to advice to be given to Mrs. Neville St. Clair at the proper time.

Lu, the most audacious of them, was known by Chan (but not, until that afternoon, by the others) to have a man of his own in service at the Lascar’s. “A Dane,” Lu told them, “a young and ambitious man, more loyal to my gold than to his master.” This man would be charged with preventing the admission of Mrs. Neville St. Clair to the Lascar’s establishment, if possible.

“If he cannot?” inquired Wing. “If, perhaps, the Lascar is prepared to allow the lady access to the rooms upstairs rather than suffer officers of the law to invade his establishment?”

“From our point of view, that would not be ideal,” Chan admitted, “but it would not be disastrous, either. Possibly, the hideous aspect of the beggar Hugh Boone will so startle her that she will inquire no further. If so, we can continue as planned. If, in the event, Mr. Neville St. Clair, having already dispensed for the day with Hugh Boone, cannot recover him fast enough, his duplicity will be revealed to his wife. This, as I say, is not ideal, for if her horror of the situation is sufficient she might be inclined to make it public, exactly the circumstance we are attempting to avoid. I rather think not, however. I believe we can depend upon Mrs. Neville St. Clair’s discretion, if not for the sake of her husband, whom by all accounts she holds very dear, then for that of her young children.”

The role of Chan himself in the scheme was to give instructions to the clerk at the Aberdeen offices through his agent, and then to keep abreast of developments there, so that the four men would be able to identify the precise moment at which to set their plan into motion.

As the men were departing, each to play his part, Wing spoke in sudden afterthought. “I have heard,” he said, “from my friends among the constabulary”—Chan heard Zhang softly snort, but Wing continued, unperturbed—“that the brilliance of Mr. Sherlock Holmes shines even more brightly in the company of his chronicler, Dr. John Watson. If Mr. Sherlock Holmes is consulted by Mrs. Neville St. Clair upon this matter, will it be possible to ensure Dr. John Watson’s involvement as well?”

Chan smiled. “It will, Wing. That, too, has been arranged.”

The moment for which the men had been waiting came the Monday following the docking of the SS Harding. The telegram alerting Mrs. Neville St. Clair to the arrival of her parcel was dispatched by the sharp-eyed clerk early that morning, requesting the lady to inform the shipping line concerning her intentions to collect it. Mrs. Neville St. Clair replied by return telegram that she would come that very afternoon. The train schedule from Lee to London having been carefully studied by Chan, it was ascertained that should Mrs. Neville St. Clair hurry directly to the Aberdeen offices it would be a simple matter to delay her departure from them—mislaid paperwork, a fee to be paid—until a time convenient for the men’s scheme. As it happened, however, the lady went about some errands, and presented herself in the shipping offices at a perfect hour. Her parcel was delivered into her hands by the sharp-eyed clerk.