The Final Tales of Sherlock Holmes - Volume 1 by John A. Little Page A

‘It’s been driving me mad. Holmes, I do hope you’re going to change your clothes before seeing your father again.’
    â€˜Hah! I’ll do just that in the Dolphin tonight. I’ve booked two rooms, Watson, just in case people get the wrong idea about Lady Forsythia Moriarty.’
    The twinkle in Holmes’ eye did not serve to improve my mood.
    â€˜Well,’ he continued. ‘I spent many hours examining the quote for secret meanings, using my monograph on ciphers. I decided to approach it in several stages. First I split the text into digraphs, as follows:
    WH-OI-ST-HE-PO-TT-ER-PR-
    AY-AN-DW-HO-TH-EP-OT’.
    Holmes noticed my puzzled expression and leaned forward across the table.
    â€˜A digraph is a combination of two letters that represent either a single sound, or another letter. A sound formed by a digraph might be ‘ch’ as in chair, or ‘sh’ as in ‘shush’. In this case, I thought it must be a letter, as no sounds are formed by ‘dw’ or ‘ot’. Do you follow?’
    â€˜Yes, Holmes, I do follow.’
    â€˜Good. Notice that no digraph is repeated. And the message is too short for frequency analysis.’
    â€˜Frequency analysis?’ I was getting a little out of my depth.
    â€˜It’s an old tool for breaking substitution ciphers, invented by Arab scholars in the ninth century to establish the sequence in which the revelations of the Koran had been made to the Prophet Mohammed. For example, the letter E in English occurs on average about ten times out of every one hundred letters. So if we had a longer message, with one digraph occuring that frequently, we could assume it was E, and work from there.’
    â€˜I see. I think.’
    â€˜Good. It is elementary, isn’t it? There are many ciphers, so I decided to apply each one to the cipher text on a trial and error basis. It may have consumed a few days of my life and come to nothing, but was rewarding in itself as an intellectual exercise. I tried the Mary Queen Of Scots, the Atbash, the Vigenere, the Pig-pen, the Playfair, the ADFGVX, the Checkerboard, all the other substitution and transposition ciphers, most of which require a key. Unfortunately none of these worked, possibly because I didn’t know the key. I tried many options for that key, including MYCROFT, SHERLOCK, WATSON, HUDSON, MURDER, MUSICAL but nothing worked. So there it is. I must admit it. For once I have been foiled.’
    â€˜Wait, Holmes. Just wait,’ I said loyally. ‘Perhaps there is no hidden meaning. Maybe it’s something much simpler. A clue within a cipher, which might be in the title of the poem, or the name of the author? What is a Rubayait, anyway?’
    â€˜It is a form of Persian poetry, I believe. Yet I hardly think that Omar Khayyam can be the name of our nemesis. I tried all possible anagrams of his name and came up with nothing.’
    â€˜What about Edward Fitzgerald? The translator?’ I queried. ‘Your father is called Teddy, isn’t he? Surely that is another name for Edward?’
    â€˜Teddy. Edward. Edward Siger Holmes. That’s my father’s full name.’
    Holmes’ face had turned a ghastly shade of white.
    â€˜Oh, no. Oh, great God in heaven, no!’
    Holmes had bitten so anxiously upon his little pen that it splintered in two. He looked like a stricken clown in his female make-up and attire.
    â€˜Watson. It takes a simple mind to discover the obvious. I have been too studious in my approach. Fitzgerald is my mother’s family name. Now that is too much of a coincidence. It may be that my father is to be the next victim. And that our foe is one step ahead of us already. We must quickly to the Old Rectory when the train stops at Haywards Heath. And I must become a man again now. Excuse me.’
    Holmes grabbed his bag from the overhead hanger and disappeared down the corridor in his clacking high heels. Any misgivings I