Sherlock Holmes at the Breakfast Table

by L. F. E. Coombs

  The following account may not meet the above criteria; nevertheless, it is one which emphasizes the importance Holmes attached to his sources of information, and in particular the Baker Street Irregulars, an army of boys of various ages who lived by their wits and without the benefit of soap and water and schooling.

  I made one of my customary calls on Holmes and found him leafing through the morning papers. Mrs Hudson was clearing away the breakfast table.

  Holmes greeted me by saying, ‘I wonder, could this be a singular coincidence? If so, an important one.’

  ‘A coincidence, Holmes?’ I replied.

  ‘Yes. This account in the Morning Post for the fourth of this month reports that, on the first, a Miss Hortense de Vere and her maid were drugged in their hotel in Holland. When they recovered from, it was assumed, a stupefying agent they realized someone had entered their room. Their possessions had been riffled yet the only things taken were some papers concerned with Miss de Vere’s journey.’

  ‘Sinister rather than singular, I would say.’

  ‘Indeed. The name de Vere sounds familiar. I must have read about her recently. Let me see.’ Holmes searched through the pile of recent newspapers that cascaded across the carpet. ‘As I thought. This report of a wedding at St Margaret’s between Sir Simon Downlea and the Honourable Cynthia Cloudsly tells us that the bride was most disappointed that her friend Miss Hortense de Vere, who should have been one of the bridesmaids, was forced by circumstance to miss the wedding. Miss de Vere was travelling on the continent. The packet boat she intended to take from the Netherlands could not sail because of a severe storm. For some reason she was not able to board the boat when it eventually sailed on the second of the month.’

  ‘And the second was the day of that strange affair when someone carrying a quantity of diamonds was forcibly taken off the Hook to Harwich packet boat in the middle of the German Ocean.’

  ‘Just so, Watson. Are we to assume that there is some connection between a missed wedding and an abduction at sea?’

  ‘If there is, then it must be a very tenuous one.’

  This discussion was taking place a week after the day on which Inspector Lestrade had called to seek Holmes’ help with solving the disappearance of five thousand pounds’ worth of cut diamonds.

  The diamonds were being carried by a Julius Vanderpole. He had boarded the steam packet Anglia at the Hook. An hour into the voyage two men had come on to the bridge and, at gunpoint, ordered the master to stop the ship. When the Anglia lost way a steam launch came alongside and a number of men came on board. The passengers and other crew members were herded into the saloon. The pirates, for that is what they were, must have left on the launch, which steamed away to the south taking Mr Vanderpole with them. None of the other passengers was harmed or robbed.

  When the Anglia reached Harwich, all the passengers were held on board until the harbour master and the local police could take statements from them. None of the crew or passengers was able to provide any useful information about the pirates. At the time the master, Captain Anderson, and the purser were not aware of the valuables being carried by Vanderpole.

  Scotland Yard, in the person of Lestrade, responded to the request from the Netherlands police for help. They had been led by an informer to where Vanderpole was being held prisoner. He was not able to say with any certainty whether or not the diamonds had been taken aboard the steam launch. If they had remained on board the Anglia then they could have been taken ashore by one of the passengers, if that passenger had been an accomplice of the pirates.

  At the time, Lestrade had commented, ‘If only we had been at Harwich when the Anglia docked. The trail has now gone cold.’

  ‘I agree, Lestrade,’ had said Holmes. ‘We have lost much valuable time; a whole week in fact. I assume the Anglia has been searched?’

  ‘It was only searched two days later, because in the meantime it had been allowed to sail the next day.’

  ‘I doubt, Lestrade, that you would have found the diamonds on board. No, the thieves must have planned to take them ashore at Harwich. At the time no one was aware of their loss. The Waterguard would not have been alerted to the possibility of someone smuggling in the diamonds.’

