Chapter 6: Discovery

Holmes for once was fairly contented; he sat carefully cleaning each of his pipes in turn. The resemblance of his pipe rack to a rifle rack did not escape him, nor did the dutiful act of cherishing a precise machine. His mind started to drift back to his days in the Sudan...

"Beggin' pardon Mr 'Olmes, but Mr 'Ove is here and 'es somewhat impatient to see you."

Ned's eyes refocused on Nancy.

"By all means bid him in..."

Nancy walked back to the door softly cursing her vacant-eyed employer. "E's an odd 'un alright Nance!"

Thirty seconds later any semblance of peace in Holmes's office was shattered.

"Well Ned! What is our plan, are we readied for battle?"

Holmes grimaced and lifted a straightened finger over his pursed lips.

"Ah, quite so," whispered Brighton, "Walls, ears, and all that. So what brilliant wheeze have you dreamt up?

"None."

Brighton stared, slack-jawed "None? You mean..."

"I mean this is one event we cannot plan for, we have to react - and quickly as events develop." Holmes replied.

"Good Lord above!" Hove's brow furrowed. "Is that not dashed dangerous?"

"It is, but alas it is also our only recourse. We do not know how the three of them will proceed."

"Three of them? Three of who?"

"The three Daughters of Sappho we have under this roof."

"Three? I count only two, Nance and Norma surely there are no more..."

"You choose to ignore Emily," Holmes sighed, "she is not as recovered as she would portray; I checked on her bedchamber this past night, and sadly it was vacated."

"I'll be jiggered, you entered her bedchamber uninvited, what if she had been there, worse still - had she awoken?"

"Well it was a risk, but as we now know a worthwhile one. We have a coven of the Daughter's here within 221b," Ned's face darkened,

"And they will have been plotting. This is our only guide." Holmes's hand settled on Forty's diary.

Hove said nothing; he merely stared at Holmes stony-faced.

She walked along the passageway at a steady pace; carefully Sybil counted the gateways she passed. She was certain this was the one, the figures 221b were mounted high on the gate post. She slipped into the well kept garden and made straight for the scullery door. As arranged, it was open. Once inside she made her way to the kitchen and emptied her reticule on to the table. The collected items sat in a pile, nothing remarkable about any one of them, but the green irradiance they threw off into the room was burgeoning on intense.

Sybil turned to face the creak of the kitchen door, she beamed at

Nancy and Nony.

"The trap is set, and soon our prey will be ensnared." The three women embraced and kissed languidly, small intimate sounds issued as their hands snaked through crumpled clothing. As Nancy bared Sybil's right breast, the bell for the front door twitched on its spring and rang three times. Nancy covered Sybil and resumed a more controlled air,

"The game is afoot, Sybil if you will allow Florisa entry...

With some reluctance Sybil obeyed. At that precise moment she would have rather obeyed the itch in her loins, but she knew Nancy was right. It was time.

Nancy for her part returned to her foreplay, and after stoking

Nony's cheek her cool fingers sought out the girl's warm breasts. The touch brought Nony on to her tip toes and her nipples to tight erectness.

Sybil walked through the strange house cursing her luck, but she knew that for the plan to work, it must be the most experienced that confronted Holmes and Hove to concentrate the power. Her heart was in her throat as she crossed the last few yards of tiled hallway, swinging the door open as she welcomed the two uninvited guests.

Florisa walked into the hallway as if she owned it, behind her trailed

Jessica, she held tightly on to her matron's hand. The door was quietly closed and the group waited, soon their guide arrived. She led the group onwards and opened a door ushering them in.

"My thanks," said Sybil as she grazed Emily's lips with hers.

The two men in the room rose with some shock from the volume they had been avidly scouring.

Holmes spoke, "Ah, I see you are going for the headlong approach?

Bravery or tom-foolery; I wonder at you Mrs Bellinger."

Florisa smiled, "I saw no need for any other approach, you are ... merely men after all."

