The Oriental Casebook Of Sherlock Holmes Part 1

THE ORIENTAL CASEBOOK.

OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.

THE ORIENTAL CASEBOOK OF.

Sherlock Holmes.

Nine Adventures from the Lost Years.

Ted Riccardi.

PREFACE.

FOR ALMOST TWO DECADES, I HAVE BEEN AWARE OF the great public interest that surrounds the lost years of Sherlock Holmes. Indeed, those Wanderjahre between his disappearance at the Reichenbach Falls and his return in the case of Ronald Adair have occasioned much speculation in the press as well as in literary circles.

It is only now, however, that I am free, with Holmes's expressed permission, to bring before the public what I have termed here The Oriental Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. His adventures in Italy and the rest of Europe still await his final approval and will be published separately.

The cases here described took place or have their origins during those momentous years between 1891 and 1894 when Holmes, unbeknownst to the world, travelled the globe locked in mortal combat with some of his most implacable enemies. He began recounting these events to me shortly after his reappearance in London in 1894. Those first fall and winter months after his return were at times a period of deep melancholia for him, but the narration of the events often provided him with a measure of relief until new challenges from the world of crime made him active once again.

Many of the readers of the following tales will be already familiar with the dramatic circ.u.mstances of Holmes's disappearance in Switzerland and his return to London three years later. They were accurately if not fully reported in the press in Europe as well as in England. The reader unfamiliar with these events may wish to consult my more complete accounts, in what I have ent.i.tled The Final Problem, and The Empty House. These are still in print, and I have little to add to them.

At the risk of dwelling overly on the personal, however, it might be of some use if I add a word here of my own circ.u.mstances and actions after Holmes's disappearance. Those familiar with my previous writings will recall that Holmes and I had journeyed to the Reichenbach Falls, with Moriarty fresh on our heels. Even now as I write, after several decades, the memory of those last few hours still haunts me. As Holmes and I walked towards the falls, a message from our hotel, delivered to us by a young Swiss servant, urgently requested my immediate return. An Englishwoman in the last stages of consumption, it said, had just arrived and had requested the emergency services of an English doctor. Leaving Holmes in the company of the Swiss servant boy, I hurried back. As I returned, I noticed a tall figure striding rapidly along the upper path of the falls, but I thought nothing of it, so intent was I to help a patient who was seriously ill. When I arrived at the hotel, Peter Steiler, the owner, informed me that there was no sick person and that he had sent no message. I realised immediately to my dismay that I had been duped and that the letter was a ruse. I fairly flew back to the falls, but I arrived too late. Holmes was gone; only his Alpine stock was there. A note written by him explained that he surmised that the note was a ruse but that he deemed it better if he confronted Moriarty alone in what he knew to be their inevitable and probably their last meeting. As I gazed over the falls thinking that Holmes had perished in that awful abyss, I was overcome by my own failure to realise that the tall figure who approached as I left was indeed Moriarty himself. Grief-stricken at the loss of the friend I valued most in the world, and filled with remorse at my own obtuseness, I returned to London, where my wife saw me through the first disconsolate days. The only ray of light in the darkness was a visit by Lestrade, who reported on the successful arrest of many of the Moriarty gang. Over forty criminals had been apprehended and scheduled for trial. Unfortunately, several of the inner circle, including Moriarty, had avoided the net and were presumed to have left England. One, Sebastian Moran, Moriarty's chief lieutenant, was also thought to have accompanied him to Switzerland. The others had scattered and were at large.

Despite my wife's ministrations and the distractions of my medical practice, both she and I realised as the days pa.s.sed that something more was needed if I were to recover from my loss. Indeed, it was she who first suggested that I take a trip to the Continent and spend a few weeks exploring places that I had not visited hitherto. I placed my patients in the hands of a trusted a.s.sociate at St. Bart's, and booking pa.s.sage on a steamer bound for Naples, I soon found myself at sea on my way to the Mediterranean.

