‘Destabilisation in this region could have the severest consequences for the whole of Europe.’
The exchange was followed by an awkward silence. The Tisza River was huge, fast and muddy. We stared at a dead sheep among the flotsam surging by. Miss Durham broke the silence,
‘Now in turn let me ask you, why are you here with summer just over the horizon? And how can I be helpful?’
I launched into a detailed account, how we had been commissioned by Berne University to investigate the background of a potential member of the faculty by the name of Albert Einstein. We had not met the young man but we had met his Serb wife Mileva and their baby son Hans Albert. I told her Mileva’s younger sister Rózsika had hung back, too shy to approach us. I showed the two notes and explained how Holmes had deduced “Titel” was a small town in Serbia but we had drawn a complete blank on “Lieserl”. We had scoured official records in Novi-Sad with no results. The unexpected arrival of tickets for Zorka’s Magical Marionette Show with its dramatic plot. Finally, I handed Miss Durham the inscribed stone which had led us to the discovery of the tiny skeleton at a haunted house in Titel.
She looked up from the painting. ‘And now?’ she asked.
‘We have no idea how to proceed,’ I replied.
‘You say the skeleton was that of a girl of perhaps 20 months of age?’
‘Within two or three months either way, yes.’
‘And she was choked to death?’
‘Yes.’
‘And the burial was to say the least hastily done?’
I nodded.
Miss Durham went on, ‘It’s not unknown in this part of the world for a palsied baby to be put to death. ’She was silent for several minutes. Then she asked, ‘Are you at all au fait with the law here - based as it is on Roman law?’ she asked.
We admitted we had little or no familiarity with local laws.
‘Then I shall tell you the laws of Serbia. If the mother kills a child when it is less than twelve months old, the court will rule she has done so while her equilibrium remained disturbed from giving birth. If the child is killed after the age of twelve months, by the mother or anyone else, it’s deemed murder. The penalty is death. In Belgrade the culprit would be taken to a place unfrequented by the public and shot. In the towns and villages like Novi-Sad or Titel the shooting would take place in public.’
Miss Durham looked at me with a slight lift of her eyebrows. ‘Are you now quite as surprised to find you can discover no trace of documents or anybody who will talk?’
She dipped the paint brush into a blob of suitably reptilian green paint. ‘Dr. Watson, you have, no doubt, described the sequence of events correctly, but there is one point which you have failed to include.’
I was startled at her remonstrance. ‘I am sure I - I...’ I stammered.
‘I heard you met someone connected to the Marić family.’
‘Ah that, yes, Jelena,’ I confessed. ‘I did leave her out - but for good reason.’
‘Which is?’ came the query.
‘That despite crossing her palm with gold we learnt nothing.’ I shrugged ruefully. ‘Unless, Miss Durham, it’s of interest to anyone what small gifts Mileva made to Einstein.’
She withdrew the brush sharply from the canvas. ‘Why should the woman give you that particular information?’
‘Perhaps to avoid telling us anything of importance,’ I hazarded.
‘And these gifts Mileva made to Einstein?’ Miss Durham asked.
‘Shirts. She told us Mileva gave Einstein shirts. She burst into song, in fact.’
‘And gave you the English translation?’
I nodded. Miss Durham stared from one to other of us. She bent down and put the snake-eyed skink into a small box out of the warm sun.
‘Were the words, “In Banok and Bjelopavlice. She called to everyone. To everyone she gave a shirt”?’
‘Why yes,’ I replied.
‘And it was definitely Mileva she referred to? Mileva gave Einstein the shirts? You are certain of that?’
‘Without any doubt.’
I pointed at Holmes. ‘My good friend here will tell you I take assiduous notes.’
Her face took on a curious expression. The paintbrush went back into the jar. ‘And you have no idea what this particular gift means?’
Without waiting for my reply she went on, ‘I can tell you. To say a woman gave a man a shirt means she had intimate relations with him. Out of wedlock. We would call her a woman of loose morals, a ‘clergyman’s daughter’.’
She retrieved the skink and paint brush and turned back to the canvas. ‘Gentlemen, I want to finish this before the light changes.’
As we left, Miss Durham called out, ‘Mr. Holmes, can I ask you two favours in return for any help I have managed to provide - the George Edalji case. I have been following it. When you get back to London, could you look into the matter? The man has been accused of writing menacing letters and slashing ponies. His father was a Parsi. I believe him to be completely innocent. And secondly, before you return to Berne I would like you to take a small gift from me to a Father Florus at a small church not far from here, Our Lady Among The Rocks.’
She reached into a capacious bag and brought out a tin of sausages and another of pears. She dipped back into the bag. Out came a small book of Verlaine’s poetry.
‘And this too. By special request of the Father,’ she added.
I returned to take possession of the slim volume and tins. ‘Is the church far?’ I enquired dubiously.
‘Think of Bunyan,’ she replied ominously. “When I came to the foot of the hill called Difficulty, I met with a very aged man, who asked me what I was, and whither bound. I told him that I am a pilgrim, going to the Celestial City”.’She added, ‘You will discover how poor the roadways are here, in their world - after all, a road that will serve a cart will serve the rapacious Turk and his artillery.’
With a farewell wave she called out, ‘Gentlemen, I wish you in bocca al lupo!- the best of luck. You swim in dangerous waters. The moment you fit the pieces together, I suggest you waste no time in quitting the Balkans. What you may discover will leave you vulnerable to revenge. Desperate to avoid family disgrace, Miloš Marić will offer a reward to any passing hajduci to take care of you. You are out of danger only while he believes you have discovered nothing.’
She added, without a trace of a smile, ‘though if the worst happens you may rely on me to publish your obituaries in The Times.’
Unperturbed, my comrade responded, ‘In which eventuality, Miss Durham, it would be good of you to deliver my head to a James Mortimer, House-surgeon.’
‘Address?’
‘The Charing Cross Hospital. During the Baskerville affair he took a cast of my head and made me promise him the pukka one in the course of time.’
At this we thanked her for her help and picked up our fishing rods. I was eager to commence. Chub, carp and barbell in the Tisza were said to match a trout for speed, and surpass it for power.
We were some yards away when she called after us a second time: ‘Mr. Holmes, the name of the puppet show, tell me again?’
I replied in Holmes’s stead. ‘Zorka’s Magical Marionette Show.’
‘And Einstein’s sister-in-law - her first name?’
‘Rózsika.’
On the breeze Miss Durham’s words came to us. ‘That would be her full Christian name. Down here her family and friends would use the popular term of endearment for Rózsika.’
‘What would that be?’ I called back.
‘Zorka.’
Out of earshot of this most remarkable woman I grasped Holmes’s elbow.