A Study in Sherlock

Cubitt’s guests were seated in his library in upholstered high-back chairs set up in a semicircle in front of a massive stone fireplace. A roaring fire radiated enough heat to counteract the chill and drinks had been provided by the butler. Every inch of wall space on either side of the fireplace was taken up with ornately carved floor-to-ceiling wooden bookshelves. Ronald had inspected some of the spines while waiting for Cubitt to appear and had been impressed by the quality of the collection.

“Thank you for coming, gentlemen,” Cubitt said as he strode to a spot in front of the fireplace. “I am certain that you will find your journey worthwhile.”

“And why is that, Hilton?” Escott asked. “Why did you drag us out here?”

Cubitt smiled. “I’m going to keep you in suspense a little longer, Bill. Please follow me.”

“Any chance I can see your Yankees memorabilia?” Escott asked.

“Perhaps, but I’m reluctant to do so since I hear that you’re a Red Sox fan.”

Cubitt led them down a long hall and stopped in front of a carved wood door while the butler unlocked it. When the door swung open, Ronald could see that the wood covered a thick steel inner door. The guests entered a pitch-black room. When Cubitt threw the light switch Ronald, Altamont, and Escott gasped. Only Peter Burns showed no reaction. He had been guiding Hilton Cubitt since the millionaire began collecting and he had been in this room on many occasions.

The gallery was massive and every square inch was covered by artwork related to Sherlock Holmes. What drew Ronald’s eye was a wall covered by Sidney Paget drawings. Paget was the original illustrator of the Holmes stories in The Strand Magazine, where the stories first appeared. There were only supposed to be thirty-five existing originals out of the hundreds of drawings Paget had completed. The most famous Paget was from “The Final Problem.” It showed the fight at Reichenbach Falls between the detective and his archenemy, Professor Moriarty, and had sold for more than $200,000 at auction.

“Are these …?” Ronald asked.

Cubitt nodded. “All originals.”

“My God,” Ronald said. On the wall were more than twenty Pagets that were not supposed to exist.

Cubitt gestured to four chairs that had been placed in front of the wall with the Pagets.

“Please sit down.”

Ronald could not tear his eyes away from the Pagets as he lowered himself onto his chair. When the men were seated, Cubitt walked in front of them and put his back to the wall.

“Bear with me while I tell you a story. Queen Victoria was born in 1819 and she ruled England from 1837 until her death in 1901. It is not widely known, but the queen was a huge fan of the Holmes stories and she was devastated when Doyle, who had grown tired of his creation, killed him off in ‘The Final Problem’ in 1893.

“On June 20, 1897, England held the Diamond Jubilee to celebrate the fact that Victoria had surpassed King George III as England’s longest-reigning monarch. It is not clear who, but someone close to the queen had the brilliant idea of asking Doyle to write a Holmes story solely for Her Majesty. Paget was asked to illustrate the tale.”

“Everyone knows that never happened,” Escott scoffed. “It’s a legend like the Loch Ness monster, with about as much truth to it.”

Cubitt smiled. “That is the majority opinion.”

“You’re not saying it really happened, are you?” Altamont asked with raised eyebrows and a smirk that broadcast his opinion of the tale.

“Why don’t you let me finish. Then you can draw your own conclusions,” Cubitt answered. “Those of us familiar with this so-called legend know that the story and the illustrations were alleged to have been individually bound in leather and presented to the queen. That is where the story usually ends, but some years ago Peter went to an estate on the North Shore of Long Island, New York, and bought a collection from Chester Doran, a distant relative of John Jacob Astor. Over dinner the conversation turned to Holmes. Doran asked Peter if he was aware that Astor had once owned the only copy of a short story Doyle had written for Queen Victoria and the original artwork Paget had created for it.”

Ronald turned toward Burns but the dealer’s face showed no emotion.

“Peter told Doran that the story in question was not believed to have actually existed, but his dinner partner assured him it was real. According to Doran, Astor heard the rumor while visiting England in 1912. Using contacts in the royal family he learned that the story was still in Buckingham Palace.

“Doran grew reluctant to continue his tale at this point but Peter persuaded him to complete it. Doran told Peter that Astor paid a huge sum to a servant to steal the story and the artwork, which he received the day before he was to sail back to the States.”

“Didn’t Astor go down with the Titanic?” Ronald asked.