The stormy Atlantic did nothing to alleviate my sorrow, but after we pa.s.sed through the Strait of Gibraltar, the clouds began to break, and I began to recover that sense of well-being that the sun-starved Londoner experiences when he reaches the warmer climes of the south. The s.h.i.+p, the Albrig, was a Danish freighter bound for Alexandria and Constantinople, with a return in a few weeks to England. I left the s.h.i.+p at Naples and journeyed south along the coast, where I stopped for a time at Ravello. It was here that I received word of James Moriarty's slanderous remarks concerning Holmes and his outlandish defense of his dead brother. Distracted from my sorrow by the gaiety of the Italians and my anger at Moriarty's false account, it was here that I decided to write my own account of those last few days in Switzerland in response.

Upon my return to London I benefited greatly from the many kindnesses of Mycroft, Holmes's older brother. Mycroft invited me to dine with him at the Diogenes Club on several occasions. Though his corpulent appearance was so different from that of Holmes, his mental acuity and habits of mind were so like those of his younger brother that they led me to feel that something of my friend still lived on in our world. On one of these occasions, Mycroft asked that I accompany him to the quarters that I had once shared with Holmes on Baker Street. Before his disappearance, sensing that his meeting with Moriarty might not go entirely according to his desire, Holmes had left Mycroft instructions as to how to dispose of his personal effects, including his papers. Mycroft, among the most physically inactive of men, had decided to leave things as they were for the present, paying Mrs. Hudson the modest rent until such time as his physical energy might rise to the point where he could begin the grim disposition of Holmes's effects. It was my first visit to our quarters since Holmes's disappearance, and my eyes misted over as I entered, half expecting to see my friend sitting in his accustomed place. But he was not there, and the ample tears of Mrs. Hudson on seeing me only confirmed what I then regarded as the greatest loss of my life.

In the spring of 1892, as well as the spring of the following year, I re-visited the Reichenbach Falls. My grief and remorse had dissipated to a great degree, and it is still not entirely clear what inner compulsion made me return to that fearful spot. In part, I think, it was the indeterminate nature of Holmes's death. I harbored no doubts or suspicions that he was anything but dead. For me that was the bitterest of certainties. Beyond his Alpine stock and the note that he had left behind, there was nothing. He was simply gone. The small hope that I would uncover something more of him at the falls, that there would be there still some unnoticed trace after the lapse of so much time, a further clue to exactly what had happened, lingered on, but it was a failed hope. There was nothing but the menacing voice of the falls. And, to speak with the utmost frankness, there was also the small but persistent illusion that I could relive my actions during those last moments and change my decision to leave him, as I had, to confront his archenemy alone. This illusion too went in time.

During those visits, I stayed again at the hotel in Meiringen, and had long conversations with Peter Steiler, especially about those last hours before Holmes disappeared. The figure I saw striding towards the falls was Moriarty, without question, and the young Swiss servant who brought the note to me was obviously in his employ. He had appeared looking for work but the day before. Steiler, thinking that he looked honest enough, hired him on the spot. He did little to confirm the young man's story, however. He knew only what the boy told him, that he came from Bellinzona, the capital of Ticino canton, that his first name was Giacomo, and that he aspired to be a painter. He disappeared without a trace.

In the spring of '94, as the cruel days of April ended and the third anniversary of Holmes's apparent death approached, I decided to remain in England and not to visit the falls again. By now the pa.s.sage of time and the distractions of work had a.s.suaged my grief. I began to allow the full and unguarded return of Holmes's memory without the searing pain that I had felt previously. I experienced anew the interest that I had in crime while he was alive. Whatever else he had done, Holmes had conferred upon me such an interest in crime that I often felt compelled to follow in detail the more sensational cases reported in the London press. My constant companion in these cases was of course Holmes himself, with whom I now once again engaged in fruitful, if imaginary, dialogue. I heard his voice often as he repeated some of his emphatic utterances about his theories and his methods: "You see, Watson, but you do not observe"; "My method, Watson, is based on the detailed a.n.a.lysis of trivia"; "You know my methods, Watson, apply them." Although I had become sufficiently familiar with his methods during our time together, I remained slow in their application. I solved no crime about which I read, nor could I voice convincing opinions about the solutions found by the great sleuths of Scotland Yard, whom Holmes so often deprecated. Without him, the solutions of crime in London fell still to their hands-Lestrade, Tobias Gregson, and Athelney Jones, were still at work, the best of a bad lot, as Holmes had said so often, but necessary nonetheless.

