"The great Lorenzo. I begin to see. I have been a fool, Watson. A fool."
"It is a fine portrait," I said, puzzled as to his meaning.
"Ah, but it speaks of more than paint, my friend."
"Of what then?"
"Of murder. Do you not agree, Mr Anthony?"
The young man looked taken aback. "Not the Medicis, Mr Holmes. The Borgias are famed for murder."
"The Medicis too. It was not their love of the arts that kept them alive to enjoy their power."
Lord Holdhurst was impatient. "History can surely wait, Mr Holmes."
"I fear you are wrong," Holmes replied.
His lordship looked irritated. "The evening has been planned carefully with His Majesty's safety in mind."
"And with his murder," Holmes said gravely.
"But where lies the danger?" his lordship cried.
"Here!"
Holmes whirled round and seized the antique ring from its box. "Mr Anthony," he cried, "you chose this ring, did you not? Put it on your finger, if you please."
Reluctantly, obviously thinking he must humour Holmes, he obeyed, drawing it on slowly.
"Now, Mr Anthony, I will shake your hand." Holmes advanced to him with his own outstretched.
The young man drew back, white-faced, drawing the ring off his finger. "You shall not." He backed hastily, turned and fled along the corridor.
"Watson, tell the guards to hold him," Holmes shouted.
I obeyed instantly, and it was the work of a minute or two before Anthony was held securely by two constables. When I returned, I saw Count Panelli had joined the astonished and annoyed Lord Holdhurst.
"Kindly inform me of what my secretary stands accused, Mr Holmes," he said icily.
"That ring—Count Panelli, I really would not risk your life by examining it too closely."
It was hastily replaced in its box by the nervous count.
"The Medicis," Holmes explained, "required protection against their enemies. They needed to kill by stealth however, and the gift of a ring to an enemy whom they wished to die a particularly unpleasant death by poison was one such method. The ring slides on to the finger, but if the wearer's hand is clasped and pressure applied in one particular spot, a needle shoots out that will kill instantly. I think you will find that this is such a ring."
"My secretary betrayed me?" Lord Holdhurst sat down, looking his full age for the first time. "He wished to assassinate the King? I cannot believe this."
"Lestrade's telegraph confirmed my suspicions. Mr Anthony speaks fluent Italian, the result of his having an Italian—or as he would say a Sicilian—mother. She is the sister of Giuseppe Rupallo, but before becoming your secretary Mr Anthony worked in Paris for Count Litvov. I think you will find he is behind this whole plan, no doubt with Rupallo's full support. For once Russian interests coincided with the Italian anarchists, the latter to throw Italian unity into civil warfare, the former to cause a rift between Italy and England."
"I understand now about Anthony and Rupallo, but how can you know that Litvov was involved?" Lord Holdhurst asked.
Holmes smiled. "The ring. The stone has been replaced. It is alexandrite, the stone precious to Russia alone and the Tsar in particular, and a gem that was only discovered earlier this century. It was Litvov's arrogant signature to the crime."
"And yet it betrayed him."
"How?" I asked, bewildered.
"By day alexandrite is green. By candlelight however it appears red. Blood red. 'Blood will be seen again today.' The death of poor Mandesi was to make us think that the assassination attempt had failed, hence the note; but this ring—that was the symbol of blood."
"My dear Mr Holmes, how can I thank you?" Lord Holdhurst said. "Litvov would undoubtedly have revealed the cause of the King's death if this terrible plan had worked. If Her Majesty's gift were known to have been the instrument of the murder, I hesitate to think what would have happened."
"I imagine," said Holmes, "that Her Majesty would not be pleased."
"But she has no gift to present now," Count Panelli said anxiously, after adding his thanks to Lord Holdhurst's. "That will not please her either."
Holmes thought for a moment. "Might I suggest that you find a length of the purest white silk, upon it place two green leaves and between them the stone from this ring—extracted with care of course. Red, green and white, the colours of the Italian flag, symbol of a united Italy, and most disquieting for Count Litvov to see a Russian stone presented to the King as a gift. A most fitting conclusion to a most appetising banquet of a case."
The Specter of Tullyfane Abbey
by Peter