  Since Lestrade’s visit, Holmes and I had been endeavouring to solve two questions. One, why did the pirates go to all the trouble to steal the diamonds when Vanderpole was on board the Anglia? They could have waylaid him before the vessel sailed. The second question was far more daunting. Who carried the diamonds off the vessel at Harwich and where were they now? These questions would have to be put to Lestrade during his next visit to Baker Street.

  Lestrade arrived the next day and was able to tell us that he had received a communication from the Dutch police. Apparently, Vanderpole had an escort of armed police officers on his journey from Amsterdam to the Hook. They stayed with him until the last moment before the Anglia sailed.

  ‘Gentlemen, as for who took them or where the diamonds are I’ve no idea where to turn,’ said Lestrade.

  ‘Well, Inspector, I suggest the first thing we need to do is to determine which of the passengers was the one most likely to have carried the diamonds off the vessel. If we can solve that problem I am sure it will lead us to the next clue. Now, did you bring the passenger list?’

  ‘Yes.’ He handed over the list.

  ‘Oh, it is not a very big list. There are only thirty-six names.’

  ‘The Anglia is a “butter boat”, as they say, and can only accommodate about forty passengers. Its main purpose is the carrying of dairy products from Denmark and the Netherlands.’

  ‘Thank you, Lestrade. Now what have we here?’ He glanced down the list.

  ‘Just as I expected. Miss de Vere’s name is listed.’

  ‘That is odd. Surely she missed the sailing time,’ I asked.

  ‘She did indeed, Watson. Her ticket and her travel papers, however, did not miss the boat. And so we can now be certain that it was a woman, posing as the missing bridesmaid, who carried the diamonds off the boat at Harwich. Furthermore, it is more than likely that she took the train to London.’

  ‘I wonder why they chose a woman for such a vital task?’ asked Lestrade.

  ‘Because there was always the possibility that the Waterguard might decide to search some of the passengers. As you told me, Lestrade, during the Bancroft affair, they stop people at random. However, the pirates may have relied on the fact that females are rarely searched.’

  ‘Oh, of course, and I follow your deduction, Mr Holmes. Now Scotland Yard has to find one particular female out of the two or three million that live in London. That is, if she is in London.’

  ‘I’m fairly certain she is somewhere in our sprawling metropolis. I shall ask through my special sources within the criminal world if there has been any word about the diamonds. The word does get around, as you know. Particularly when such a valuable haul is involved. Disposing of five thousand pounds’ worth of cut diamonds is not going to be easy. I also deduce that the criminals had someone in mind in London who can handle the diamonds for them. Otherwise they would have taken them on board the launch that intercepted the Anglia and taken them back to the Netherlands. Do you agree, Lestrade?’

  ‘I am sure you are right, Mr Holmes.’

  After the second visit by Lestrade, Holmes took up his violin and that made me decide to take my leave. I returned later in the evening and expected to be told that he had deduced from the few clues available who the woman in the Anglia was and where she could be found. Holmes was standing at the window watching the people and the vehicles moving along Baker Street.

  ‘Any progress with the Anglia affair?’ I asked.

  ‘I regret to say, little. As you know, I am extremely confident in my ability to solve all manner of mysteries. I have been able to name many a villain and have had the satisfaction to see them being put behind bars. I have even outwitted, with your help, of course, that villain of villains, Moriarty. However, this time, like Le
strade, I cannot think how to proceed further.’

  ‘I’m certain you will find some seemingly unrelated fact on which you can reconstruct completely the chain of events that started aboard the Anglia.’

  ‘I’m grateful for your expression of confidence. Apart from the obvious sequence of happenings between the hotel in Holland and the pirates boarding the ship, I am finding it very difficult to imagine what happened thereafter. What we may assume, with some certainty, is that the woman who passed herself off as Miss de Vere left the Anglia with the diamonds concealed in her clothing. She then caught the train to Liverpool Street. And there at the terminus my mental trail ends. I have come to a brick wall. To a blank page. To an impenetrable fog.’

  ‘Come, come, Holmes, you must have some idea on how to proceed further?’

  ‘I wish I had, my dear fellow. I have stood at this window for most of the afternoon in the hope that the sight of someone or something passing below will give me inspiration.’

