Part 1 (1/2)

The House of Silk

The New Sherlock Holmes Novel

Horowitz, Anthony

For ereatly helped with the research for this book His excellent website, victorianlondonorg, is a brilliant (and free) resource for anyone interested in the period Two books that I found particularly useful were London in the 19th Century by Jerry White and Life in Victorian Britain by Michael Paterson although I also borrowed liberally fro, Charles dickens, Anthony Trollope, Arthur Morrison and Henry Mayhew Thanks also to the Sherlock Holenial and supportive and in particular to one of their nue of forensic toxology with ent of the year', Robert Kirby first suggested this book and at Orion, Malcolht years for enius of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle whom I first encountered when I was sixteen and whose extraordinary creation has inspired sothis book has been a joy and inal

12, 13, 14 ASH

Preface

I have often reflected upon the strange series of circu association with one of the e If I were of a philosophical fraht wonder to what extent any one of us is in control of our own destiny, or if indeed we can ever predict the far-reaching consequences of actions which, at the time, may seem entirely trivial

For example, it was eon to the Fifth Northuht it would be a useful experience for me and he could not possibly have foreseen that a hanistan At that tihan War had not even cole twitch of the finger, sent a bullet hurtling into my shoulder at Maiwand? Nine hundred British and Indian souls died that day and it was doubtless his intention that I would be one of theh I was badly wounded, I was saved by Jack Murray, ed to carry me over two miles of hostile territory and back to British lines

Murray died at Kandahar in September of that year so would never know that I was invalided home and that I then devoted several months small tribute to his efforts on es of London society At the end of that ti a move to the South Coast, a necessity forced onfinances It had also been suggested to ood for my health Cheaper rooms in London would have been a s with a stockbroker on the Euston Road The interview did not go well and is: less convivial perhaps, than Brighton, but half the price My personal possessions were packed I was ready to go

But then we come to Henry Stamford, not a close friend of mine but an acquaintance who had served as ht before, he would not have had a headache and, but for the headache, he ht not have chosen to take the day off fro at Piccadilly Circus, he decided to stroll up Regent Street to Arthur Liberty's East India House to purchase a gift for his wife It is strange to think that, had he walked the other way, he would not have bumped into ht never have met Sherlock Holmes

For, as I have written elsewhere, it was Staht share rooms with a man whom he believed to be an analytical chemist and orked at the same hospital as he Sta with abetween us was odd, disconcerting, and certainly memorablea fair indication of all that was to co point of my life I had never had literary aht be a published writer, I would have laughed at the thought But I think I can say, in all honesty and without flattering myself, that I have become quite renowned for the way I have chronicled the adventures of the great man, and felt no small sense of honour when I was invited to speak at his memorial service at Westminster Abbey, an invitation which I respectfully declined Holmes had often sneered at my prose style, and I could not help but feel that had I takenat ht say frogerated his talents and the extraordinary insights of his brilliant h at the way I would construct my narrative so as to leave to the end a resolution which he swore he had deduced in the opening paragraphs He accused ht enerally I think he was unfair In all the tile work of fiction with the exception, that is, of the worst itereat claim for my oers of description, I am prepared to say that they did the job and that he himself could have done no better Indeed, Holmes almost admitted as much when he finally took pen to paper and set out, in his oords, the strange case of Godfrey Emsworth This episode was presented as The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier, a title which in itself falls short of perfection inwould surely be more appropriate to an alnition for my literary endeavours but that of course was never the point Through the various twists of fate which I have outlined, I was the one chosen to bring the achieveht and presented no fewer than sixty adventures to an enthusiastic public More valuable tofriendshi+p with the man himself

It is a year since Holmes was found at his horeat mind for ever silenced When I heard the news, I realised that I had lost not just my closest companion and friend but, in es, three children, seven grandchildren, a successful career in medicine and the Order of Merit awarded to ht be considered achieveh for anyone But not formoments, I fancy that I hear theame's afoot, Watson!' They serve only to ree into the darkness and swirling fog of Baker Street with my trusty service revolver infor reat shadohichto join hiues es on the continent, I find I no longer understand the world in which I live

So why do I take up ht better be forgotten? Perhaps my reasons are selfish It could be that, like sosome sort of solace The nurses who attend uponis therapeutic and will preventinto the moods to which I am sometimes inclined But there is another reason, too

The adventures of The Man in the Flat Cap and The House of Silk were, in some respects, the most sensational of Sherlock Holmes's career but at the time it was impossible for me to tell them, for reasons that will become abundantly clear The fact that they becaled up, the one with the other, meant that they could not be separated And yet it has always been my desire to set them down, to complete the Holmes canon In this I am like a chemist in pursuit of a formula, or perhaps a collector of rare sta there to be two or three specirasp I cannot prevent myself It must be done

