The Silver Blaze Fiddle
"First, the debt must be fraught."
That is easy: his second wife's tastes will have brought it.
"Next, his loyalty naught."
That is easy: the prize for lost race will have bought it.
~0~
"Make sure sentry won't shout!"
That is easy, with drugged dish of mutton on table.
"Take the trusting horse out!"
That is easy, for only a dog guards the stable.
~0~
"Now bring forth the knife!"
That is easy, and will not take more than a second.
"Lame the poor beast for life!"
Ah, that is much harder than villain had reckoned!
~0~
For unlike the sheep,
The flare of a match earned a hoof to his head.
As ye sow, so ye reap:
Far swifter than racehorse was Straker's life sped.
To The Real World
"T'was a case of claim-jumping, sir," Sherlock Holmes said
To Robert St. Simon, forlorn newly-wed.
"Let the lady explain her decision to flee,
Then dine with the Moultons, the Doctor, and me!"
~0~
But St. Simon departed, allowing the four
To partake of a supper sat three hours or more:
Pâté pie, five cold game birds, fine vintage from cellar –
And spend the next week with acute salmonella.
A/N: Let's see, the food arrived on the table at six o'clock, and the party dined after nine... Three hours is more than enough time for unrefrigerated goose liver and poultry to become a health hazard! We have to assume Mrs. Hudson was away that evening, as she'd be an old hand at keeping food edible over long periods. The poor Moultons, though... 'In sickness and in health', indeed!