And so, that spring, my attention was directed towards the untimely death of Ronald Adair, the murder of whom had shocked much of London's fas.h.i.+onable society. So engrossed did I become in this awful crime and its details that I ventured even to make a visit to Park Lane, the scene of the crime, compelled, I felt, somehow by Holmes's long influence upon me. I can still remember looking up towards the room where poor Adair had been found shot. As I stared upwards intently, I must have moved backwards slightly in balancing myself, for I b.u.mped unintentionally into someone behind me. I turned to see an old wizened gentleman who had just bent over to gather up a number of books that he had dropped in our encounter. I leaned down to help him, but he was so unpleasant in his words and demeanour that I left him to fend for himself. I looked towards the house of Adair again and stayed on for a few minutes longer, listening to the idle gossip coming from the small crowd of curiosity seekers that had gathered below his house. I then turned and went home.

It was no more than a few minutes after I entered that there was a knock at the door. I opened it and was surprised to find the old man that I had b.u.mped into facing me, his arms still laden with books. He muttered an apology for his rude behaviour and said that he had recognised me too late as a neighbor, for his bookshop was nearby. He wondered if I might not like to purchase some of the volumes that had fallen from his arms. "These," he said holding a few forwards in the long fingers of one hand, "would fill nicely the s.p.a.ce on the top shelf."

As he spoke, I turned in the direction in which he was pointing. When I turned again to face him, he had disappeared, and Sherlock Holmes stood there instead, a broad smile on his face, the old man now a pile of rags and a wig resting on the floor between us. I have never been able to say clearly what happened next. Holmes later told me that I went pale and fainted before his very eyes. I must have regained consciousness almost immediately, however, and once I ascertained that Holmes was real and no illusion, I began the inquiries that in the end resulted in this volume. He told me how he had escaped Moriarty's hold on him at the falls, how the great criminal had fallen into the abyss, and how he had decided on the spot to let the world think that he had perished as well so that he could deal more effectively with his remaining enemies. He then spoke briefly of his travels, of his escape to Italy, his time in Tibet, and his visits to Persia, Mecca, and Khartoum. It was out of these very brief remarks that my inquiries grew, finally resulting in the present volume.

It would be a continuing disservice to the public if the pretense were still maintained that Holmes retired to beekeeping in Suss.e.x after "His Last Bow." This was a ruse, again successful, that deluded his enemies into thinking that he had removed himself from the fray. Nothing could be further from the truth. Holmes continues, even now, to maintain his interest in the world of crime. Those cases that originated in his lost years but were only resolved by him much later, particularly during his "retirement," I have ent.i.tled tentatively "The Aftermath." Some of these cases cover a span of almost thirty years and will appear in a separate volume.

The world of crime is not a tidy one, and I would be remiss if I were to lead the reader to believe that these adventures were as easy in their execution as they sometimes appear to have been in print. In reality, they often took place over many years, and appear here in perhaps what are far too tidy packages of condensation. I should note too that Holmes was often a reluctant partner in their narration, and it was with reluctance that he responded to my many promptings. Sometimes the relation of a single tale occupied many weeks.

Holmes has read through the entire ma.n.u.script. As in the past, he has chided me for what he considers to be my tendency towards romance. He would much prefer what he calls a "scientific approach," in which the detailed observation of fact and the principles of deduction are all that are given. Despite his misgivings, he has granted his approval, albeit reluctant, of these "fables," as he calls them. At his insistence, I have thrown some of the stories into later years, distorting somewhat the historical record. This has been done to protect those who survived some of the bizarre events narrated here. It has also been done to delude some of the criminals who still remain at large despite Holmes's best efforts. Since all the happenings recorded here took place or had their origins in the period between 1891 and 1894, the careful reader should be able to discern the pattern of true events. The reader who looks to these tales for historical consistency will be disappointed, however.

JOHN WATSON, M.D.

London.

27th FEBRUARY, 1922 THE ORIENTAL CASEBOOK.

OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.

THE VICEROY'S a.s.sISTANT.

