The Secret Files of Solar Pons Read online

  He wagged his grubby forefinger at Pons.

  "I have never yet met anyone who failed to overcharge Solar Pons looked at him imperturbably, his penetrating yes shot with humor through the pipe smoke.

  "In that case had you better not consult someone else in our problem?" he said mildly.

  Grimstone jerked in his chair as though stung by some venomous insect. His voice rose to a high, strangled squawk. "After having come all this way up from Kent, Mr. Pons? With the scandalously expensive fares imposed by the railways . . . ?"

  There was dismay as well as anger in the tones and Solar 'Pons glanced at me with an open smile.

  "I have touched upon your Achilles heel, it would appear, Ir. Grimstone. Pray lay your problem before me without further ado."

  Grimstone fixed Pons with glittering eyes.

  "Ah, then you have decided to take the case, Mr. Pons?"

  My companion shook his head slowly.

  "I have not said so. If it presents points of interest I may agree to do so."

  Our visitor actually rocked to and fro in his chair as though with anguish.

  "And if you do not?" he snapped. "The railway fare, Mr. Pons! The fare! I shall write to my Member of Parliament." Solar Pons chuckled easily, sending a lazy plume of smoke p toward the ceiling.

  "I am not quite sure whether you are referring to the iniquitously high cost of railway travel, Mr. Grimstone, or to my conduct. But in either event your M.P. will be no more pleased to having to pay a surcharge on his letter than I was."

  Grimstone was off on another tack. He crossed his bony hands and smirked.

  "Ah, then we are at one, Mr. Pons," he mumbled, as though my companion had agreed with him. "I must have your help in this monstrous persecution to which I am being subjected. 'When could you come down? We do not exactly keep open house but we could accommodate you in some corner of the manor."

  "I should first prefer to hear something of the business which brings you here, Mr. Grimstone. Your letter was nothing if not sensational in its implications."

  Grimstone drew down the corner of his mouth as though Pons had said something distasteful and momentarily lapsed into silence. For a second or two I glimpsed such fear on his face as I have seldom seen on a human being. It was obvious to me that Pons had also seen it and that Grimstone's newly assumed business-like manner was a mere façade, which might crack at any moment.

  Solar Pons paused a little to allow our visitor to recover himself, looking not unsympathetically at our strange caller through the aromatic clouds of tobacco smoke.

  "You spoke of a crawling horror, Mr. Grimstone?" he said at length. "Can you amplify that somewhat enigmatic statement?"

  Grimstone shook his head, waving it from side to side so agitatedly that it looked as though he had palsy.

  "I can, Mr. Pons," he said in a dead voice. "It is something that haunts me; something that I can never forget."

  "You had better start at the beginning, my dear sir," said Solar Pons softly. "Take your time and tell the story in your own words."

  Our client sat puffing his cheeks in and out for a few moments, looking with cunning eyes first at me and then at my companion. I must say that my distaste for him and his malodorous clothing was growing by the minute but Solar Pons stared imperturbably in front of him and continued ejecting sweet-scented smoke from his pipe until our bizarre visitor should be ready to continue.

  He began abruptly, without preamble, with the look upon him of a man who has suddenly made up his mind to take the plunge only because of dire necessity at his elbow.

  "You probably know about me, Mr. Pons. My activities have not passed unnoticed in the city. I have amassed a certain amount of money, it is true, but I am a poor man in comparison with many I could name; and my expenses have been heavy—extremely heavy."

  He paused as though expecting Pons to agree with him and receiving no reaction continued in a disappointed tone.

  "I live quite frugally as befits my station, Mr. Pons, in an old manor house on the marshes near Gravesend. My niece, Miss Sylvia Grimstone, lives with me and keeps house and we do tolerably well. I am not much in the city these days and keep in touch by telephone. My health has not been too good these last few years and I have had to ease up a little."

  Solar Pons ejected a cloud of blue smoke into the air of our sitting room.

  "What staff have you at the manor, Mr. Grimstone?"

  Our visitor looked startled.

  "Staff, Mr. Pons?"

  He smirked.

