Gaslight Grimoire_ Fantastic Tales of Sherlock Holmes - Barbara Hambly [36]
“When Mr. Karswell’s things had been disposed of we were, quite naturally, anxious to take up residence, but events conspired to make this impossible. The house, while in good repair for the most part, needed a certain amount of work done to it, particularly the rooms in which it was apparent that Mr. Karswell chiefly lived. He appeared to have kept a dog, or dogs, and they had scratched quite badly at the paneling in one of the rooms, so much so that it needed to be replaced. Some of the furnishings, too, proved difficult to dispose of; more than one person who had purchased items had a change of mind after the event, and declined to remove them, so in the end we kept one or two of the larger pieces and disposed of the rest as best we could.”
“And the workmen, my dear; do not forget them.”
Mrs. Fitzgerald shuddered. “How could I forget? We had no end of difficulty with the workmen we had employed to carry out the repairs. What should have been a very straightforward piece of work, according to the man who was in charge, became fraught with difficulty. Some of the men took to turning up late, or not at all, and there were delays with some of the materials, and scarcely a day went by without some accident or other. Oh, they were very minor things, we were assured, but troubling nonetheless, and at one point it seemed the work would never be completed. At last we resorted to offering a larger sum than initially negotiated, and eventually all was finished and we were able to take up residence.”
“One moment,” said Low, at the same time that Holmes interjected with “A question, if I may.” The two detectives looked at each other; then Low smiled and waved his hand towards my friend. “Please, Mr. Holmes.”
“Thank you.” Holmes turned to the Fitzgeralds. “The workmen who were employed: were they local men, or from further afield?”
“There were a handful of local men, Mr. Holmes,” replied Mrs. Fitzgerald, “but the man in charge had to obtain most of the workforce from further away, some as far as Coventry. As I mentioned, there was some considerable ill-feeling towards the late owner of Lufford Abbey.”
“Considerable indeed, if it extended even after his death,” remarked Holmes. “Were you both here while this work was being carried out?”
“No; it would have been far too inconvenient. We had regular reports from the man in charge, and my husband would come by on occasion to check on the progress — or rather the lack of it.”
“Thank you,” said Holmes. “Mr. Low?”
“I was going to ask about the dogs,” said Low, “the ones which you felt were responsible for the damage. Do you know for a fact that Karswell kept dogs?”
“No,” replied Mr. Fitzgerald slowly. “Indeed, it did strike me as odd, as from what we knew of him he seemed unlikely to be a man who kept pets.”
“This damage they caused; was it general, or confined to one particular place?”
“Again, it is very odd, Mr. Low. One would not expect dogs to be particular as to where they caused damage, yet it all seemed to be located in the one room, on the first floor. It is a very fine room, with views out over the park, and we understood that Karswell used it as his study.”
“What sort of damage was caused?”
“Well, as my wife said, it appeared that the animals had clawed around the base of the wooden paneling in the room. Quite deep gouges they were, too, which is why the wood needed to be replaced.”
“Do any of the marks remain?”
Mrs. Fitzgerald drew in her breath sharply, and Mr. Fitzgerald’s already pale face seemed to go a shade whiter. It was a moment before he answered.
“When we took up residence my answer would have been