Chronicles of the Lost Years (The Sherlock Holmes Series) (2 page)

- Moriarty confronts Holmes.

The events related in The Chronicles of the Lost Years begin.

1892

Late March—the events of “The Singular Experience of Mr. John Scott Eccles (‘A Reminiscence of Mr. Sherlock Holmes’).” Perhaps because it was reminiscence, Holmes can be forgiven for getting his dates wrong—he was in Tibet at the time he claims this case took place.

1893

December—Colonel James Moriarty writes a report which causes Watson to respond with his story of Holmes’ confrontation with Moriarty at Reichenbach—publication of “The Adventure of the Final Problem.”

1894

March 30th—the events of “The Adventure of the Empty House*.”

Date uncertain—the events of the case of the Papers of the ex—resident Murillo—a case merely referred to in passing, but not written up.

Date uncertain—the events of the case of the Steamship “Friesland”—a case merely referred to in passing, but not written up.

Summer (?)—date uncertain—the events of “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder”—Watson writes that “Holmes had been back for some months” and refers to the above two cases.

Late November—the events of “The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez.”

1895

February (year uncertain)—the events of “The Adventure of the Missing Three—Quarter.”

Saturday April 23—the events of “The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist.”

Month uncertain, but prior to July—events of the case of the death of Cardinal Tosca—referred to by Watson, but not written up.

Month uncertain, but prior to July—events of the case of Wilson, the Canary trainer—referred to by Watson, but not written up.

July (1st week)—the events of “The Adventure of Black Peter.”

November, 3rd week—the events of “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans.”

Date uncertain—winter—the events of “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.”

Month uncertain—the events of “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons.”

Date uncertain—the events of “The Adventure of the Three Students.”

1896

Early in year—the events of “The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger.”

1897

March—events of “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot”—Holmes is forced to take a holiday in Cornwall because of ill health.

Winter (month uncertain)—the events of “The Adventure of the Abbey Grange.”

1898

Tuesday May 14 (year uncertain)—the events of “The Adventure of the Priory School”—This is the earliest possible date, for Lord Holderness was married in 1888 and his son, the subject of the case, was ten years old.

July—second of two possible dates for the events of “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder” (See 1888).

1899

Summer—month uncertain—events of “The Adventure of the Retired Colourman.”

1902

Late June—the events of “The Adventure of the Three Garridebs.”

September 3—the events of “The Adventure of the Illustrious Client.”

Early September—the events of “The Adventure of the Creeping Man.”

1903

January—the events of “The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier.” Holmes himself related this tale, although it wasn’t published in
The Strand
until over a decade later.

Month uncertain—Holmes retires to the Sussex Downs to study and indulge in bee-keeping.

1907

July—events of “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane” (after retirement, in Sussex). This is the second case Holmes narrates himself.

1915

August 2—the eve of World War I—the events of “His Last Bow.” The reunion of two old friends.

Watson joins old service (Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers), shortly after this case.

____

Undated cases:

“The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place” (Watson at Baker Street)

“The Adventure of the Red Circle”

“The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax” (After Crimean war)

“The Adventure of the Three Gables”

(Summer)—”The Mazarin Stone” (Watson not at Baker Street)

November—”The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire”

October—”The Problem of Thor Bridge” (Watson at Baker Street)

*Both “The Adventure of The Final Problem” and “The Adventure of The Empty House” are included in this book as a bonus.
 
Continue reading at the end of
Chronicles of the Lost Years.
 

• Chapter One •
_________________________

•ï¡÷¡ï•

Queen Anne Street, December 1903

IT WILL COME as a considerable shock to readers who know Sherlock Holmes only through my writings in
The Strand
magazine that my assertion that he was unique and certainly the most fascinating of subjects was fraudulent. There was another I knew—as equally as fascinating an individual. Her name was Elizabeth Sigerson.

It would seem appropriate that these two highly individual people should meet and indeed they did, in the spring of 1891 when Holmes was expending nearly all his energy in the final battle of wits with Moriarty.

Because of the omission of facts I have given the public concerning my very singular friend Sherlock Holmes, I feel I should complete the record here and if by some chance this memoir comes to light in a distant time, then so be it.

To begin at the beginning and include all the facts I must go back to the winter of the year 1891.

Winter of that year was unruly and unpredictable and I cannot recall another season that was so out of character as that year’s. Experts spoke of magnetic fluxes about the globe and the more common folk pondered the unusual arrays of temperature and the truly remarkable extremes. Record levels of snow would fall for two days, then unseasonable days of sunshine would turn the falls to floods.

The weather appeared to affect every person’s temperament and the number of crimes rose to an astonishing level. Sherlock Holmes was busy investigating numerous mysteries and would often of an evening arrive at my fireplace to bemoan the sheer quantity of his work and its correspondingly poor quality. Always he remarked on the common underlying cause of each motivation.

“Always it is the weather that is blamed, Watson.”

“Impossible! In every single circumstance?”