FOR SEVERAL WEEKS AFTER HIS RETURN TO LONDON, my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes had once again begun to evince those symptoms of melancholic lethargy which had led me on occasions past to increased apprehension about his mental health. He rarely ventured out from our quarters in Baker Street, consumed almost nothing despite Mrs. Hudson's stern admonitions, and spent most of the day staring idly into s.p.a.ce. Occasionally, he would pick up his violin, tune it slowly, and attempt some mournful piece by Mendelssohn, but at the slightest rebellion from the instrument, he would put it down and throw himself onto the sofa, sometimes finally falling into a deep sleep. His only moments of enthusiasm came when the morning paper arrived. He scoured it quickly, his eyes hungrily searching for something that could satisfy his restless brain. Alas, however, most of the crime was of the most ordinary variety, and the absence of intelligent design behind any of it was apparent to him at once.

"I have destroyed my enemies, Watson," he said one morning over breakfast, "and in so doing I have perhaps destroyed myself. Look at this: a bank robbery in Charing Cross, a man has murdered his adulterous wife in Oxford, and several drums of fertiliser have disappeared from a factory in Whitechapel. What is to be done?"

"Holmes," I said, "perhaps we should take an extended trip to the Continent. The grey weather in London is causing a melancholic state in you that-"

But he already seemed lost in his usual silence and vacant stare, and I knew by now not to irritate him when he was in such a mood. I looked with dread also at his return to the use of cocaine, which, as far as I was able to judge, he had been able to avoid until now.

Unexpectedly, he said, "You are right, Watson. A change would be most welcome, but I haven't the energy for the Continent. Let us begin with a walk and then perhaps take in a concert. Sarasate is playing this afternoon, and if he is in form it will be worth our while."

The stroll through St. James's seemed to do him some good and after the concert we again walked, this time through Hyde Park. It was just before dinner when we returned. As we entered, I noticed that Holmes had left a window open and that a pile of papers had blown off his desk. I reached down to pick them up and in so doing my eye was caught by a note written in a most vigorous hand. It read: My dear Holmes, My grat.i.tude for your help in the sad Maxwell affair. You have served your country well and have in no small way helped to preserve peace in the Empire. I wish you every success upon your return to England.

(signed) Curzon The note filled me with the greatest surprise and interest. At dinner, I said: "My dear Holmes, you have never told me of your journey to India."

He looked up vaguely, but I could see a slight gleam appear in his eye.

"Ah, you found the note from Lord Curzon."

I nodded. "Indeed, I did," said I with some annoyance, "and I must say that I am confounded. You have never let me know anything of an adventure in which you helped to preserve the peace of the Empire."

"It was a most delicate matter, Watson, and even now only Lord Curzon and I know the details, and, if I may say so, in all probability I know more than he. If I tell you the story, Watson, you will be the third to know. I think it should be a long time before you bring it to public attention, however. The tensions between nations remain, and several parties still living bear the wounds of what was a most grisly affair."

He had begun to warm to his subject, and I could see that he was eager to relate to me what for him had been a most interesting case. The vague, faraway look in his eyes was gone, and he appeared once again engaged with a worthy opponent, if only in memory.

"Of course," I said, "I shall bring nothing of this to public notice until you think it appropriate."

"Very well, my dear Watson, listen then. It will probably do me some good as well, for, lacking a new problem, I could do worse than retrace the steps of some of my most difficult cases of the past. In this way, I shall at least keep my brain alive until something interesting appears here in London."

We moved from the dinner table to our comfortable chairs in the living room. Holmes lit his pipe after removing it from his slipper and began, his eyes bright now, his voice composed.

"I suppose, Watson, that I had better go back and review my travels after the death of Moriarty. You will recall that I had mentioned to you on a previous occasion that I had journeyed to Tibet where I spent two years with the head lama."

"Yes, indeed," said I. "You travelled under the name of a Norwegian by the name of Sigerson. You then went on to Persia, visited Mecca, and then went to Khartoum, I believe."