  At that despairing admission I realized that, indeed, the great detective had, on one of the few occasions in his distinguished career, met his match. That night I could not sleep. I tossed and turned. The Anglia affair troubled my thoughts. That amount of diamonds would have been a heavy burden on the carrier, I mused. Other questions passed through my thoughts. Each time I arrived at an answer, it had to be discarded after rigorous analysis.

  The next morning Holmes’ only response to my greeting on arrival was a grunt. I perceived that he had ignored breakfast. I ventured to suggest that we might go down to Harwich and question the police and the Waterguard.

  It was some time before Holmes spoke. When he did I could see that a determined look had returned to his eyes. ‘Excellent suggestion, Watson. Of course you are right. We will go closer to the start of the trail. I shall telegraph the shipping company and Lestrade.’

  We walked to the Baker Street Metropolitan station and took an Inner Circle train to Bishopsgate. From there we walked to Liverpool Street station and studied the timetables. Fortunately there was a train for Harwich about to leave. There was as much smoke in the station as down in the underground railway. There were numerous locomotives. Their air pumps panted in and out of beat with each other.

  The Great Eastern carriage was spartan, not very clean and the wheels sounded as if they were octagonal rather than round. It was an instructive if somewhat laborious journey. The railway company allowed its passengers plenty of time in which to admire the architecture, the activity on its platforms and the minutiae of railway operation at Chelmsford, Colchester, Marks Tay and Manningtree. It was raining heavily when we reached Harwich.

  The Anglia was lying alongside the quay and we lost no time in going aboard. Captain Anderson welcomed us in his tiny cabin.

  ‘Good afternoon, gentlemen. I’m honoured to meet you, Mr Holmes, and you, Doctor Watson.’

  ‘Thank you, Captain Anderson, for giving us an opportunity of inspecting the scene of the crime and being able to talk to you about the events that occurred at sea. May we start with a description of the pirates who boarded your vessel.’

  ‘They were dressed in pea jackets. Each wore a heavy scarf that hid most of the face.’

  ‘Were there any marks on their faces or anything out of the ordinary?’

  ‘Yes, Mr Holmes, I recall that I could just make out a white scar across one cheek and the end of the nose of the one who gave the orders. His companion had a pallor close to that of whitewash. He was sweating profusely and his hands and body were shaking.’

  ‘As I understand from the police report, you said that they suddenly appeared on the bridge.’

  ‘That is so, Mr Holmes.’

  ‘What did they say?’

  ‘The heavily built one pointed his gun at me and said, “Heave to. If you don’t then the mate gets it”. As he made the threat he pressed a gun to the mate’s head. I had no choice. I rang down “stop engines”.’

  ‘What else did he say?’

  ‘He ordered the mate, the helmsman and myself to move right over to the larboard wing of the bridge. It was then that a launch, that had been keeping station on our starboard quarter, moved in. I felt the bump as it came alongside. Unfortunately, from where I stood, I could see only the mast and the top of its funnel.’

  ‘So while you were held on the bridge, the pirates abducted Mr Vanderpole. And then they left you and boarded the launch.’

  ‘Yes, that’s so, Mr Holmes. When they had gone the mate and I went below to see if anything had happened to the passengers. They had been held at gunpoint by two other pirates. Apart from witnessing Mr Vanderpole being forcibly dragged out of the saloon, they were unharmed.’

  ‘One other thing, Captain Anderson. When the one who gave the orders spoke, did his English pronunciation sound strange to you?’

  ‘Now you mention it, he could have been a Dutchman or a Low German. I have sailed to and from ports on the Ems and the Weser where the local dialect is not far removed from English and nearly sounds the same.’

  Our next call was to the Waterguard, where Holmes questioned them about the females that had come ashore from the Anglia.

  ‘Can you recall anything about their appearance?’

  ‘Well, sir, as the list shows, there were only two that day. One was the wife of one of the passengers who frequently travels in the Anglia with her husband.’

