Sherlock Holmes and the Knave of Hearts (22 page)

I
t hardly needs saying that
Sherlock Holmes and the Knave of Hearts
is a work of fiction. But it is fiction based – at least in part – upon fact.

As reported in all the major newspapers of the time, Gaston Verne did indeed make an attempt upon his uncle's life on 9 March 1886. Gaston was known to be mentally unstable, and records indicate that in the months leading up to the shooting he had been under medical observation for his strange
behaviour
and acute paranoia. Many historians believe this ‘observation' took place in an asylum in Blois, where he had been committed by his father, Paul Verne. However, it is highly unlikely that the true facts of the matter will ever be known.

Immediately after the shooting, the Vernes embarked upon a campaign of what, today, we would call ‘damage limitation'. They offered any number of spurious ‘motives' for Gaston's actions, none of them even coming close to the truth, and many of them frankly ludicrous. The Vernes gave no interviews and pressed no charges. And Gaston himself was packed off to a psychiatric clinic in Luxembourg, where he died sometime around 1916, at the age of 56.

However, it is beyond dispute that Gaston travelled by train to Amiens on that fateful day in the March of '86, and the subsequent shooting did happen very much as it is presented here. Gaston's first shot missed. The second smashed into Jules Verne's left shin. A botched operation made the removal of the bullet impossible, and Verne limped for the rest of his life.

Gaston offered no resistance during his arrest. Nor did he ever explain why he shot his favourite uncle, except to blame ‘family affairs of such sensitivity that I am unable to divulge them'.

Some sources speculate that Gaston was not actually Verne's nephew at all, but rather his son; the illegitimate progeny of a liaison with Paul Verne's wife Berthe. But many more rumours abound that he had been Verne's lover, and decided to shoot him after discovering that his uncle had found himself a new beau. The one word Gaston uttered during the murder attempt, ‘
Salaud!
' or ‘Bastard!', offers no real clues.

Still, the possibility that Jules and Gaston Verne indulged in a homosexual affair isn't as far-fetched as it might at first appear. The truth of Verne's sexuality has long been the source of great debate. He did indeed enjoy the company of younger men. In particular, his long and intimate friendship with Aristide Briand, who was some thirty years his junior, helped to inspire our story. Briand served no less than eleven terms as prime minister of France between 1909 and 1929.

Feral

Dead End

Tomorrow, Utopia

Killer Smile

Fanatics

Under the Knife

Cast a Deadly Shadow

Three Rode Together

Sherlock Holmes and the Queen of Diamonds