"Exactly. You have a good memory, Watson. There was of course far more to my stay in that part of the world than I related to you. That I journeyed to Persia and Arabia is, of course, true, but I travelled by a most circuitous route. Upon leaving Lhasa, I gave up the disguise of Sigerson. As you know, Watson, I have a certain facility with languages. I had picked up a good deal of Tibetan in the monasteries and even studied the ancient Tibetan practice of concentrating bodily heat. It is a most useful and extraordinary technique, which I can still perform on occasion. Indeed, it saved me from two serious misadventures in the mountains from which I might have frozen to death. In any case, I donned a lama's outfit and travelled with a merchant's caravan on the old trade route south, arriving after a few weeks in the valley of Nepal, where I rested in that most pleasant place at a Buddhist shrine atop a hill overlooking the city of Katmandu. Were it not for its xenophobic rulers, Watson, I have often thought of retiring to that idyllic spot, for I know of no better place than there to spend one's declining years. To do it now of course one would have to remain forever as a lama or in some other appropriate disguise, for the present ruler, the Rana, does not tolerate easily the presence of foreigners. Although keeping my disguise at all times, I did identify myself at one point to the British Resident, Mr. Richardson, and was able on one occasion to help him out of strange difficulties. That was the case of Hodgson's ghost. Another case concerned the bizarre troubles of a French savant recently arrived from Paris to study ancient inscriptions in the Sanscrit tongue."

Holmes stopped to puff on his pipe. He eventually left Katmandu, he continued, and headed south towards India. Once across the border, he journeyed to Benares, where he deepened his studies of Oriental body techniques.

"I found that after a few months of concentration I could control my breathing and heart rate to such an extent that even you, Watson, might declare me dead on your usual diagnosis."

"Extraordinary," I exclaimed.

"Yes, dear doctor, extraordinary indeed. I have used these techniques with great success on many occasions, for in my line of work, one can never foretell when such knowledge may be of use."

"And how did you acquire these techniques?" I asked.

"Diligence, of course, and a bit of luck in finding the right teacher. My interests are in the main practical, Watson, as you know. Whatever the metaphysical foundations of Indian science are, I am of course uninterested. Give me a technique, however, that will contribute to the success of my work, and I become a tireless pupil. Thus, yoga, Watson, the practical aspect of Indian science, became valuable to me: first, in the aforementioned power to feign death; second in the ability to improve the science of disguise, to the point where the illusions created could be a.s.sumed without makeup or physical disguise of any kind. My purpose was of course a simple one: to keep alive in India, and in England once I returned, for unless I increased my a.r.s.enal of tricks, sooner or later one of my dedicated enemies would doubtless do me in."

Holmes already possessed a profound knowledge of disguise, as I well knew, having fallen victim to his impersonations many times in the past. In Benares he found the teacher through whom he could expand these techniques. His name was Shailendra Sharma. One of the great masters of the holy city, he lived on a dirt road not far from the place known as Lanka. At their first meeting he asked what Holmes's intentions were. Holmes spoke frankly.

"I told him who I was, since I knew it would go no further, and my desire to use the knowledge he imparted to fight the evils of crime. Before my eyes he suddenly became twenty years younger, with a completely different face.

"'Like this,'" he said, "and I knew that I had found what I required."

Holmes soon needed to rely far less on wigs and changes of clothes. The raising of an eyebrow, furrows in the brow, the ability to change the shape of the eyes at will, to draw the nose in or push it out, all these practices were communicated to him.

"The body itself is changed by yoga, Watson. A thin man can become stout and a stout one thin. After a few months of committed practice, I could remove a foot from my height without appearing hunched and could add several inches to it if I so desired without appearing unnatural. Breath control allowed me to change my complexion so that I could within a moment appear dark or light in colour. Yoga became for me the key to disguise and illusion."

As I listened to his narration, I became aware that Holmes had actually changed form as I watched. His face became rounder, his long neck disappeared into his shoulders, his stomach protruded, his eyes widened, his cheeks rounded. Unexpectedly, I found myself staring at a solid, red-faced member of the English working cla.s.s, rather than the elegant and slender gentleman I took to be my friend. I watched then as the rotund Englishman transformed himself quickly and imperceptibly, through minute movements of his face, into a swarthy Indian Brahman.

Holmes laughed at the shocked expression on my face as he took his own form and said, "In this there is no magic, Watson, but only committed practise and attention to detail. I was now able to move at will in two worlds: the Oriental and the English."

