Sherlock Holmes and the Greyfriars School Mystery by Val Andrews

Author:Val Andrews [Andrews, Val]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lume Books
Published: 2015-07-18T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

The Search Begins

We were out and about at an unusually early hour on the following morning, Holmes deciding that we would give breakfast a miss. This did not please me but I made no protest. He seemed in need of a good brisk country walk and, without seeming knowledge of his goal or direction, began to cross a small stone bridge. At the other end of it I noticed a youthful figure in a Greyfriars uniform, holding some sort of despatch case. I remarked to Holmes that it was too early for one of the schoolboys to be out and about. The boy, tall for a junior, with long, lank hair and a prominent nose, raised his cap to us as we arrived at the spot upon which he stood. He said, politely, ‘Good morning, gentlemen.’

To my surprise Holmes replied, ‘Good morning, Master Todd.’ Curiously, the schoolboy lawyer had figured in our conversations, but I for one had not set eyes upon him that I could remember.

The boy started a little, ‘I didn’t think we had met.’

Holmes said, ‘Indeed we have not, but last evening upon passing the junior common room we could not help but hear the name Todd being spoken, coupled with the knowledge that the owner of that name was the son of a solicitor.’

‘But you did not see me.’

‘No, but I recognize the style of your despatch case as being one favoured by the legal profession. It is an elderly case and has received more wear than you could have given it, in even several years of hard use. I therefore deduce that it has been passed on to you by its original owner. The most likely happening would be for a solicitor to have passed the case on to his son to end its days as a school bag. Now that I am able to inspect it more closely I can see that my deduction was correct, for the bag bears the initials T T and T. These I imagine are those of Todd, Todd and Todd, a law firm well known to me by reputation.’

Master Todd, far from being slack-jawed with astonishment, said, ‘Brilliantly deduced Mr Holmes, and I assume that your companion is Dr Watson. I knew you were in the vicinity, and your conversation has hardly been that of a plumber or dairy farmer!’

The boy excused himself upon the grounds of an appointment and raising his cap again he smartly took himself off in the direction of a clump of woodland. As soon as he was out of earshot I said, ‘Holmes, do you not think it singular for a Remove boy to be keeping an appointment at a time when he might be expected to be at breakfast with his form-mates?’

Holmes answered, ‘I do, especially as he is carrying a despatch case easily large enough to hold a four-hundred-page manuscript!’

Holmes agreed with me when I said that we should not jump to any conclusions, saying, ‘I think I must stalk our young friend to ascertain the nature of his appointment.

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