The Adventure of the Home Office Baby

FOLLOWING the occasion of my marriage, and relocation with Mary to our newlywed home in the Paddington district, only a few blocks east of the great station itself, I was able to continue building my new practice while still finding time to assist Sherlock Holmes in a number of investigations.

- David Marcum

This included the Adventure of the Sixth Finger, which so terrified a pair of spinster sisters, and an incredible discovery in the Iron Age fort near Llandysul, which must remain unknown except to scholars until such time as its implications can be determined. Heaven help us if word should ever surface about that case, but I did have permission from Holmes to make a record of it, which I stored away in the tin dispatch box that I keep at Cox and Company for just such cases that should not be forgotten, no matter the risk. Yet another narrative of national importance will be placed there as soon as I have finished writing it. I was reminded of this particular case by a recent press article detailing the unexpected death of the principal figure involved, and while the specifics cannot be revealed publicly, I’m moved to record here a true account.

It was an overcast morning in late November of 1889 when I found myself passing through Baker Street. As I ambled along, I nodded to a number of acquaintances, shopkeepers and mothers, landladies and cabbies, who made up that little community of which I had been a part for so long. The fog was lifting and the morning light waxing when I reached the door of 221. I used my old key to enter, as it had been made clear to me, both by Holmes and Mrs. Hudson, that the simple fact of no longer lodging there did not mean that my right to enter was in any way diminished.

Calling out as I entered, I was gratified to hear Mrs. Hudson make her way from the back of the house. I could smell something baking, and my pleasure at seeing her was compounded by the knowledge that something pleasant would soon be pulled from the oven.