It was late one evening and I was just thinking about going to bed when a man whom I took to be Holmes walked in. Nonetheless, the man before me betrayed none of the characteristics of my friend: he had a pronounced hunch, was dressed in an academic gown and mortar board, and carried a stack of books under his arm. When he took the mortar board off and turned to face me, I saw a white beard topped with a shock of white hair. He then discarded both wig and beard, stretched himself to his full height and warmed himself for several minutes in front of the fire. Seating himself in his favourite armchair, he lit his pipe and began staring pensively into the grate. Finally he turned to me.
“The case advances,” he said brightly. “It undoubtedly advances! This Baker Street address is a little too well-known to be used as a starting point for a project carried out in disguise. I have therefore decamped to one of my hideouts. I have set myself up as an academic and give lessons to Mr Sedgefield’s children, helping them to get scholarships to one of the two universities. His driver picks me up every day from my humble quarters and Huxtable’s Sidelights on Horace have proved of inestimable value in giving Mr Sedgefield’s offspring the latest academic wisdom on the great Latin poet. I also tutor them in mathematics, divinity and science. We oscillate between Golden Latin, advanced trigonometry, the tripartite nature of God and the three main branches of science. For all that my attempts to teach you the finer points of detection have been unavailing, I believe I have a talent for pedagogy.”
“And how does this help you with your investigation?” I asked.
“Without wishing to disclose too much detail, my retreat has a postal address which commands respect, and I am taken by Mr Sedgefield’s personal driver to the Sedgefield house in Conway Square. The journey is of sufficient length that I have time to engage Mr Sedgefield’s driver in conversation, find out where his employer goes and obtain the driver’s opinions of Mr Sedgefield. The driver additionally expresses robust opinions on a number of extraneous subjects to which I have little choice but to listen. And when I am in Sedgefield’s house, I make as many enquiries as I am able without drawing attention to myself.”
“And what does Mr Sedgefield’s driver say about him?”
“Mr Sedgefield has been a frequent visitor to the house occupied by Miss Adler and Mr Munroe in Serpentine Avenue although he has not been there recently. He has also regularly been to the offices of Mr Munroe’s newspapers and these visits have continued over the last few days. Before Christmas, he was a habitué of the early morning boat-train to the Continent although my driver was not aware where his final destination was. Since Christmas he has spent much time at foreign embassies. He sometimes drives out with a former civil servant with whom Mr Sedgefield is friendly - Mr Alexander Baxter. The driver, who is generally quite garrulous, was circumspect in revealing the contents of the discussion, but he said that they often talk about the Trinity - a mysterious term as it normally has religious significance. It must have some other meaning in this context.”
“And what have you found out within the house?”
“Mr Sedgefield is a meticulous note-taker and archivist. I have also been able to go through some of the papers relating to his time as Prime Minister and his current lists of contacts. As Prime Minister, he was well-connected with governments around the world and seems to have particularly harmonious relationships with Majidstan, the neighbours of Qarim, for all the difficulties his decision to invade caused in the region. The countries surrounding Qarim are very vocal in their correspondence with Mr Sedgefield in enumerating their local grievances, and Mr Sedgefield is most assiduous in telling them how to present these grievances to the great central powers - Germany, Austria and Hungary - so as to ensure the best reception. I often sit and have lunch with Mr Sedgefield and his family. He is very polite and cordial towards me. Lunch is a modest repast for him as he says he wants to lose weight. Accordingly, he eschews wine and eats a restricted diet, although his wife partakes of a full meal.”
“And do you now understand Sedgefield’s motivation for putting the worst possible construction on his spicing up of the text that he had to make the case for war?”
Holmes leant back in his chair. “It is hard to see how one single motivation could be sufficient - so the expression, ‘the Trinity’, which Sedgefield has used with Baxter might go some way to explain it if I could be clear what it meant. Former Prime Ministers are never particularly loved (otherwise they would still be Prime Ministers), but this one seems to be going out of his way to attract opprobrium for the way he conducted himself in office. I must apply further thought to this matter, which is why I have come back to Baker Street tonight. Normally, when I want to spend time on thinking about matters in detail, I prefer to do so in a confined space as it focuses the mind wonderfully. Tonight I want to think expansively and while I would not describe our quarters in Baker Street as affording broad vistas, they are better than the broom cupboard in Kensington I have been occupying in the last few days.”
I left Holmes to his thoughts and retired.
When I got up the next morning, Holmes was gone, but by special secure delivery, two parcels arrived containing the latest draft of the Alcock report. There was also a summons to Holmes and me to come to the Palace of Westminster the following day for the next session with Mycroft, Alcock, Sedgefield and Redder.
