The Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes by Paul Gilbert Page A

threatening. I fear that I may soon be compelled to get in touch with my old friend Watson. His colleague Sherlock Holmes may be my only hope . This entry certainly explains your involvement, eh, Watson?’
    ‘Certainly it does. Yet how did this Paulsen have access to Stamford’s diary? How did he know of my friendship with Stamford and our penchant for the Holborn?’
    Holmes suddenly got up from the table and lit his cigar, using an ember with the tongs from the fireplace.
    ‘For the answers to your questions I would suggest that you need to look no further than to the foot of the final page of these patent papers and to the very last entry in the diary,’ Holmes replied gravely.
    I followed Holmes’s instructions and then, having done so, laid the documents on to the table again.
    ‘Phew! So this fellow Paulsen was none other than Stamford’s partner in the invention of the aluminium crutch. As is often the case, greed has proved to be the motive for the taking of a life.’
    ‘Quite so, old fellow. Too often I fear that the satisfaction I receive from my chosen profession is tempered by thehumility born of witnessing the good being extinguished by the evil. Now call for Mrs Hudson. We must send a wire with all speed to Daley at the Holborn. Instruct him to arrest the footman at once and inform him that I will provide him with the details of the case early tomorrow morning. I think that we have delayed the remainder of the staff there for long enough.
    ‘Oh, and be so kind as to suggest that he might search through the footman’s belongings, or should I now refer to him as Paulsen? For that is surely his masquerade. I would not be a bit surprised if Daley were to discover that Paulsen possesses a “Gladstone” full of the pellets from some shotgun shells!’
    Holmes now abandoned his cigar in favour of his cherrywood and retreated to the windowsill looking out over the street below. I issued his instructions to Mrs Hudson, who went about the business immediately. During the protracted silence that followed I was able to read again the very last entry that Stamford ever wrote.
    I have arranged one final meeting with Paulsen, in the hope that the convivial ambiance of the Holborn might induce harmony rather than violence . Sadly my friend’s hopes had been dashed in the most tragic way possible and my thoughts were accompanied by the sad lament of Holmes’s violin.

T HE A DVENTURE OF THE A BOMINABLE W IFE
    ‘… as well as a full account of Ricoletti of the club foot and his abominable wife.’
    ( The Musgrave Ritual by A. Conan Doyle)
    A particularly pleasant spring afternoon in 1890, just a few months prior to Holmes’s supposedly calamitous confrontation with Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls, found my friend sitting on the windowsill overlooking Baker Street, toiling over Bruch’s Violin Concerto.
    I use the word toiling for that is the only way that I can describe the horrendous, discordant screeching that was being emitted from Holmes’s normally sublime instrument. It is worth mentioning here that the last few months had seen his workload of noteworthy cases reach an unprecedentedly high level. The affairs of the ‘Enigmatic Talisman’ and the ‘Venetian Mandolin’ are at least two of those that will undoubtedly, one day, be included in my ever-growing compilation.
    However, the last few weeks had seen a certain slackening off and, as a consequence, I had noticed certain signs of frustration returning once more to Holmes’s behaviour ashis nature rebelled against the stagnation of his faculties. His inept rendering of the Bruch was indicative of this. Surprisingly, though, and in an instant Holmes’s bow on string became true again and the strands of the concerto became sweet and coherent once more.
    I could not perceive a reason for this sudden change until I decided to employ Holmes’s own methods. There was a smile of satisfaction on his face and I stole stealthily over to the