Voodoo Holmes Stories

has got to be about."
    Watson looked at me, half-comprehending, but with rising enthusiasm. "And what do you imagine the ... the"-- he pulled the sheet upon which I had scribbled my code towards him -- "the penultimate 3 to mean?"
    "The right leg. What does it stand for? Going forward, I think. When we are standing, pensive and perhaps hesitating and then decide to move forward, that is when out right leg moves automatically."
"I am not sure about that", he interjected, " I doubt that is universal."
    "Let us suppose it is a kind of farewell", I continued, nodding to what he had said, "then whatever comes in between has got to be the making up of your mind, the message per se. That makes the 3 a full stop."
    "So one is first called to attention by the X, which would be like addressing somebody, and the 3 is the stop sign in a telegram. But why are there double Xs some nights?"
    "Precisely!" I exclaimed.
    "What?"
"That is exactly the question I was looking for. A facile answer would be: Because what one has to say those nights is twice as important."
    "I agree. Another would be the triumphant Tah-dah when somebody wants to express: Look, I'm here." He looked at me animatedly.
    "True. There's that. There's got to be a reason why people express their glee By uttering a double beat. Maybe the X!! is announcing a joyful message and the X! A mournful one."
    "In any case", Watson summarized, "the X!! announcement is more forceful and indicative of something positive while the simple X is negative."
     
     
    ¥
     
    When I left the Club, two of its members was by the front door, bankers, apparently judging from their clothes. They were both raising their arms as if stretching, and then, as if wanting to stretch more, one of them raised his arms even higher in a convulsive motion. Next to them, another gentleman raised his left arm to hail a cab.
    As I walked down Holborn Street towards Oxford Street, I was struck by this behaviour. At first, I could not tell why, and mused. Looking up on the late night traffic, I observed a woman upstairs in a window on the first floor of a town house closing the shutters. In order to do that, she had to raise both arms and pull them down. I slowed, as an indescribable tension seized me. An anticipatory emotion, like fear. I stopped, looking up and down the street, then slid into the next doorway, hiding behind a column. There was a man on the other side of the street, a pedestrian who had stopped also, in mid-movement. His right leg was pulled up in mid-air, as if wanting to step up a ladder. Then, he fell. He collapsed, and lay there on the opposite pavement motionlessly.
    I peered up and down the street, cautiously looking for any suspicious movement before running over to him. His face was on the pavement, crushed, and he should have been bleeding, but there was no life in him. In the dim light of the next doorway, he looked pale and his limbs were rubbery. I checked for his pulse and could not find it. I shouted for help and stayed by the body, looking up and down the street when a coach bend around the next corner, glistening black, and drawn by two horses. As it approached, I could see that it wasn't a regular cab as I had expected at this time of night, but a kind of dolly used for deliveries. Then, when it pulled up, I recognized it for what it was: A hearse, driven by a carter in a black uniform.
    He stepped down and said: „You were calling, Sir?“
    „ Yes, man, we should get a doctor, quick. This gentleman is sick, apparently ... he collapsed right before my eyes ... well, it looks to me he's quite dead, actually.“
    The carter calmly replied: „So he is.“
    „ Well, are you going to do anything?“
    „ If you would be so kind to assist me, Sir, we might be able to put him in the back of the carriage.“
    „ Good, good.“
    Together, we heaved the corpse into the hearse. The carter was very strong, so my help was hardly necessary. Incidentally, there was an empty coffin there, and for reasons of simplicity, we put the corpse right in there for the transport.
    „ Are you going to the hospital with him?“ I asked, as the carter climbed his seat.
    „ Yes, the hospital“, he said.
    „ Good. Maybe they can still do anything for him“, I proposed.
    He nodded, and then the horses pulled away from the pavement. After a minute, their clattering had disappeared and I was musing in silence. In my mind, I saw the following