"Damned impertinence!" Hove gushed, before he was restrained by

Ned's hand on his forearm.

"Men we are indeed, but we are men who have seen the hardship of battle in the Sudan. There is little for us to fear now." Holmes stated.

"Little indeed, except fear itself. What if I could take away your reputation and power at a stroke - if I, a lowly woman could send you, rightly to gaol."

Anger got the better of Hove, he wrestled away from Holmes and made directly for Florisa. Sybil immediately stepped forward, in her hand she held a hairpin. "Mr Hove, that is most ungallant of you! I strongly suggest you take a seat and calm down. Now!"

Despite himself Brighton turned abruptly, walked stiffly back to his seat and sat. "Well I'll be jiggered!" he looked at Holmes in confusion.

Holmes nodded, "I see the gloves are off. What is it you and the

Daughters want?" Ned stiffened his back, "You must surely know we will not give up lightly. It is our sole intent to disband you."

"Of you we want nothing, no more than we do of any man. Soon you will be in no position to cause us harm." Said Florrie, before turning to Sybil, "Fetch the Reverend and the others and return with them. I want all the sisters to witness our victory."

On her third attempt, Sybil found the correct bedroom. She saw the

Reverend on his knees in prayer. Fortesque struggled to his feet,

"No. I will not be tempted again, leave me alone woman!"

Sybil took one further step before tilting her head down and looking at the floor. "I have come for your forgiveness and understanding. I know that I have sinned, and worse still I have corrupted you, a man of the cloth. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me? Are you a man of charity?"

Forty looked directly at Sybil. "Yes, I am a man of charity ... Yet you have done things that are beyond the pale, an abomination before both God and Nature!" the placid Reverend summoned his will, "Now, begone!" He raised his fist as if this were a direct commandment from the mount.

Sybil visibly crumbled and threw herself at the old Reverend's feet.

"Forgive me Fortesque, that sinful creature was not me; I was under a corrupt influence..."

Forty wavered in his conviction, he knelt beside Sybil's sobbing form. "If you truly are repentant, I may be able to assist. Confess to me and absolve your soul." He reached out a hand and brushed her long hair away from her face; the pin was revealed! The Reverend recoiled and tried to stand, it was too late, once again he was in its thrall.

Sybil rose from the floor triumphantly. "My plaything once more," she cooed, "Come Fortesque, you are invited to witness our final victory and the true foundation of the Daughters in England!" Forty rose and staggered along behind Sybil, he barely registered the other women gathered in the corridor. Obediently he followed them. The tears streaming down his face was the only outward sign of his resistance.

Florisa smiled as the girls returned to the room, staggering behind them was the shambling form of the Reverend Fortesque Magdalen-

Chalmondesleigh. Florrie addressed the room.

"At last we are all assembled, now you men will finally realise the power of the Daughters; you will live to regret taking offence at the peccadillo we take delight in!"

Holmes spoke calmly in reply, but he could not keep a sneer from his voice or indeed his face. "It is not the peccadillo of your preferred love we despise. It is the theft of the free-will of these women.

They, as you, were not free to choose sapphism. I, and others in this room, will always stand full square behind freedom." Ned smiled coldly, "Freedom, choice - are they concepts you are still familiar with Bellinger?"

"Freedom, you talk to us of freedom! What freedom do we have in this male dominated society? We have none - but we shall, now we have uncovered a mechanism." Replied Florrie.

Holmes guffawed his derision, "Found a mechanism? You have been usurped by the mechanism, you are its slaves; I wonder if any of you know of the true power behind the Daughters."

Sybil interjected, "You will not laugh at us soon Mr Holmes, will he

Florrie?"

"Indeed not, soon you men will be the slaves of your new desires; whilst our love is a mere peccadillo, yours will be a disgrace. It will mean ruin and imprisonment for you all!" Florisa snarled, "The love of one woman for another is tolerated; of one man for another it is a cardinal sin. Yet that shall be your desire; your only desire."