‘Inside, it was as if nothing had happened.
‘My employees fled and a crowd of people from neighbouring shops gathered round me. The whole of the Commercial Centre was there. Everyone was terrified, confused, bewildered, dismayed. Some of those present had caught a brief glimpse of the apparition. They were now describing it to the others who, in their turn, were torn between fear and curiosity.
‘Someone said to sprinkle holy water inside the shop and conduct prayers.
‘The more courageous went in with me and, again, the shop was searched. And yet again, nothing and nobody.
‘The third day was the eve of the opening of the Great Fair.
‘Ignoring my pleas, my employees flatly refused to enter the shop. Holy water had to be sprinkled, religious rites had to be carried out, before they relented. I had also taken the precaution of asking the help of the Chief of Detectives. Two detectives were assigned to the shop. They searched it thoroughly before I locked up, tested the floor and walls, but found nothing.
‘It was only after I switched off the lights and put the locks on the door that the two detectives themselves and my employees stepped back in horror from the display window through which they had been peering.
‘“It’s a corpse!” someone screamed in an inhuman voice.
‘My hair stood on end.
‘There in the shop, I saw a large coffin, inside which a loathsome skeleton sat, holding on to the edges with skeletal fingers. The others told me that I had missed the part when the lid of the coffin fell open and the skeleton sat up.
‘The shroud no longer covered it.
‘And then the skeleton suddenly bounded out of the coffin, and once on its feet, began a frenzied dance. Next, a thick column of smoke blew out of the coffin and everything vanished as if by magic.’
III
Ivan Vladimirovitch Terehoff fell silent and asked for a drink.
‘A drop of port is just what is called for,’ said Sherlock Holmes, and poured him a drink.
Terehoff reached for the glass and drained it.
‘Your story intrigues me more and more by the minute,’ said the English detective. ‘Do go on.’
‘I think I got to the point where the apparition vanished,’ Terehoff resumed his account. ‘My employees made themselves scarce. I screwed up what little courage I had left and, together with the two detectives, we re-entered the shop.
‘This time we actually raised the floor but, again, found nothing suspicious.
‘It was midnight before I returned home. I felt beaten, racked by evil forebodings.
‘My wife, thoroughly frightened by all these happenings tried, for the third time, to convince me that the place was cursed, that it would bring bad luck, and I should move my shop elsewhere.
‘The appearance of the coffin she regarded with superstitious awe.
‘As for me, I have to admit that I found it all horribly oppressive. All through the night, I was pursued by nightmares in which countless coffins appeared. In my waking hours, I was distracted by melancholia. My heart ached constantly.
‘I hated the thought of abandoning the familiar surroundings in which I had traded so long.
‘Those of us whose business lies in the Commercial Centre can depend on regular trade there. Anyone would have to look long and hard and yet not find anything as well suited for that purpose.
‘There was a vacancy at the other end of the arcade, but it was too small for me and, besides, surrounded by smaller stalls that all but hid it from view. The rest of the Commercial Centre was occupied by well-established firms. It was unlikely any one of them would be available in time for the opening.
‘I decided to sit it out.
‘My old shop assistants flatly refused to continue working for me. I had to find new ones.
‘I found only two fellows brave enough to work for me, and they demanded double wages. Since I didn’t know them personally, I had to make enquiries about them.
‘One of them had worked a year for some major manufacturer, but had been dismissed for bring rude. His name was Simon Reshkin. The other was an Englishman, Smith Copton. He had worked for a Russian bank some time ago, but resigned in high dudgeon. A large sum of money had gone missing and he had objected to being searched. Quite a few employees had been searched and they’d not made a fuss over it. But this proud Englishman had taken umbrage. He had been held in high esteem by his superiors, who had tried to talk him into staying, but he left nevertheless.
‘Since then things had been hard for him, but he preferred to eke out a living from the little money he had saved. Anything, not to work at a job in which he would be treated badly again.
‘He was particularly recommended by the director of the bank in which he had been employed.
‘The Englishman didn’t immediately agree to work for me.
‘It was only when I told him the whole story of the apparition, that he announced, with a grin, that he was drawn out of curiosity and a desire to earn his fare home.
‘The Great Nijni-Novgorod Fair opened.
‘We opened up in the morning and had just taken our places, when all three were forced to flee as though driven mad.
‘It was the smell.
‘Not just an ordinary sort of stink. This was a loathsome, acidic smell which caused our heads to spin and bile to rise in our throats.
‘It wasn’t that the smell was strong. Its effect was awful, so awful that we couldn’t stay inside the shop, nor even stand beside it in the arcade. It seemed to have penetrated every nook and cranny. It filled the air.
‘Customers approaching the shop or walking past it seemed to break out in some kind of paroxysm followed by headlong flight, holding on to their noses, cursing.
‘Our neighbours, reacting to the fuss, ran out of their shops and then, at a distance, yelled at us to lock our jinxed shop and get the hell out of there.
‘The fuss grew by the minute.
‘At the risk of passing out, I got to the door, slammed it and locked it shut.
‘The noise brought the police. The senior of them, when what had happened had been explained to him, lost his temper. “What’s going on here!” he shouted. “Everyone else is behaving normally but here, as if on purpose, there’s all these senseless goings-on.”
‘I tried to justify myself, but he refused to listen.
‘I unlocked the door for him, but before he could go in, he backed away as if scalded, holding his nose. “What are you up to?” he screamed at me. “What have you been sprinkling inside?”
‘But I could only tell him what I knew.
‘Both shop assistants confirmed my story and the police officer drew up a protocol.
‘To determine what the odour was, a chemist and a doctor were summoned, but the moment they poked their noses inside, they rushed out, as though driven mad.
‘Retreating some distance from the door, they stared at each other with bulging eyes, spat and finally announced they had never come across such a foul smell in either chemistry or medicine.
‘Neither of my assistants being prepared to enter the shop, it became necessary to call out the fire brigade. They smashed the windows leading out on to the street. When the air inside had cleared somewhat, they came in to determine the source of the foul odour. Even though the shop had been ventilated somewhat, they couldn’t stay long. Emerging, they said that the odour came from the outer facing of one of the counters. The counter was then smashed and the pieces thrown out. But there were horses outside. They began to breathe hoarsely and then took to headlong flight, dragging their carriages with them … followed by the curses of the coachmen.