‘That arm,’ he said at last. ‘I don’t like the dismembered doll. I do not like it at all, Watson.’

‘Any further thoughts on the perpetrator?’

‘That is what troubles me. It could be either of her obvious suitors, one arrogant and entitled, the other strange and secretive. Or it could be our mendacious deacon, who has his own agenda. I suppose it could also be someone unknown to us at present. Dillie is both an attractive and a highly inflammatory young person. She is the flame to which many moths are drawn, to be sure.’

‘Perhaps we should not have left her on her own,’ I said. ‘With all those “moths”.’

‘And what do you suggest? That we camp out in her hideaway? It is clear she will be neither advised nor controlled.’

I could not argue with him. We sat in silence as the green countryside passed by.

‘That makes two rather formidable ladies, Holmes, in the course of only two days. Madame Borelli seems to be similarly, shall we say, independent.’

‘Yes. Both of these women strike me as—’

‘Well, they did both strike you, Holmes. And you were not even being half as rude as I’ve had occasion to see you be.’

He laughed. ‘Yes, I suppose they did, didn’t they?’

‘Perhaps we would be as quick to anger were we in the same position as either of them.’

Holmes grimaced. ‘Empathy comes naturally to you, Doctor. No wonder the ladies love you so.’

‘Well, they are only human, Holmes,’ I said. ‘To whom are you more sympathetic, Miss Wyndham or Madame Borelli?’

‘Neither. I look only to see if I can be of use. Women think differently than we do. It seems that everything is far more personal, more charged.’

‘Except, Holmes, as you have often said, it is a capital error to generalize.’

‘True enough. In Odelia Wyndham’s case, her disdain and casual cruelty puts her in jeopardy, I fear.’

Holmes sighed, then tilted his straw fedora over his brow and leaned back in his seat to nap. I attempted to admire the scenery, but the green fields held no particular attraction. High in the sky and off in the distance were the gathering thunderclouds I had noted in Cambridge.

As our train steamed on, I supposed that being slapped twice in twenty-four hours might set a man off in a negative direction. I have never been struck by a woman in my life. I could not imagine that would ever happen to me, save perhaps by some gross misunderstanding.

No, not even then, I mused. Shortly after, I put my newspaper down and must have dozed.