• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

“ ‘There are two scenarios we can deduce from the facts as we know them,” I said. “One, that William would indeed honour his professed love for Anya: once they had picked up the ransom money, Bruce would leave the island by some other means, and William would spirit Anya off to India – ’ ”

“And the other?”

“ ‘The other,’ I said, ‘is that William and Bruce were not the gentlemen you assumed; that they booked tickets for the two of them and planned to leave Anya here while they escaped with your £5,000.’ ”

“ ‘And which’, asked Trevor, ‘do you suppose is the truth?’ ”

“I made a hopeless gesture. ‘I would like to think, for Anya’s peace of mind, that William intended to take her with him …’ ”

“Trevor stared into the heavens, his countenance racked by anguish. ‘Whichever,’ said he, ‘the company cannot have the truth of the matter spread far and wide! Why, the scandal … You must promise me, Holmes, that your lips are sealed.’ ”

“ ‘My friend,’ said I, ‘you have my assurance that I will breathe a word of the matter to no one.’ ”

Mr Sherlock Holmes paused to refill his pipe. “There the matter ended,” said he. “And, but for this letter, the details of the case might never have been known.”

“What did Trevor tell the company?”

Holmes inclined his aquiline head. “I advised him to destroy the spurious ransom note, and concoct a tale whereby the brothers went one morning to check the storage shed, were bitten by a snake or somesuch, and succumbed before they might summon help. Their bodies were accidentally locked in the shed and thus the tragedy went undiscovered for six long months.”

“And what became of Anya?” I enquired.

“Ever the romantic, Watson!” Holmes smiled at me. “When I returned in ‘94, Anya was working for Trevor on his estate, and her son was a fit and healthy six year old. I even, you will be astonished to learn, left a certain sum in trust to go towards the upbringing and education of the boy.”

His eyes twinkled at me as he reached for the bottle.

“Would you care for another brandy, Watson?” he asked.

The Adventure of the Fallen Star

Simon Clark

Holmes was never comfortable in the company of women. There is no evidence that he spent any social time with Watson and his wife after their marriage except for the very occasional call forced upon him by business. Only once did Holmes meet a woman whom he believed was his intellectual equal, and that was Irene Adler, whose case is recounted in “A Scandal in Bohemia”.

It was after this case that Watson became closely involved with Holmes again, suggesting that either the gloss of his marriage had started to dull, or that Mary Morstan was remarkably understanding. For a period Holmes was involved in a number of small cases many of which he felt were important but lacked interest. Some were clearly bizarre. He refers to the Dundas separation case in which the husband had developed the habit of hurling his false teeth at his wife after every meal. None of these cases appear to have been written up, either because Watson was not around or Holmes rapidly lost interest in them. All that is, except one, “The Adventure of the Fallen Star”. This began as one of those minor cases, which Holmes almost overlooked when he became wrapped up in “A Case of Identity”, but soon after events unravelled themselves which presented Holmes a singularly unusual case. Its facts were unearthed by Simon Clark.

“My dear fellow, you are puzzled; admit it,” demanded Sherlock Holmes, as we sat side-by-side in the four-wheeler being briskly driven through the maelstrom of foot, hoof and wheel that is the Strand on a Friday noon.

“Indeed I am, Holmes.” I held up the stone, no larger than a grape, that he’d not two moments before handed to me. “You pass me a little pebble and ask me what I make of it.”

“Yes.”

“Well, I confess I make nothing of it.” I smiled and shook my head. “Nothing at all.”

“Ha! That’s because although you look, you do not observe. Remember, Watson: detail, detail, detail.”

“It has, I take it, a bearing on a case