  ‘And the other?’ asked Holmes.

  ‘Well, she seemed to be unwell and I heard one of the passengers, who was helping her, say, “Now don’t worry, we are on dry land now and you’ll soon feel better”. Or something like that. She must have been seasick. The butter boat rolls about a bit.’

  ‘So, you did not stop her and question her?’

  ‘Didn’t think it necessary. She was not one of the women we have stopped in the past who wind long lengths of contraband about them under their clothes. I wished I had, now that we know she may have smuggled in a great hoard of diamonds.’

  ‘An expensive decision, my man. In fact, a five thousand pound decision. Well, at least do you remember her face?’

  ‘No chance, sir – she had a veil. Five thousand pounds, you say? Well, well.’

  On our return from Harwich we sat down and went over what we had learned.

  ‘Holmes, I hope you will agree with me that my suggestion that we should visit the scene of the crime has proved of value.’

  ‘I’m not certain whether it has, Watson. The recollection of the Waterguard concerning the veiled woman certainly suggested that she was the one carrying the diamonds off the boat.’

  ‘It was most unfortunate that he let the woman get away. Come to think of it, Holmes, in one of your cases the villain escaped the country in a female disguise. Could the woman at Harwich have been a man? Now, how about the description and voices of the pirates?’

  ‘I’ve been thinking about what the master of the Anglia told us. I suggest you look through the notes you have made of past cases and find what I remember you intended to call the Borkum Mystery. I recall vividly the sinister villain with a duelling scar. On that occasion I only confronted him once. He said little although I recognized the accents of the Frisian Islands.’

  ‘Of course, Holmes, I do remember. You were confronted by, let me think, ah, yes, it was a Herr Karl Norden. A moment while I fetch my notebook for that year.’

  I found my notebook.

  ‘Here it is. Norden attacked you with a sabre. After a desperate fight back and forth in a boat shed, in which he cut your walking stick in two, you dealt him a fearsome blow on the jaw and he fell senseless at your feet.’

  ‘Your account, Watson, greatly dramatizes the fight. It was over in a few seconds. He dealt only one sweeping cut with his sabre that I parried with my stick. He was already off balance when my fist connected with his jaw. When he fell he hurled abuse at me in Plattdeutsch. I detected among the words he used, “Not cricket”.’

  ‘Well, then, although there may be many others with scarred fac
es, you may have identified the villain.’

  ‘With your help, Watson. With your help.’

  ‘Is there a possibility that this Norden has now come to London?’ I suggested.

  ‘Yes, and I am certain he was the leader of the gang who abducted the diamond courier. He, or someone, will be arranging to collect the diamonds from the woman who, we assume, carried them ashore at Harwich. He will try and sell them and, therefore, there is a good chance that he will be found in the vicinity of Hatton Garden and its many dealers in diamonds. I doubt that he will attempt to sell them to any of the reputable members of the diamond trade. They are now well aware of the robbery and, as I said, anyone offering a large quantity will be under suspicion.’

  ‘What is our next move, Holmes?’

  ‘Obviously, we have to start looking for Norden. Admittedly he has a distinctive duelling scar yet even so we are looking for a needle in a haystack of six million Londoners. I shall have to bring in my Baker Street Irregulars.’

  He rang for Billy and gave him instructions. Within two hours the hallway and the staircase was a mass of jostling boys of varying ages. Holmes described to them the man we were looking for. He emphasized the scar and suggested they start to search an area centred on Hatton Garden. Each was given sixpence and the one who found Norden would receive half a crown.

  They left, buoyed by the thought of the reward to be gained if Norden were found.

  ‘Holmes, I fail to see how just twenty or so boys can scrutinize all the thousands of people around Hatton Garden?’

  ‘I’m relying on the fact that the sixpence which each has received will be shared by one or two others they may meet on the way. It is possible that the original twenty will multiply until there are one hundred pairs of young sharp eyes looking for the man with the scar. A half a crown reward is a great incentive.’