Holmes and Watson by David Ruffle

Author:David Ruffle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sherlock Holmes, mystery, crime, british crime, sherlock holmes fiction, sherlock holmes novels, sherlock holmes short stories
ISBN: 9781780929330
Publisher: Andrews UK
Published: 2016-04-06T00:00:00+00:00

***

‘Ah, Mrs Hudson.’

‘You’ll never guess who has come to call?’

‘I never guess, I deduce and the slow, measured and somewhat weighty footsteps on the stairs can only mean that Mycroft is here.’

‘Could you not be wrong just sometimes, Mr Holmes?’

‘Sorry to disappoint you, Mrs Hudson.’

‘It’s just that you make us normal folk feel inadequate.’

‘Then my work is done. Good evening, Mycroft. Thank you, Mrs Hudson. Please, there is no need to curtsey.’

‘Apologies, for a moment there I thought you had mistaken me for your servant not your landlady.’

‘Good evening, Sherlock and hullo, Doctor. Married life must be suiting you once more judging by the few pounds you have gained.’

‘Six I reckoned.’

‘Nonsense, Sherlock. I believe it to be four pounds, am I right?’

‘Yes, Mr Holmes, you are.’

‘What brings you here, Mycroft? You are off your own particular beaten track.’

‘My life does not just consist of my Pall Mall lodgings, the Diogenes club and Whitehall.’

‘I beg to differ, mostly it does.’

‘Tonight for instance I have been to the theatre although I wish I hadn’t; lacklustre performances all round.’

‘Using a government carriage if I heard correctly.’

‘There is no use in having perks if one doesn’t avail oneself of them occasionally. Were you consulted in the Worplesdon blacksmith case, Sherlock?’

‘I have looked into the affair yes.’

‘It was Thompson of course.’

‘There was never any doubt surely.’

‘Not as far as I was concerned. I could have had an eminently successful career as a detective.’

‘If only you hadn’t been so incurably lazy, Mycroft.’

‘Quite so, Sherlock.’

‘Now, what is it I can do for you? I assume this is not a social call.’

‘I have a mission for you. A diplomatic mission which requires absolute discretion and has to remain secret.’

‘I think it’s best if I leave now, if you need to talk.’

‘There is no need to go, Watson for Mycroft has yet to hear my news and when he does he will realise the futility of his request.’

‘What is this news, Sherlock? If I was a betting man I would wager you are planning to retire and keep bees. It is one of the four separate theories I have evolved for the books I see on your dining table. Strangely enough it is the one I adjudge most likely.’

‘You are quite correct. I decamp to a villa in Sussex in a few days.’

‘And the fact your country needs you will not sway you?’

‘I’m sure you have diplomats a plenty to undertake your diplomatic missions.’

‘None possess your special and dare I say it, unique skills.’

‘Flattery will not win the day for you, Mycroft. My mind is quite made up on the matter.’

‘But you know nothing of the matter.’

‘That is how it will remain.’

‘Can you not persuade him, Doctor?’

‘His mind is made up. I have voiced my objections, but to no avail.’

‘He always had a stubborn streak. Can I not appeal to your patriotism, Sherlock?’

‘It is not a question of patriotism, I don’t believe mine has ever been in doubt, but now I need the solitude that retirement will give me.

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