A Study in Sable by Mercedes Lackey Read Free Book Online Page A

from artists to gypsies, but mostly held occultists whose names were vaguely familiar to Nan, but only vaguely. Nan didn’t mind being only partly involved in the conversation; she was too busy eating ham sandwiches and scones with currant jam.
    But Beatrice did not touch the teacakes that Watson had ordered specially for her. Instead, she wrapped them in her handkerchief and put them in an enormous handbag, almost the size of a medical bag. Watson didn’t seem at all surprised at this.
    John paid the bill, and they all got up to leave. “Off to Berkeley Square, then,” Beatrice said, with a sigh of resignation. “It’s every bit of ten miles. . . .”
    â€œCab there, and I’ll put you in a cab home,” Watson promised, and went out to hail a vehicle that could carry all of them. Beatrice looked a bit more mollified.
    â€œWell,” the older lady said, when they were all settled inside an old-fashioned hackney carriage of the kind that had brought the four of them to Chelsea. “I suppose I should explain to you two youngsters that I’m a witch.”
    â€œEarth Magician,” Watson said, with a weary sort of inflection as if he was used to making that correction.
    â€œYou call it what you want, dearie,” Beatrice said, patting his hand. “I’ll call it what my mam, and my great-grandmam, and
her
great-grandmam, and so on back to Ireland called it. We’re witches. It runs in the family.” She gave him a stern sort of look, silently admonishing him not to correct her anymore. “Now, the problem Johnny and dearMary have is that nothing they can summon is going to be able to give them any advice about what’s inside Number 10. But the creatures I can talk to might, if they’re not too frightened. And Berkeley Square has enough clean ground in the park there should still be some in residence.” She lifted her bag off her lap slightly. “I can’t summon them, but I can call them, and they’ll come for teacakes.”
    â€œEarth Elementals don’t stray much from their homes, do they?” Mary asked.
    Beatrice shook her head. “Not unless they are forced to. The ones there will have been there for several centuries at least, and the thing in Number 10 can’t seem to go outside those four walls, so it’s likely that while they are afraid of it, as well they should be, they won’t have been forced to flee. They’ll simply avoid Number 10 and the area around it for a good distance.”
    Nan knew enough about the Elementals by now to realize why neither John nor Mary had summoned their own creatures to give them information about Number 10. There wasn’t enough water in or near the house for John to get any information from his, and the Air Elementals that Mary could summon were . . . flighty. They easily forgot things that had happened a mere month ago, and as for decades, well, that was out of the question. But Earth Elementals prided themselves on their long memories, and generally were happy to share information if they knew it.
    â€œThe thing in Number 10 didn’t seem able to leave the four walls of the building,” Sarah offered. “At least when we encountered it, once we were outside, we were safe. And I think if it
could
have followed us, it certainly
would
have.”
    Beatrice glanced at Sarah sharply. “Oh . . . so you two were
those
little girls.” She paused for a long moment, biting her lip.
    â€œNeither we nor Memsa’b and Sahib ever found out who was behind luring us to that place, either,” Nan said crossly. “Though it might be just as well. I think Karamjit or Selim might have taken the law into their own hands if they had.”
    â€œWell . . . it was a long time ago,” Beatrice said slowly. “And there’s a lot that isn’t mine to tell. But I can promise you that theperson responsible for