“I admit the little puzzle I was asked to solve today was not a result of the weather, but the weather did cause me to become acquainted with it sooner than some person anticipated.” He stretched his feet out to the fire.

“What puzzle was that?”

“A set of clothes found upon Dartmoor.”

I felt a small disappointment. “That seems a little ordinary,” I ventured to remark. “Clothing is abandoned and lost every day.”

“Not clothing like this,” Holmes replied. He stood and removed a cloth bag from the hat rack and emptied the contents onto the table. I moved closer and examined the clothing, trying to utilize my powers of observation as Holmes did.

I fingered the items, separating them. A shirt. A pair of trousers, waistcoat and a jacket, collar and cuffs and their pins. All were cut in small proportions. On the shirt, waistcoat and jacket there was a small tear in correspondingly identical positions. It was obvious that whatever instrument had caused the tear had passed through the material of all three garments in one pass. It would have to have been exceedingly sharp.

Holmes was watching me and I shrugged. “Perhaps the suit belongs to a youth. It is a peculiar size. Beyond that, I cannot guess.”

“These clothes were made for a woman,” he told me. He held up the trousers, displaying the length of leg. “The size of the waist is disproportionate to the leg for a man, but for a tall female, these would suit. The woman that owned these clothes was in her late twenties to early thirties and a liberal thinker. Unmarried, red-headed and neat. If it were she who secreted them, she is forward planner and in trouble of some sort. She is in hiding from some person or agency and these clothes would distinguish her too readily if found in her possession. My general impression is that she is highly intelligent and uses her mind logically. A unique woman I would very much like to meet, but I am afraid that is out of the question.”

I looked again at the clothes. “How on earth
…
?”

Holmes smiled good naturedly and threw himself into the chair. “I had a slight advantage, Watson, for I saw where this cloth bag had been secreted and well hidden it was, too. It was sheer unfortunate chance they were discovered. They were buried out on the moor, beneath a stone that was well covered with snow. Whoever it was that buried them—and I strongly suspect that it was the owner of the clothes, for she would not be the sort to let them fall into a stranger’s hands—she obviously intended that the clothes remain safely hidden under the snow, but the weather has undone her plans.”

“But to conclude she is red headed and unmarried….” I prompted him with disbelief tingeing my voice.

He moved his hand toward the clothing. “I gave you a clue, Watson. I drew attention to the proportion of waist size to leg. The neatness of the waist indicates she is young and has had no children yet. A married woman’s husband typically would not allow the frivolous activities indicated by these clothes, so she is unmarried. She is a liberal thinker and that is indicated by the styling of the clothes. Whatever their purpose, it would take a woman of rare talent to exploit them. Recall Irene Adler, if you will.

“She is neat, because the clothing has been cared for and was folded carefully inside the bag. This also indicates they have not been entirely abandoned. She is a redhead, as several long strands of hair about the collar of the jacket indicate.

“That she is a forward planner is indicated by the removal of any identifying tags at the neck and waist of each garment and their careful hiding place, which also indicates her desire to keep their owner’s identity a mystery. She thought she might need to retrieve the garments one day and did not throw them in the river or down the sewers. Hence my impression that she is intelligent and in trouble.”

“And the logical thinking?” I asked, allowing my admiration to reveal itself upon my face.

“She has carefully obliterated any possible evidence I might have seen near the hiding place and has managed to successfully disappear into the city and remain hidden for the two days I have been searching for her. The trail is cold now and I won’t find her without considerable effort.” Holmes leaned back in the chair, stretching out his legs.

“No, she is a very clever woman, Watson, who is hiding very successfully. It is a pity we will never have a chance to unravel the mystery, but my time is too limited.”

It would have been the end of the affair. I was concentrating on my practice and there were many cases of the elderly, frail and infirm succumbing to the rigors of this peculiar winter and I was busy.

For the greater part of January Holmes was in Europe, going about his mysterious affairs. Just as the winter deepened its hold in February, I received a new client. The lady’s name meant nothing to me, so it was with something of a shock that I found myself facing a tall, red-headed woman. A quick glance at her left hand confirmed her status as an unmarried woman.

She complained of a series of headaches. These were easily remedied with an application of salicylic powders, which I prescribed for her. Throughout the short interview I found my mind engaged instead on wondering if she was Holmes’ mystery lady.

However, by the time I showed her to the door I had convinced myself that coincidence does not stretch that far. There would be a good many red-headed ladies in London—even tall, neat and beautiful ones. The chances that Holmes’ redhead had actually called on me professionally were too slim.

Again, I all but forgot the incident. Holmes returned from Europe in March for a short sojourn before taking up his activities in France once more. I called to see him on one of the nights that he was not out and about on his business and we shared a companionable meal before settling in front of the fire and exchanging the considerable amount of news of each other’s lives since Christmas.

It is here that my story departs from that other I have previously related. For as I was searching my memory for any other scraps of news that Holmes would find interesting, I recalled my red-headed patient.

“Do you remember that mysterious redhead you were trying to trace…the one with the male costume?”