Выбрать главу

Epilogue

Watson did return to London, carrying with him the fiction that Sherlock Holmes had perished along with Professor James Moriarty at the base of the Reichenbach Falls. He was reunited with his beloved wife, Mary, and soon resumed his medical career. Although he slipped back into the domestic scene with comparative ease after his dark experiences, there was always an empty corner in his heart now that Holmes and detective work were no longer part of his life. He relived his adventures in the stories he published in the Strand Magazine, but it wasn’t the same as the real thing.

Watson had hoped to hear from Holmes after a while, but there was no news from his friend. Mrs Hudson had disappeared, but Mycroft kept on his brother’s rooms as a second bolthole for himself. Mycroft was secure in the knowledge that of all Moriarty’s gang, he alone had escaped. No one, not even his detective brother, had known or even suspected his involvement with the Napoleon of Crime.

Watson’s life darkened even further the following winter, when Mary succumbed to about of pneumonia and passed away two days after Christmas. Watson viewed this blow as a kind of divine punishment for his past deceptions and failings.

And then, one day, three years after the Reichenbach incident, an old bookseller walked into his consulting-room — an old bookseller who, removing his disguise, revealed himself as a familiar figure to Doctor John H. Watson.

Sherlock Holmes had returned.

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES THE VEILED DETECTIVE by David Stuart Davies

ISBN: 9781845869065

Published by

Titan Books

A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd

144 Southwark St

London

SE1 0UP

First Titan edition: October 2009

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Names, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead (except for satirical purposes), is entirely coincidental.

© 2004, 2009 David Stuart Davies.

Visit our website:

www.titanbooks.com

What did you think of this book? We love to hear from our readers. Please email us at: readerfeedback@titanemail.com, or write to us at the above address. To receive advance information, news, competitions, and exclusive Titan offers online, please register as a member by clicking the ‘sign up’ button on our website: www.titanbooks.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

Printed in the USA.

Also Available

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

THE ECTOPLASMIC MAN

Daniel Stashower

When Harry Houdini is framed and jailed for espionage, Sherlock Holmes vows to clear his name, with the two joining forces to take on blackmailers who have targeted the Prince of Wales.

ISBN: 9781848564923

AVAILABLE NOW!

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

THE SCROLL OF THE DEAD

David Stuart Davies

Holmes attends a seance to unmask an impostor posing as a medium, Sebastian Melmoth, a man hell-bent on obtaining immortality after the discovery of an ancient Egyptian papyrus. It is up to Holmes and Watson to stop him and avert disaster...

ISBN: 9781848564930

AVAILABLE NOW!

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS

Manley Wade Wellman & Wade Wellman

Sherlock Holmes, Professor Challenger and Dr. Watson meet their match when the streets of London are left decimated by a prolonged alien attack. Who could be responsible for such destruction? Sherlock Holmes is about to find out...

ISBN: 9781848564916

AVAILABLE NOW!

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

THE MAN FROM HELL

Barrie Roberts

In 1886, wealthy philathropist Lord Backwater is found beaten to death on the grounds of his estate. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson must unravel the mystery by pitting their wits against a ruthless new enemy, taking them across the globe in search of the killer.

ISBN: 9781848565081

AVAILABLE NOW!

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

THE STALWART COMPANIONS

H. Paul Jeffers

Written by future President Theordore Roosevelt long before The Great Detective’s first encounter with Dr. Watson, Holmes visits America to solve a most violent and despicable crime. A crime that was to prove his most taxing of his brilliant career...

ISBN: 9781848565098

AVAILABLE NOW!