Holmes's rather long introduction to the tale fascinated me, showing aspects of my friend's interests and personality long hidden from me. His face then sobered.

"But I knew that some of my enemies would invariably learn these yogic techniques as well," he said. "There were several students in Benares under the tutelage of a far more aggressive teacher, a master named Senapati Raja. Some of these students I suspected of evil intentions. Their training, however, was among the most thorough. Long hours of yoga, followed by hand-to-hand combat; those who survived the regimen were very few. One part of their training I saw with my own eyes. Several times a week I would spend the morning hours at the ghats on the Ganges. On several occasions I saw young men come to the sh.o.r.e, with hands in chains and great weights on their feet. I saw them swim rapidly across the river many times before pulling themselves out exhausted. Some of them had been able to swim faster than the great Ganges dolphin, the chief denizen of the river. Whoever these students were, I knew that they would make formidable opponents. Indeed, as I left Benares, I came into contact with one of them in what I shall describe presently as an unusual incident."

After months of this most diligent study, he said, he had acquired what he needed, and he yearned for social intercourse with some of his own kind. Knowing that he must still be on guard lest his enemies learn of his existence, he determined to go to Calcutta, where he thought he might reveal himself to some of his countrymen and thereby spend a few moments in the more gracious mansions of British India. And so, still in disguise, this time as a Hindoo mendicant, he bade farewell to his teacher and took a rickshaw to Mughal Sarai, where he was to board the Toofan Express that would take him overnight to the capital of our Indian Empire.

As his rickshaw pulled into the station, however, he felt a face in the crowd staring at him. He soon saw that it was the face of a fakir, someone unfamiliar to him at first, except his eyes had had a familiar implacable look of evil in them. Naked except for a loincloth, the holy man was covered with ashes from head to toe. His hands and feet were bound, and a chain from a neck collar attached his hands to his feet in a tight bunch. He appeared therefore incapable of motion of any kind, except for the shuffling of his feet and the grasping movement of his fingers.

"Or so it seemed, Watson, for suddenly this repulsive creature, by sheer force of will, propelled himself high into the air, landing next to me in the rickshaw. He stared at me hard for a moment, his contorted face almost touching mine, then jumped out with a resounding laugh, and with several incredible jumps, disappeared into the crowd. Most disagreeable it was, Watson, and even more so, since I was certain that I had seen that face among the Ganges swimmers, and possibly before. As I boarded the train, I began the search in my memory for this man, for his look told me that I was no longer alone in India."

I was by now thoroughly engrossed in Holmes's adventure. I had myself served in our military forces in Afghanistan many years before and had always hoped to visit the eastern ramparts under our jurisdiction.

"I won't bore you with details of the city of Calcutta, Watson. Suffice it to say that once one overcomes one's revulsion at the native squalour and becomes accustomed to the humid pungency of the Bengal climate, Calcutta appears a large teeming metropolis, with most unusual possibilities for crime and evil."

Once arrived, he threw off his disguise, and again became an Englishman. He created for himself a new personality and occupation. He became Roger Lloyd-Smith, recently arrived from London as a representative of a firm of chemists, Redfern and Russell, Kingsway, Finsbury, London. He took a room in one of the insignificant small hotels off the Chowringhee, and decided to enjoy the delights of this large city.

"I knew of no one there, save Reginald Maxwell-"

"The Reginald Maxwell?" I interrupted.

"I see," said Holmes, "that the case did have a certain notoriety even here in London."

"It is still a mystery to most of us. His death occurred so prematurely-"

"Yes, Watson, and I shall relate to you how and under what bizarre circ.u.mstances."

Reggie, later of course Sir Reginald, and he, he said, were schoolmates and later attended university together. After university, they grew apart but corresponded occasionally. Reginald wrote at one point that he had entered His Majesty's Foreign Office, that he had married, and that he probably would be serving for a number of years in distant parts of the Empire, most probably Africa and India. He was, if not one of our most intelligent diplomats, at least a man of charm and industry, and his qualities became rapidly known to Lord Curzon, who, shortly after his appointment as Viceroy, asked him to serve as his personal a.s.sistant.

"You may well imagine, Watson, what a step forwards this was in the man's career: to serve so closely to such a strong and important individual, the representative of the King-Emperor in the Indian Subcontinent."