  "Good gracious me, I cannot run to that. My niece sees to all our wants. In return she receives bed and board and a yearly stipend."

  His voice dropped on the last words as though the stipend were a matter of great regret to him. Pons could not forbear in amused glance across at me.

  "We lived an uneventful life until a few months ago, Mr. Pons, when these terrible things happened."

  "What terrible things, Mr. Grimstone? You have told me little as yet. Pray be most precise as to circumstance and details.."

  Solar Pons tented his thin fingers before him and fixed our visitors with a steady glance.

  "As I have indicated, Mr. Pons, we live an isolated and sheltered life there on the marsh. The manor has been in our family for centuries and descended to me from my brother. Its solution suited me and the property, which is a curious one, is actually on an island in the marsh and approached by a causeway."

  Solar Pons glanced at Grimstone, his eyes penetrating beneath his half-lowered lids.

  "The marsh is dangerous?"

  "Oh, yes indeed, Mr. Pons. In some places it is actual swamp, though sheep and cattle graze on it here and there. sometimes it claims an unwary beast and some areas are reputed to be literally bottomless."

  "I see. But you know it well?"

  "Certainly, Mr. Pons. I spent some time there with relatives when a child. But the manor itself and the area immediately surrounding it is safe enough, and the causeway which links it with the firmer ground runs direct to a good secondary road."

  Solar Pons nodded.

  "It is as well to get the background details firmly in one's mind, Mr. Grimstone. I find it a great aid to the ratiocinative processes. Eh, Parker?"

  "Certainly, Pons."

  Our client nodded, his mean little eyes gleaming.

  "Well, Mr. Pons, Grimstone Manor may seem a somewhat strange and out of the way place to a stranger, but it suits me and my niece."

  He shifted in his chair and once again I caught the unpleasant smell of mold and old clothing.

  "It was October, Mr. Pons. A cold, windy day, but toward sunset the wind dropped and a thin mist began to rise. I had been in to our local village of Stavely, some miles from Allhallows, and was walking back along the marsh road, which is, as you may imagine, elevated some way about its surroundings. It is a wild, bleak, lonely place even in summer and you can imagine what it must be like at dusk on a bitter autumn day."

  Our client cleared his throat with a harsh rasping sound before going on with his narrative.

  "I had got quite close to my own dwelling, thank God, when my attention was arrested by a singular noise. It was a low, unpleasant sound, like somebody clearing his throat. A pony and carriage had passed me some minutes before, going toward Stavely, but I was completely alone in that bare landscape, Mr. Pons, and I can tell you that I was considerably startled. But I moved on, as I was only a few hundred yards from the entrance to Grimstone Manor road. Fortunate that I did so."

  Pons' eyes were shining.

  "Why so, Mr. Grimstone?"

  "Because otherwise I would not be here talking to you now, Mr. Pons," the old man replied.

  "I heard the strange noise again a few moments later, and turned just short of the road. Mr. Pons, I had never seen anything like it. There was only the afterglow lingering in the sky and the harsh cry of some bird. I might have been upon the moon for all the human help at hand."

  Our client swallowed heavily and his eyes were d
ark with fear.

  "Mr. Pons, as true as I sit here, a corpse figure was dragging itself from the edge of the marsh, all burning and writhing with bluish fire!"

  3

  The silence which followed was broken by a sound like a pistol shot. It was made by Solar Pons slapping his right thigh with the flat of his hand.

  "Capital, Mr. Grimstone! What then?"

  "Why, Mr. Pons, I took to my heels, of course," said Silas Grimstone with commendable frankness, casting a resentful look at Pons.

  "But the thing which pursued me had devilish cunning. It seemed to make its way across the marsh in a series of hops, as though to cut me off."

  "It did not follow on the road, then?"

  Solar Pons sat with his pipe wreathing smoke in his hand, completely absorbed in our visitor's narrative. Grimstone shook his head.

  "It was trying to prevent me from getting to my house, Mr. Pons. I have never been so frightened in my life. At first it seemed to gain but when I looked back there was nothing but a bluish fire bobbing about some distance behind me. It was almost completely dark by this time and I had never been so glad to see the lights of the manor, I can tell you."

