Mike Ashley - The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures

"Do not be so sure, Meyer," my friend said quietly, his lean figure bending down to pick up Meyer's tuba.

It was from there, deep and safe within the confines of the bell, that he plucked a sheet of paper. I caught a brief glimpse of a familiar and illustrious crest before Holmes whisked it from our sight. "It is Sunday, Watson. But somehow I think Sir George will forgive us if two informally dressed visitors call upon him at his home."

Jubilee Day promised little sunshine as Holmes and I took our places in the seats reserved for us at a window in Whitehall. The grey old road, however, was ablaze with colour, both from the decorations and the scarlet coats of the soldiers lining the route.

"You have not explained, Holmes, how it was you picked upon the very place where the fateful meeting was to take place."

"A matter of deduction, my dear fellow. Meyer could not be found in London. Constabularies the country over had been instructed to watch for him. Useless. He could not appear there or in London in his own guise."

"But he made no attempt to disguise his heavy beard and figure."

"The best disguise is in the eye of the observer, not the face of the quarry. You saw a tuba player; I saw what I expected. Meyer simply absorbed himself into the part of the bandsman."

"Excellent, Holmes."

"Not at all. Once one recalled the man's passion, it was merely a question of scanning the programme for suitable venues. I have listened to many execrable brass bands in the course of the last week. For a violin player it was torment."

Fortunately the sudden noise from the crowd distracted his attention from my involuntary smile.

As the Colonial troops began to pass the sun shone out at last, and "Queen's weather" blessed us for the rest of that memorable day. After the Colonial contingent came the advance guard of the Royal procession. The mass of colour, scarlet, gold, purple and emerald, was followed by an open carriage drawn by eight cream-coloured horses. In it, sat a small figure, clad in black, with touches of grey, quite still under a white sunshade. Gone now was any desire to feast the eye on dazzling colour; for a moment the crowd was silent, even the sound of the horses' hooves could be heard. The carriage had no escort; nothing could come between Her Majesty and her people. Then the roars of the spectators rose to the sky.

Holmes's eyes followed the carriage as it made its way along Whitehall." I am told that when in due course circumstances permit, I may expect a knighthood."

"Holmes, my dear fellow, that is no more than you deserve," I replied warmly.

"You are mistaken, Watson. I shall, should a knighthood be offered, be obliged to refuse it."

"Refuse, Holmes?" I was astounded." Surely such an honour can be nothing but welcome."

He brushed this aside with a smile. "You know my methods, Watson. I would consider the majority of my cases more suitable to be worthy of such an honour than this present affair. As an exercise in the pure logic of deduction it has proved disappointingly simple."

"Simple, Holmes?" I rebutted this argument energetically. "With such an enemy, and so much at stake?"

"Yet the game so narrowly won." We watched as the carriage finally disappeared from our view. "No, Watson, they may keep

their honours, and I shall continue to remain Their present and future Majesties' most loyal and faithful retainer, Mr Sherlock Holmes."

By 1898 the number of Holmes's recorded cases seemed to be running down. This does not necessarily mean that Holmes was investigating any less, but that Watson was not recording them so avidly. We know that Holmes was often critical of Watson's accounts, sometimes mercilessly so, and he was also very strict over what Watson could publish. The cases towards the end of the century, therefore, were almost certainly more secretive, but also perhaps of less interest in terms of unusual incident. The only ones that Watson did publish were "The Retired Colourman", which overlapped with the unpublished case of the two Coptic patriarchs, and "The Six Napoleons". It is almost certain that during this period Holmes also investigated the disappearance of the cutter Alicia and the fate of Isadora Persano. I have the papers about that last case but there remain some unresolved details which make it as yet unready for publication.

The change in the century did not diminish Holmes's caseload. Within a week or two of the death of Queen Victoria, Holmes was heavily involved in at least three cases.The first was the Abergavenny Murders. Martin Edwards, a writer who is also a solicitor, was allowed access to old files in the archives of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which enabled him to reconstruct the case. At the same time circumstances arose which allowed Sherlock Holmes to revisit one of his very earliest cases,"The Musgrave Ritual". After considerable research Michael Doyle, who is not related to Watson's agent, or so he tells me, was able to piece together this strange coda, which at last settled matters after over twenty-five years in "The Legacy of Rachel Howells". It also resolves a mystery noted by Conan Doyle himself in his later writings.

"You have arrived just in time, Watson," Holmes said as I returned to 22 lb Baker Street after a stroll one crisp February morning. There was a twinkle in his eye as he added, "I am expecting a visit from that rarest of creatures – a lawyer who is prepared to put his hand in his own pocket, rather than that of one of his clients, to pay for my professional services."

"Wonders never cease, Holmes!" I said lightly. "The circumstances which bring him here must be remarkable indeed."

My friend gave a dry chuckle. "They possess certain features which are of interest. It seems that Mr Matthew Dowling took a young man into his firm believing him to be a Dr Jekyll, but now has reason to fear that he may also be in partnership with a Mr Hyde."

I was delighted to see Holmes in a genial humour. For several months he had been engaged on a series of cases of the utmost consequence and of late his temper had begun to suffer. I regarded this as a warning sign that he might again be putting his health at risk. Some of his investigations had to be conducted in circumstances of the greatest secrecy and it must suffice to say that on one occasion during this period the destiny of a throne depended upon his personal intervention. Other cases excited the attention of the Press and general public throughout the land and I may in due course put them into print. These included the business of the Lincoln seamstress and her extraordinary pets and the conundrum which I have referred to in my notebook as the case of the melancholy wicket-keeper.

The strange features of those puzzles, coupled with the undeniable pleasure Holmes experienced in seeking to succeed, through the rigorous application of logic, where extensive police work had failed, at least meant that he had no need of artificial stimulation. I feared above all that he might resort again to cocaine if boredom threatened. For all that, I was concerned that the nervous energy he had expended would once again take its toll. He was himself aware of the punishing effect on his constitution of the long hours he had been working and in recent weeks a couple of chance remarks had suggested that he was beginning to contemplate retirement. Much as I relished our collaborations, my first concern was his well-being and the eagerness with which I anticipated his response to a fresh challenge was therefore matched by the silent hope that it would not tax him beyond endurance.

"So your new client has a junior partner who leads a double life?" I asked.