Holmes stopped for moment to empty his pipe. The name he had chosen, Roger Lloyd-Smith, was of course no accident, he said. It was the name of a third schoolmate with whom Maxwell and he had been fairly close. They had spent many hours together at snooker. It was under this name that he thought he would write a short note, knowing that Maxwell would be equally happy to see Roger, who, if Holmes's information was still correct, was living happily outside London, working for Redfern and Russell, blissfully unaware that he was about to visit Lord Curzon's a.s.sistant.

"I therefore wrote Reginald, explaining to him that I was pa.s.sing through Calcutta on my way to the Levant on business and that I hoped we might meet, if only briefly. He would of course recognise me instantly, but my true ident.i.ty would be preserved until we were face-to-face. The following morning I received a reply to my note: Dear Roger, So happy you are here. Come to my office at four tomorrow. I shall send a cab. It will be so good to see you.

Reggie It was a most welcome relief to Holmes not to have to travel by rickshaw from the hotel. Reginald's office was in a wing of Government headquarters, a little distant from the Viceroy's own offices. He had only a moment's wait after his arrival before he was led to his old friend. The peon left, and as Holmes greeted him. Reggie gasped and turned pale.

"Good lord! I don't believe it. Holmes! My dear chap, is it you? I thought you were dead!"

"A double surprise, eh?" said Holmes.

"Excuse me, Holmes, I am so taken aback by your presence that you will forgive me if I sit down. I was of course expecting Smith, a surprise in itself, but to see you, Holmes-and here, of all places."

Holmes explained to him in brief what had transpired over the last several years and his reasons for wis.h.i.+ng to preserve the impression that he was no longer alive, and his desire to spend a few days among his countrymen after long isolation in Tibet, the Himalayas, and India itself.

"Of course, I understand perfectly, Holmes. I shall open every facility here for you, including the Gymkhana. It might be easier for me if I let my wife in on your secret. And with your permission, the Viceroy himself. I am sure that he would be most happy to meet with you and to learn your impressions of Central Asia. The Great Game, as they call it, is still afoot."

Holmes replied that he would be happy to meet with the Viceroy if he so wished, and that he had no objection to revealing his ident.i.ty in these two instances, provided that he was referred to publically at all times by the name he had given. Reginald agreed to use the utmost caution in his regard and would arrange for every social convenience for Roger Lloyd-Smith during his stay in Calcutta.

The two old friends then reminisced about their university days. As they talked, Holmes examined Sir Reginald closely. He had changed somewhat from the Reggie that he had known, as would be natural considering the number of years that had intervened. A bit stouter perhaps, and grey had begun to appear in his still full head of hair. As they talked, however, Holmes became aware that his grace and good humour disguised some inner turmoil. When he stopped talking, his smile would drop from his face like a mask, leaving in its place an expression of deepest conflict.

"I must meet with the Viceroy in a few minutes, my dear Holmes," he said. "As you may have heard, His Majesty King Edward will arrive in Calcutta shortly for an extended visit and darbar. His s.h.i.+p has been reported in the Bay of Bengal just north of Ceylon. He should arrive therefore in a few days. We have much to do in the meantime. However, would you dine with us tomorrow evening, about eight? Here is my address."

He handed Holmes a card with an address in the Alipore district of the city.

"My wife," he said, "has heard much about you from me through the years and will want to meet you. She will be leaving the day after tomorrow for England."

"Indeed, I should like to meet her as well," said Holmes. "Will she be gone for long?"

It was at this point that the look of pain that Holmes had only glimpsed before covered his face. His voice cracked as he said: "I am afraid that she will not be returning."

Holmes nodded vaguely and asked no more questions, but it was apparent to him that Sir Reginald's pain lay in his personal and domestic life rather than in his work, which had all the outward appearance of complete success.

Holmes took his leave, and was escorted out by the same peon who had led him in. He returned to the hotel, pleased at the prospect of being once again among his countrymen, but also uneasy about his friend's obvious discomfort.

"I should tell you, Watson, that this was the last time I was to see Sir Reginald alive."

By now Holmes had refilled his pipe, reached for the brandy, and poured us two full measures.