It was i to Holmes's well-known aversion to publicity No, the events which I a to appear in print They still are It is no exaggeration to suggest that they would tear apart the entire fabric of society and, particularly at a ti I cannot risk When I ath for the task, I will have this manuscript packed up and sent to the vaults of cox and Co in Charing Cross, where certain others of ive instructions that for one hundred years, the packet ine what the world will be like then, what advances mankind will have made, but perhaps future readers will be more inured to scandal and corruption than my oould have been To them I bequeath one last portrait of Mr Sherlock Holmes, and a perspective that has not been seen before

But I have wasted enough energy on my own preoccupations I should have already opened the door of 221B Baker Street and entered the roolow of the la o since last I was there Yes There he is, with pipe in hand He turns to ame's afoot '

ONE

The Wimbledon Art Dealer

'Influenza is unpleasant,' Sherlock Hol that, with your wife's help, the child will recover soon'

'I very azed at him in wide-eyed astonishment My tea had been halfway to my lips but I returned it to the table with such force that the cup and the saucer almost parted company 'But for Heaven's sake, Holhts from my head I swear I have not uttered a word about the child nor his illness You know that ht have deduced from my presence here But I have not yet mentioned to you the reason for her absence and I a in iven you any clue'

It was in the last days of Novee took place London was in the grip of a as laave out subsu the pavehosts, with their heads bowed and their faces covered, while the growlers rattled past, their horses anxious to be ho in the hearth, the familiar smell of tobacco in the air and for all the clutter and chaos hichwas in its right place

I had telegraphed my intention to take up my old roohted to receive his acquiescence by return My practice could e without me I was temporarily alone And I had it in mind to watch over my friend until I was certain that he was fully restored to health For Holmes had deliberately starved hi neither food nor water, in order to persuade a particularly cruel and vengeful adversary that he was close to death The ruse had succeeded triumphantly, and the man was now in the capable hands of Inspector Morton of the Yard But I was still concerned about the strain that Holht it advisable to keep an eye on him until his lad to see hie plate of scones with violet honey and crea with a pound cake and tea, all of which Mrs Hudson had carried in on a tray and served for the two of us Hol arown and with his feet stretched out in front of the fire He had always been of a distinctly lean and even cadaverous physique, those sharp eyes accentuated by his aquiline nose, but at least there was so about his voice and manner pronounced hireeted me ware sensation that I akening from a dream It was as if the last two years had never happened, that I had never met ton, purchased with the proceeds of the Agra pearls I could have still been a bachelor, living here with Hol with hi of yet another ht well have preferred it thus Hole and it had occurred to ht not have been entirely a coincidence It would be unfair to say that the entire subject of reeth My happiness and contenth not to begrudge it When I had first arrived, he had asked after Mrs Watson But he had not requested any further infor his remarks all the more unfathomable

'You look at h 'I take it you have given up on the works of Edgar Allen Poe?'

'You mean his detective, Dupin?' I said

'He used a method which he termed ratiocination In his view, it was possible to read a person's inner to speak It could all be done from a simple study of their movements, by the very flicker of an eyebrow The idea ireatly at the time but I seem to recall that you were somewhat scornful-'

'And doubtless I will pay for it now,' I concurred 'But are you seriously telling me, Holmes, that you could deduce the sickness of a child you have never met, simply from my behaviour over a plate of scones?'

'That and rather more,' Holmes replied 'I can tell that you have just returned from Holborn Viaduct That you left your house in a hurry, but even so missed the train Perhaps the fact that you are currently without a servant girl is to blame'

'No, Hol?'

'No You are correct on every count But how is it possible ?'

'It is a si the other Were I to explain it to you, it would all seem painfully childish'

'And yet I must insist that you do just that'

'Well, since you have been so good as to pay e,' returned Holin with the circus you here Ifthe second anniversary of your e, are we not?'

'Indeed so, Holmes It is the day after tomorrow'

'An unusual time then, for you to separate from your wife As you yourself said just now, the fact that you have chosen to stay with est that there was a coht that be? As I recall, Miss Mary Morston as she once was caland from India and had no friends or fa after the son of one Mrs Cecil Forrester, in Camberwell, which is of course where you ood to her, particularly in her tiine that the two of them have remained close'

'That is indeed the case'

'And so, if anyone were likely to call your wife away froht lie behind such a sus instantly tofor the afflicted lad to have his old governess back'

'His name is Richard and he is nine years old,' I concurred 'But how can you be so confident that it is influenza and not soether more serious?'