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door and opened the large carpet-bag he had brought with him. He consulted his watch. It was just before eleven o’clock. He had better set to work.
    Twenty minutes later, the dark, muffled figure of a man turned the corner of Portland Street carrying a bulging carpet bag. He seemed in a hurry and rather nervous. It was a misty night, and fragile grey tendrils clung to the figure as he moved swiftly down the street, his footfall like a sharp, rhythmic tattoo on the wet pavement.
    On turning into Water Street, he espied a lonely cab meandering its way back to the depot. He hailed it, persuading the driver to take one last fare for the night. With an inarticulate grunt and a nod, the cabbie agreed and the man climbed aboard. But as he did so, two other figures materialised out of the shadows and also leapt into the cab.
    “Hello, Mr Holmes,” said one of the men, his voice guttural and ill-educated. “We believe you have a little bag for us.”
    Holmes attempted to struggle, but he felt the barrel of a revolver thrust against his ribs.
    “No amount of paddin’ will stop one of these little beauties, if yer force me to pull the trigger, Mr Holmes. Now, our orders are not to hurt yer, unless you become uncooperative, like. So, just do as you’re told and hand over the bag.”
    The detective could not see the face of either of his assailants, but he was convinced the threat was a very real one. He released his grip on the carpet bag.
    “Good boy. And good night!”
    A bright light filled his vision as his brain exploded with a sudden sharp pain. His body turned to jelly and he flopped forward, unconscious, to the floor of the cab.
    “Sweet dreams, Mr Holmes,” gurgled one of the assailants as they both pushed the detective’s inert body from the cab, where it rolled into the gutter.
    “Right, Harry,” one of the men called to the driver, “mission accomplished. Set sail for the Professor’s place!”

Three

F ROM T HE J OURNAL O F J OHN W ALKER
    I was despatched from India on the steamship Orontes in the January of 1881. My journey home was wretched. Although by now I was a “civilian” and supposedly a “free man”, I carried with me the taint of my court martial. There had been reports in the newspapers, and it seemed to me that every face on board averted their gaze from mine. Their expressions told me that they knew who I was and what I had done. No doubt the heinous nature of my crime had grown in the telling and the retelling. I was a pariah dog: an outcast amongst my fellow countrymen.
    I spent many long hours alone in my cramped cabin or leaning over the ship’s rail staring at the dark turbulent waters below me, feeling wretched and very sorry for myself. More than once I contemplated how easy it would be to let myself slip over the side into that cold watery embrace and thus escape the painful reality of my situation. Soon I would land in London, that great cesspool into which all the idlers and loungers of the Empire are irresistibly drained. There would be no friends or family waiting on the quayside waving in welcome. No one to help and cherish me; and with only my meagre savings for financial security, thefuture looked very bleak indeed. On the occasions when my grip eased on the handrail, as the heaving swell of the water beckoned enticingly, some instinct, some little voice within, pulled me back from acting upon these desperate thoughts.
    However, one evening when we were just two days away from England, the prospect of watery oblivion was more than usually attractive. I had been snubbed in the dining room by a fat northern businessman who told me in a loud, grating voice that he “was not afraid to be blunt, sir” and that “we don’t want the likes of you attending our table.” This was the first time someone had actually voiced their feelings to me — and it was done in such a cruel and public way that I was speechless. I opened my mouth to respond, but no words came. I found the blood