The meeting followed much the same process as the first. Sedgefield insisted on even more amendments which painted his actions in a still more unflattering light. Holmes did his best to progress the discussions by pointing out that the press, the public and the servicemen were crying out for resolution of the matters delaying the publication of the report. Discussions were again adjourned, though I noted Sedgefield looking hard at Holmes even while nodding in apparent assent at my friend’s elucidation of the three parties with the greatest interest in swift publication.
The next morning I went out to buy a newspaper and was astonished to see The Times had a headline claiming to have lengthy extracts of the Alcock report. When I read the article, it was clear from its choice of sensational quotes that it had got hold of the very latest draft. I returned to Baker Street, where Holmes reacted to the news I bore with the keenest interest. For the whole day my companion rambled about the room with his chin upon his chest and his brows knitted, charging and recharging his pipe with the strongest black tobacco, and remaining absolutely deaf to any of my questions or remarks. Fresh editions of every paper had been sent up by our news agent, only to be glanced over and tossed down into a corner as they contained no additional information.
It was only in the evening that anything new happened. The Evening Standard carried what it claimed was the conclusion of the report. The paragraphs quoted from the conclusion corresponded exactly to what Mycroft had outlined. For the only time in our acquaintance, the subsequent visit Mycroft paid us was fully expected. “The leak of the report can only have come from Sedgefield,” he said. “The Government had no reason to leak the report. A perfectly acceptable and anodyne conclusion, which would have extinguished any interest in the full document, had already been prepared. Sir John Redder had no incentive to leak a report that makes his position as Head of the Intelligence Services look even more of a misnomer. And Alcock would hardly want the daily retention fees to dry up.
“And who leaked the conclusion of the report?” I asked.
“Well, obviously we needed to take any measure we could to protect the reputation of the British state,” said Mycroft smoothly. “And we released the report’s conclusion with a confidential briefing that the report copy from which The Times published extracts was an early draft - an obvious step to undermine the newspaper’s credibility. Anyone reading the extracts could see from their incendiary nature that they could not be part of a final draft.”
“So what is to happen to Lord Alcock now that his report has finally been published, albeit in irregular form?” asked Holmes, lighting a cigar.
“I must confess I have spent most of my day getting him appointed to the Chancellorship of Oxford as I had learnt that was the position that he thought was commensurate with his talents. In order to obtain the appointment, he will have to take part in an investiture where he will be obliged to recite a lengthy oath in Latin. It is probably as well that the investiture merely requires him to have the ability to repeat something he has had to learn by heart in a language he doesn’t understand, rather than to investigate what other people are saying. In any event, I don’t imagine Alcock will be terribly interested in the final publication of his report now.”
“And where is Mr Sedgefield?” asked Holmes.
“We do not know. He and his family are not at their house in Conway Square.”
“Are you taking any action against The Times for its leaking of the report?”
“Mr Munroe is still in America, but we are seeking to consult with him urgently.”
“The house at Bryony Lodge?”
“Also empty.”
“So the person you think is behind the leak of the report, the proprietor of the organ that published it and his intimate associate are all missing. The report and its inconsistent conclusion have been published with their disjunction obvious. And Lord Alcock, for his pains, has become Chancellor of one of the universities. What is the fate of Sir John Redder?”
“I have been able to secure him a position advising the South African authorities on how to establish an intelligence service. At some point soon, South Africa will become an independent state, so they are keen to learn from someone who knows how intelligence services operate. Sir John was anxious to take up the appointment as soon as possible as he finds the inclement London weather at this time of year somewhat trying. The ship to take him to Durban leaves tonight. Sir John, who is likely to be upgraded to the peerage for his work in South Africa, is also excited by the prospect of the first visit of a representative England Cricket Eleven to the Cape. I understand that this made him particularly eager to take up this assignment.”
“So, given that all the birds have flown, what is there left for me to do?”
“To elucidate for the British Government the reasons for the behaviour of the protagonist in these events. We need to ensure that one man cannot lead this country into such an impasse again.”
Further discussion between Holmes and Mycroft determined that, as Munroe was likely to be the only one of the players who would be in the country any time soon, our next investigative steps should be an interview with him.
This hope was dashed by a telegram from Munroe cancelling the commission with which this story had started:
“Jemima Wall is my new associate. Have no further interest in Miss Adler. Not returning to Britain in the near future.”
In Holmes’s capacious archives - albeit after considerably more research time than was normally required - we were able to uncover that Miss Wall had once had a reputation as an actress in America.
The next day, Mr Munroe’s newspaper carried a sensational revelation that Sedgefield had been sighted in Majidstan. Holmes and I were immediately summoned to meet Mycroft in the Diogenes Club.
“You must immediately travel to Majidstan to interview Mr Sedgefield. We must have clarity on what is happening.”
As my reader may suppose, travelling to the far reaches of the Middle East, even in 1899, when rapid trans-continental rail travel has brought so many distant places closer than ever before, is not a small matter. A ship would have taken several weeks to get there and so Holmes and I were booked on the Orient Express to Constantinople. From there, laissez-passers had been secured to take us through Turkey and across the Arabian Peninsula to Majidstan.
