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Mrs Houston drew herself up to her full height, which was not greatly impressive. “I don't take kindly to insults.”
Holms jumped up and took the old lady by the hand before escorting her to a chair at the table. “Please ignore the Doctor and take a seat. I need to look into the mind of the older woman.”
“Why on Earth would you want to do that?
“Because I need to know what power an older woman could have over a chap like Jimmy Henderson.”
“Oh, that again,” she said dismissively.
“We have eliminated Liverpool, Spain and Tom Balfour, which only leaves the older woman, and he has been seen in the company of one.”
Mrs Houston didn’t seem greatly impressed at this news. “Has he? Who is she?”
“She has not been identified yet,” Holms admitted.
“And you think this strapping lad has been kidnapped by a poor old woman?
“Perhaps not kidnapped, perhaps seduced,” Holms surmised.
“Seduced?”
“I told you earlier, he has a soft spot for older women.”
“The dirty devil,” I offered, immediately offending Mrs Houston.
“A young man can have a soft spot for older
women without there being anything vulgar involved.”
Holms clapped his hands. “That is precisely the kind of insight I'm looking for.”
Mrs Houston cast me a disparaging glance. “It helps nobody when filthy-minded devils like the Doctor here are making assumptions.”
But I could not take that aspersion lying down. “Oh come now, Mrs Houston, I am a medical man, you can't expect me to believe that Henderson has gone off with this old floozy for tea and buns.”
“Assumptions, mere assumptions,” Mrs Houston replied.
“The question is,” Holms asked, “do older women have lustful feelings towards younger men?”
Mrs Houston looked quite shocked. “Mr Holms, what kind of question is that to ask a lady?”
“It is a known fact that the female libido …” I began, only to be cut off curtly by the old lady. “Ladies do not have those.”
Holms attempted to placate her. “I know that I am asking a great deal of you, Mrs Houston, and that you must find it distasteful, but we must consider that the woman with Henderson was no lady.”
“Well, perhaps you should question a woman of that sort.”
“Unfortunately we don't have one available,” Holms confessed. “You must stretch your imagination, Mrs Houston, and imagine the thoughts of such a person.”
“I'm sure I'm not capable of such a thing,” our landlady whined.
“Can you even understand an older woman being attracted to a younger man?” Holms probed.
“Not in the way you imply, no,” Mrs Houston said.
Holms shook his head in dismay. “And yet I can envisage older men being attracted to younger women.”
Mrs Houston curled her lip. “Well, that's easily explained, men are basically immoral.”