also
demonstrated an interest in bee-keeping and during her younger
years could often be found in the apple orchard with the
bee-keeper!
By age thirteen she began to
travel with her step-aunt, mostly on the Continent, largely in
France, staying at the various homes belonging to the step-aunt or
with aristocratic friends, where she continued her studies with
private tutors, concentrating on fine arts, classical poetry,
medieval literature and ancient history.
At age fifteen she was sent to
a Swiss finishing school near Lausanne – Le Palais au Printemps –
where she refined her French accent. She also honed her sporting
skills and won both the archery and fencing competition that year.
Along with the usual classes in etiquette, deportment, and
conversation, she studied rhetoric, and was dux of her class,
winning both the Cicero and the Seneca prize.
At age sixteen she began
travelling again with her aunt. They paid an extended visit to
London and the surrounding counties then ventured across the
Atlantic to the east coast of the United States of America. During
this time she added geography to her bow with the help of various
private tutors who travelled with them.
At age eighteen she made her
debut in New York at the Belle Epoque Bal Blanc and had several
eligible suitors in hot pursuit but the step-aunt decided to take
off again. They briefly visited South America before crossing the
Pacific Ocean to Australia.
Just prior to the twentieth
birthday of the lady in question, the step-aunt was bitten by a
tiger snake during a picnic at a place called Hanging Rock. The
venom proved fatal and the step-aunt was buried in the local
cemetery at Mount Macedon.
Soon after this tragedy, the
lady in question met and married the man you mentioned, with the
said alias, a grave-digger by trade who struck it lucky in the
goldfields and became an hotelier with a string of hotels and
public drinking saloons from one end of Victoria to the other. His
forebear had been transported for life after being convicted of the
crime of forgery. They were married for three years until such time
as the husband shot himself.
The lady in question then
sailed to England and began to trace her connections.
All seems above board at this
stage but I await corroborating evidence. You will appreciate that
further enquiries will need to be conducted discretely so as not to
set off alarm bells and because the people involved value their
privacy above all. Information is trickling in from near and far. I
think the only continent the lady in question has not visited is
Antarctica!
Yours M
Dr Watson had read through the
contents of the letter quickly and now sat back in his seat and
began to take it all in. The first thing that struck him was that
Sherlock would have been proud. The second thing was that the young
lady had received an excellent education, the sort only great
wealth can provide. The third thing was that Mycroft had not used
the Countess’s name. He didn’t know why that detail made him feel
relieved but it did. Perhaps he felt that if Carter Dee or his
sister had read the letter they would not have known for certain
who the subject was, and likewise who the sender was. Mycroft
really was a closed-tyler compared to Sherlock.
He was about to start
re-reading the letter when the door to the compartment began to
rattle. Someone was trying to gain entry. Hastily he folded the
paper into quarters and shoved it back into his pocket.
“Why on earth did you lock the
door?” quizzed the Countess, tone tinged with chagrin, as soon as
the door rolled back.
“I was going to grab forty
winks,” he lied, thinking on his feet, “and I wasn’t expecting you
to return quite so soon. I gather Miss Dee grated on you just as
much as she grated on me.”
“ Au contraire, mon ami ! Nous allons bien . I am just going to freshen up in the
bathroom and then I shall head straight back to the saloon car.
Miss Dee and I have discovered we have much in
demonstrated an interest in bee-keeping and during her younger
years could often be found in the apple orchard with the
bee-keeper!
By age thirteen she began to
travel with her step-aunt, mostly on the Continent, largely in
France, staying at the various homes belonging to the step-aunt or
with aristocratic friends, where she continued her studies with
private tutors, concentrating on fine arts, classical poetry,
medieval literature and ancient history.
At age fifteen she was sent to
a Swiss finishing school near Lausanne – Le Palais au Printemps –
where she refined her French accent. She also honed her sporting
skills and won both the archery and fencing competition that year.
Along with the usual classes in etiquette, deportment, and
conversation, she studied rhetoric, and was dux of her class,
winning both the Cicero and the Seneca prize.
At age sixteen she began
travelling again with her aunt. They paid an extended visit to
London and the surrounding counties then ventured across the
Atlantic to the east coast of the United States of America. During
this time she added geography to her bow with the help of various
private tutors who travelled with them.
At age eighteen she made her
debut in New York at the Belle Epoque Bal Blanc and had several
eligible suitors in hot pursuit but the step-aunt decided to take
off again. They briefly visited South America before crossing the
Pacific Ocean to Australia.
Just prior to the twentieth
birthday of the lady in question, the step-aunt was bitten by a
tiger snake during a picnic at a place called Hanging Rock. The
venom proved fatal and the step-aunt was buried in the local
cemetery at Mount Macedon.
Soon after this tragedy, the
lady in question met and married the man you mentioned, with the
said alias, a grave-digger by trade who struck it lucky in the
goldfields and became an hotelier with a string of hotels and
public drinking saloons from one end of Victoria to the other. His
forebear had been transported for life after being convicted of the
crime of forgery. They were married for three years until such time
as the husband shot himself.
The lady in question then
sailed to England and began to trace her connections.
All seems above board at this
stage but I await corroborating evidence. You will appreciate that
further enquiries will need to be conducted discretely so as not to
set off alarm bells and because the people involved value their
privacy above all. Information is trickling in from near and far. I
think the only continent the lady in question has not visited is
Antarctica!
Yours M
Dr Watson had read through the
contents of the letter quickly and now sat back in his seat and
began to take it all in. The first thing that struck him was that
Sherlock would have been proud. The second thing was that the young
lady had received an excellent education, the sort only great
wealth can provide. The third thing was that Mycroft had not used
the Countess’s name. He didn’t know why that detail made him feel
relieved but it did. Perhaps he felt that if Carter Dee or his
sister had read the letter they would not have known for certain
who the subject was, and likewise who the sender was. Mycroft
really was a closed-tyler compared to Sherlock.
He was about to start
re-reading the letter when the door to the compartment began to
rattle. Someone was trying to gain entry. Hastily he folded the
paper into quarters and shoved it back into his pocket.
“Why on earth did you lock the
door?” quizzed the Countess, tone tinged with chagrin, as soon as
the door rolled back.
“I was going to grab forty
winks,” he lied, thinking on his feet, “and I wasn’t expecting you
to return quite so soon. I gather Miss Dee grated on you just as
much as she grated on me.”
“ Au contraire, mon ami ! Nous allons bien . I am just going to freshen up in the
bathroom and then I shall head straight back to the saloon car.
Miss Dee and I have discovered we have much in
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