  "I can well imagine," said Solar Pons drily. "This figure made no sound?"

  "No, Mr. Pons. Not that I heard. When I gained the safety of the court yard in front of the house, I looked briefly back and saw a faint blue glow disappearing in the haze of the marsh."

  "A terrifying experience, Mr. Grimstone," I put in.

  "There is more to follow?" Solar Pons added crisply.

  The old man nodded somberly.

  "Unfortunately, Mr. Pons. I did not tell my niece of the affair at first, as I did not wish to unduly alarm her. She is highly strung and it would be difficult to get someone to attend to my wants if she decided to leave."

  "Indeed," said Solar Pons gravely.

  "I thought at first, Mr. Pons, that I had been the victim of some sort of hallucination. The next time I went into Stavely, which was not until a fortnight later, I took the pony and buggy and made sure I returned in day light. I dismounted when I came to the spot near the causeway where I had seen the figure, but, of course, there was nothing to be seen."

  Solar Pons replaced the pipe in his mouth and puffed thoughtfully.

  "Why do you say 'of course,' Mr. Grimstone?"

  "Well, I had hoped that there would be some quite ordinary explanation such as marsh lights, or some strange but natural phenomenon to account for the apparition. But there was nothing to support such a theory."

  "So you believe it to be a ghost?"

  "I do not know what to believe, Mr. Pons."

  "It was a human figure, though?"

  "Undoubtedly, though I could see no detail, just the blue phosphorescent fire."

  "Pray continue."

  "Well, nothing further happened for some weeks and I had hoped that was the end of the matter. I had been out in the opposite direction, to look at a property in which I had some interest, and was unmindful of the time. I was coming in the buggy along the same road but from the southerly direction. It was again almost dusk when for the second time I had the same terrifying experience. Once more this ghastly figure rose from the edge of the marsh. The pony took fright and I had so much to do to control him and what with my work at the reins I quite forgot my terror and when we at last rattled across the causeway and I had a moment to take stock there was no sign of the figure."

  "You still told your niece nothing?"

  Grimstone shook his head.

  "There seemed no point, Mr. Pons. That was November. The next thing that happened was quite near Christmas. It was coming closer to the house all the time, Mr. Pons."

  "Pray be more explicit, Mr. Grimstone."

  "Well, I had been ill with a cold, and had to curtail my business activities. I had not been to London for over a month and it was but ten days to Christmas. Again, it was dusk and I was sitting in a ground floor room near the window, well wrapped up, my feet toward the fire. The sunset was dying out across the marsh. My niece was preparing tea in the kitchen and I was musing ruminatively as one does at such times. Imagine my horror, Mr. Pons, when I suddenly saw this bluish light hopping across the yard outside the house. It came on with 'quick strides and as I sat half paralyzed this hideous face made of bluish fire was thrust against the window."

  Our client licked his lips, he was so visibly moved by the recollection, and I felt a momentary flash of pity for him.

  "Hmm. A nasty experience, Mr. Grimstone."

  Solar Pons pulled reflectively at the lobe of his right ear. "What did you do?"

  "I gave a great cry, Mr. Pons. I jumped up at once but the thing bad made off. It went in a strange, zigzagging motion and the last I saw it was disappearing in the sunset haze toward the marsh. A coal had fallen from the fire about then and was threatening to burn the carpet. My niece came rushing in at my outburst but I gave the fallen coal as my excuse and the matter passed over. She made much of my paleness and agitation but I told her I felt ill again and went back to bed after tea. That was the third appearance of the apparition, Mr. Pons."

  "There has been a fourth, then?"

  Silas Grimstone nodded, his lined face lightened but not softened by the flickering firelight of our sitting room.

  "Before you come to that, Mr. Grimstone, I have one or two further questions. What do you think this thing is?" The old man stubbornly shook his head.

  "That is for you to tell me, Mr. Pons," he snapped, with a return to his old manner. "It would appear to be supernatural in origin but why it should choose to haunt me, I have no idea."

  "I see."

  Solar Pons was silent for a moment, his brooding eyes gazing into the heart of the fire.

