TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 A LONDON CHRISTMAS Chapter 2 A SUDDEN STORM Chapter 3 A SOUL IN TURMOIL Chapter 4 THREE CHILDREN AT SCOTLAND YARD Chapter 5 A TRIP TO TWICKENHAM Chapter 6 AT THE SIGN OF THE OLD BRIGANTINE Chapter 7 THE THREE BEGGARS Chapter 8 A GREAT DETECTIVE Chapter 9 FLEET STREET SCOOPS Chapter 10 A SUDDEN CHANGE Chapter 11 A LONG TROUBLED DREAM Chapter 12 LIKE A TIGER IN A CAGE Chapter 13 A TRIP TO LIVERPOOL Chapter 14 PAPER LABYRINTH Chapter 15 A TANGLED TALE Chapter 16 THREE GENTLEMEN OR PERHAPS NOT Chapter 17 HUNTING THE BLACK FRIAR Chapter 18 DAWN ON THE THAMES Chapter 19 THE SHADOW OF VENGEANCE Chapter 20 CHRISTMAS WITH FRIENDS
Chapter 1 A LONDON CHRISTMAS When I think back to that distant afternoon in December 1870 a clear image comes to mind the slow dance of tiny snowflakes outside the window of Papa’s study It was my first London snowfall Papa had gone to Glasgow for one of his business trips With his typical generosity he had agreed to let me do my schoolwork in his small cozy study with book-lined walls Not far from me a lively fire crackled in a small white marble fireplace Horatio Nelson our butler walked toward the door he had left ajar and gestured to the window with a slight nod of his head Look Miss Irene he said As soon as I turned the sight of all that whiteness surprised me making my heart beat fast Snow Snow I cried without even thinking about it I must have sounded like a little girl or perhaps it would be more accurate to speak of the little girl who still lived inside me then Shortly thereafter my mother arrived having heard my outburst Mr Nelson stepped aside with a bow I saw my mother look toward the window her face lit up by a simple smile She too after all had the heart of a little girl Oh Irene isn’t it absolutely beautiful she asked As lovely as a fairy tale I answered My mother glanced at the books and papers cluttering Papa’s desk and said I’ll let you study my dear Until later I smiled thinking that her good mood had a hidden meaning After an autumn of sighs long faces and melancholy news from Paris our home which we’d had to flee suddenly due to the war with Prussia perhaps London had finally won her over The elegance of the city buildings the proper manners of good Londoners and the stylish craftsmanship of the items sold in the luxury emporium with which my mother had furnished our Aldford Street apartment had day after day found their way into her heart And when we heard from Papa’s friends that many other women of Parisian society had also moved to the British capital to escape the dangers of the war my mother’s change was complete She no longer felt alone Nor did I The Christmas atmosphere was enough to help us feel at home in this foreign city And so those days that I spent with my mother were happy ones as seldom had happened before This doesn’t mean that I kept no secrets from her On the contrary Even that afternoon for example I had not really been studying as she’d thought Instead I had just finished writing a page in the diary I’d begun several months before A secret diary a beautiful volume covered in Moroccan leather in which I disclosed many of the words that help me recall my childhood memories now But I don’t need to consult its now-yellowed pages to remember what I wrote that particular afternoon I wrote about my two dear friends Sherlock Holmes and Arsène Lupin The latter was traveling with his father and the Aronofsky Circus His last postcard was dated from a month before and had been sent from Antwerp When it arrived Mr Nelson secretly passed it to me and I read it in my room my stomach fluttering with excitement