We were making our way down the stairs of Baker Street to the carriage that had been booked to take us to Victoria Station early one morning when the post landed on the mat. Holmes’s keen eye picked out an envelope with some very exotic-looking franking. He tore the envelope open and found a letter addressed to him.
MY DEAR MR SHERLOCK HOLMES,
You really did it very well. You took me in completely. Until our second session on Lord Alcock’s report at the Houses of Parliament, it never occurred to me that my children’s bent-backed tutor could also be the man who was trying to expedite publication of the Alcock report.
Your advocacy of the three interested parties - press, public and servicemen - who were seeking to have the report published rang a little bell in my head as I had overheard you talk to my children about triangles, the Holy Trinity and the three branches of the natural sciences, not to mention the Tripos exams which I hope they one day sit.
When I realised that I was being pursued by an antagonist as formidable as the great Sherlock Holmes, my initial reaction was to show backbone rather than to back down. I then came to the conclusion that my work is done and that accordingly the best resource was flight.
Your trinities range from the earthly to the divine and so do my own.
By spicing up Lord Alcock’s superficial and credulous report, I was able to leak a copy of it to Mr Munroe’s newspaper for a larger sum than it would otherwise have commanded. Its sensational contents increased my material worth to the Emir of Majidstan as he presents his casus belli for a war on his neighbour in a way to convince the world of the justice of his cause. And I have undergone a conversion to the local religion, as has Mr Munroe’s former associate, Miss Adler, whom I have taken here in Majidstan as the second wife expected by local custom of major figures in this part of the world.
My new religion has dietary restrictions which I find somewhat onerous, but I practised for them, as you saw, by converting to teetotalism. Miss Adler, however, is used to adapting herself to changing circumstances, having gone through so many trials and vicissitudes of her own. Accordingly, even before our precipitate flight to Majidstan, she had accustomed herself to the need for regular periods of prayer and contemplation during the day and has adopted vegetarianism. My first wife is taking a little longer to adapt to the local way of life as well as the new living arrangements.
Do not expect the nest in London to fill again any time soon. I, my first wife, and my second wife, Miss Adler, will be here for some time. Accordingly I attach a photograph of the happy situation of the three of us, along with this poem:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud,
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
I remain, Invictus
Charles Sedgefield
When we showed this remarkable note to Mycroft, he commented: “I prefer the Prime Ministers I choose to be more like the captain of the HMS Pinafore than the captains of their souls. I shall have to make sure that any future Prime Minister is a good deal more malleable than Mr Sedgefield has proved to be. Nevertheless, the great British ship of state has emerged unscathed from a precarious imbroglio. Those who believe the leaked report can be countered with the report’s unexceptionable leaked conclusion. And as the report is in the public domain, albeit in an unofficial version, there is no need to publish it officially. Redder, Alcock and Sedgefield are all in situations where they can do no further damage. And, as I have served my purpose in minimising the reputational da
mage that this report can do to the British state, I feel I can now retire to spend an undisturbed evening in the Diogenes Club.”
And he turned without another word and disappeared through the door.
The Camberwell Tyrant
In a previous story, “A Case of Identity”, I gave an account of the abandonment of Miss Mary Sutherland of Camberwell by her betrothed, Hosmer Angel.
In that story, the events of which took place soon after I had moved out of Baker Street for the first time following my marriage to Mary Morstan, I describe how, with bewildering facility, Holmes established that Miss Sutherland’s betrothed was in fact her step-father James Windibank in a disguise.
Miss Sutherland had nearly £100 a year of income in her own right from an inheritance given to her by her uncle. Her mother was a widow made wealthy by the sale of her deceased husband’s plumbing business and who had married the much younger Mr Windibank. Miss Sutherland let her mother and step-father have use of the money from her inheritance. Holmes observed that this arrangement, which so suited Mr and Mrs Windibank, was unlikely to continue if Miss Sutherland married and moved out of the family home.
Windibank had previously tried to prevent Miss Sutherland meeting people by making it difficult for her to go out to social events. As Holmes pointed out, this stratagem would not serve forever, so Windibank devised an elaborate trick which he carried out with the eager connivance of Miss Sutherland’s mother. He adopted the alias of Hosmer Angel and, aided by an excuse to be away regularly for long periods due to his employment as a buyer at wine importers, Westhouse & Marbank, he introduced himself to Miss Sutherland at a ball, wooed her and became betrothed to her. On the day of the wedding, he disappeared from Miss Sutherland’s life on the way to the church - stepping into a cab on one side and stepping out the other.
The aim of this dramatic ruse was so to frighten and confuse Miss Sutherland that she would not entertain the thought of another suitor.
The Redacted Sherlock Holmes, Volume 2 Page 3