  "Tell me, Mr. Grimstone, are there any dwellings on the marsh itself from which this creature could have come?"

  "You mean a domestic animal, Mr. Pons? That is hardly possible."

  "I did not ask that, Mr. Grimstone."

  The old man winced at the asperity in my companion's voice.

  "The marshes are a strange place, Mr. Pons. They extend for miles over that part of England. Between, there are agricultural areas, firm ground and rich fields. Then you will find a wild expanse of marsh, with here and there islands of solid farmland, which may be reached on foot by the bold. I understand there are some smallholdings on such pockets."

  "I see. Tell me, Mr. Grimstone, have any persons been lost in the marsh. Sucked under or drowned, I mean?"

  Silas Grimstone stared at Solar Pons with shadowed eyes.

  "Many such, Mr. Pons, from time immemorial. In more recent times, the occasional sheep or cattle. I do not know of any other fatality, offhand."

  "Why did you not inform the police of this figure which had chased you?”

  "Police!"

  There was a wealth of disgust in our client's voice. "That would be worse than useless, Mr. Pons. I did not want them tramping about my property. And what could I tell them? That I had seen a ghost? They would have merely laughed. They do not deal in ghosts."

  "Neither do I," said Pons.

  "Mr. Grimstone has a point, Pons," I interjected.

  My companion looked at me thoughtfully.

  "Perhaps, Parker, perhaps," he said absently.

  He turned back to Grimstone.

  "What was this latest incident?"

  "Only two nights ago, Mr. Pons. That was what prompted me to come to you. It has become unbearable."

  "This apparition appears only at dusk, Mr. Grimstone?" "Why, yes, Mr. Pons. I have called it a crawling horror and I speak truly."

  "That is important, Parker. Pray continue."

  "Weil, Mr. Pons, my niece was present on this occasion, thank God."

  Solar Pons' lean face was alive with interest.

  "Excellent, Mr. Grimstone. That is of the utmost importance also."

  Our client shot Solar Pons another resentful glance.

  "No, Mr. Pons, I am not mad as you might have sus
pected. This apparition is visible to others than myself."

  Solar Pons nodded.

  "I am glad to hear it, Mr. Grimstone. But you may disabuse yourself of the supposition you have formed. It was never in my mind for one moment that your sanity was in question. Your financial reputation alone would have ruled that out."

  The old man smiled grimly.

  "You have only to see this thing to realize that something dreadful is at the back of it. To resume. Two evenings ago my niece complained of feeling cooped up in the house. She suggested a walk before dark. I was a little startled at the request but acquiesced, as she certainly does not get much change of air or exercise, other than her household duties. So we struck out along the main road and then took a well marked path that loops across the marsh."

  The old man paused and looked at my companion sharply, as though to assure himself that he was still listening.

  "Sylvia is interested in wild flowers, nature and nonsense of that sort and I usually indulge her in such fancies though such things interest me not at all. We had gone about half a mile across the marsh, Mr. Pons, to a very lonely spot indeed and I was thinking of suggesting that we go back. The light was beginning to fade from the sky and though my niece's presence reassured me, I still had the incidents at dusk at the back of my mind.

  "She had gone on ahead a little way to look at something and I was temporarily alone. Suddenly, I became aware of a faint noise. I turned quickly and judge of my horror, Mr. Pons, when I saw this same ghastly blue phosphorescent figure rising from the haze at the edge of the marsh. I stood rooted to the spot at the sight and then my sudden cry brought my niece running to my side."

  "Just a moment, Mr. Grimstone. Where was your niece exactly when this happened?"

  "As I have said, Mr. Pons, some distance away."

  "Was she visible to you or not?"

  Old Grimstone was evidently puzzled.

  "As a matter of fact, she was hidden by a fringe of bushes, Mr. Pons. Does it matter?"

  "It might be of the greatest significance, Mr. Grimstone. Please go on."

  "Well, Mr. Pons, my niece shrieked with fright on beholding this thing, as you might imagine. It made a sort of writhing motion and then disappeared into the marsh with incredible rapidity. We lost no time in regaining the high road and got back to the manor without seeing it again, thank God."