sherlock holmes and the case of the sussex vampire

He took up a second letter which had lain unnoticed upon the table while he had been absorbed with the first. Possibly this note may be from him and may throw some light upon what is worrying him.' But are we to give serious attention to such things? This agency stands flat-footed upon the ground, and there it must remain. It mentions the legend in one of these references.

I have read, for example, of the old sucking the blood of the young in order to retain their youth.' 'But surely,' said I, 'the vampire was not necessarily a dead man? A living person might have the habit. 'Rubbish, Watson, rubbish! What have we to do with walking corpses who can only be held in their grave by stakes driven through their hearts? It's pure lunacy.' And again, Vampires in Transylvania.' He turned over the pages with eagerness, but after a short intent perusal he threw down the great book with a snarl of disappointment. Remarkable case, that! Vittoria, the circus belle. I have some recollection that you made a record of it, Watson, though I was unable to congratulate you upon the result. Holmes balanced it on his knee, and his eyes moved slowly and lovingly over the record of old cases, mixed with the accumulated information of a lifetime. I leaned back and took down the great index volume to which he referred. Make a long arm, Watson, and see what V has to say.' But what do we know about vampires? Does it come within our purview either? Anything is better than stagnation, but really we seem to have been switched on to a Grimms' fairy tale. 'It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared. 'Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson,' said Holmes in a reminiscent voice. We have not forgotten your successful action in the case of Matilda Briggs. Ferguson to call upon you and lay the matter before you. As our firm specializes entirely upon the assessment of machinery the matter hardly comes within our purview, and we have therefore recommended Mr. Robert Ferguson, of Ferguson and Muirhead, tea brokers, of Mincing Lane, has made some inquiry from us in a communication of even date concerning vampires.

'For a mixture of the modern and the mediaeval, if the practical and of the wildly fanciful, I think this is surely the limit,' said he. Then, with the dry chuckle which was his nearest approach to a laugh, he tossed it over to me. Holmes had read carefully a note which the last post had brought him.

Sherlock holmes and the case of the sussex vampire