‘To his credit, Nathaniel was not insensitive to my reaction to this news, nor could he have failed to observe the very obvious physical effects of my present situation. There and then he resolved to make me a small monthly allowance. He explained that his imminent wedding was proving to be a most costly affair and that our parents’ estate had proved in the end to be a surprisingly modest one, probably eaten away by the costs of their insatiable lust for travel. The amount was barely sufficient to keep body and soul together, but I was grateful even for that.
‘I did not wish to embarrass my brother by revealing my address to him, so it was agreed that he would deposit the money at a large newsagent’s on the Commercial Road on the first Monday of every month. My friend Ben collected it regularly and this meagre sum was supplemented by my night cleaning job and any small errands that Ben was able to run for the local traders. By these means we were somehow able to survive.
‘You may therefore understand my consternation when upon one Monday, now two months ago, Ben returned from our friend the newsagent empty-handed. I have implicit trust in old Ben and he, in turn, trusts the newsagent, so I had to assume that my brother had withheld the money for his own reasons. I decided to visit my family home once more, in the hope that the missing money was nothing more than an oversight. I was distraught to discover that the place had been boarded up and was on offer for sale, whilst the only information that I could glean from the neighbours was that my brother had been married and had moved away.
‘For reasons that I have now explained to you, I am not able to conduct any enquiries into Nathaniel’s whereabouts on my own account and the police would be aghast at the thought of granting me an interview. Although, I am sure, you will have far loftier matters that demand your attention, I turn to you, Mr Holmes, as the only recourse I have of restoring what scant means of subsistence remains to me.’ Crosby drained the last of his brandy and extinguished his cigar as he concluded his moving and remarkable story.
For a moment Holmes sat silent and still. He then jumped up and strode to the window, through which he gazed wistfully, strumming his bony fingers against its glass.
Holmes’s voice was barely audible when he next spoke.
‘You must understand, Mr Crosby, that this is not the kind of routine inquiry with which I normally involve myself. However,’ he added quickly so as not to lower Crosby’s spirits still further, ‘I am curious to discover the true reason behind the withholding of the money and you have surely suffered much already. If you give the address of your newsagent to Dr Watson here, I promise to leave word of your brother’s whereabouts there within a week.’ With a dismissive wave of the hand, Holmes turned his gaze towards Baker Street once more.
As he slowly rose to take his leave Crosby added: ‘Your reputation for cleverness has been well documented by Dr Watson, but your kindness and compassion should be lauded equally.’ Holmes responded with only the briefest of nods, but maintained his vigil by the window until Crosby had shuffled out of sight towards the Marylebone Road.
For a moment after Crosby had disappeared from view Holmes and I remained both silent and still, Holmes continuing to linger by the window and myself leaning against the door that I had just closed behind our long-suffering client.
‘So, Watson, what are we to make of all this, then?’ Holmes asked, turning away from the window and lighting a cigarette.
‘Well, I suppose the story itself is a simple enough one and its conclusion is that the size of the parents’ estate precluded the newly married, Nathaniel Crosby from continuing to live in the family home. I presume that he has now moved to a somewhat less salubrious area and has decided that his brother’s meagre allowance was an expense that he could ill afford.’
Holmes eyed me quizzically for a moment and then grunted absent-mindedly as he extinguished his cigarette in a half-empty coffee cup.
‘Yours does seem to be the likeliest of explanations, yet such action would appear to be out of character. Remember how Randell described the warmth of the greeting that he received from his brother? Besides which, he was not coerced into granting his brother an allowance; it was his own idea, no matter how inadequate it proved to be. No, I am convinced that there is another reason for the money’s being withheld,’ Holmes quietly concluded.
‘Perhaps some form of ill-fortune has overtaken him,’ I suggested whilst gathering my things together.
Holmes barely acknowledged me as I bade him a goodnight. ‘Perhaps I shall see you once my enquiries into this matter have gathered pace?’ he called, as I was halfway down the stairs.
I spent the following morning making my peace with Mary and then found, over the next few days, that my practice was being overburdened by the victims of a quite virulent strain of influenza. This minor outbreak lasted but a short while, however, and my thoughts returned once more to the plight of Randell Crosby. It was not that my heart had been indifferent to his cause, rather that I had absolute confidence in Holmes’s ability to find Nathaniel without any great difficulty.
I was proved correct in making this assumption, to the extent that Holmes was already deeply immersed in his subsequent problem by the time I next visited my old rooms. I found Holmes hunched over a glass jar, in the centre of the dining-table, studying its contents with such an intensity that he scarcely acknowledged my entrance. According to Mrs Hudson, who showed some concern, he had been thus engaged for a number of hours.
‘A junior scientist such as yourself might find the contents of this jar of some passing interest,’ he uttered mischievously as I quietly approached the table.
Vainly trying to stifle my indignation, I exclaimed: ‘Well, I am certainly enough of a scientist to recognize that this is nothing more remarkable than a worm!’
‘Watson, you must not allow yourself to be so affected by my little jibes. If you can control your nerves for a moment and observe our small friend with a little more attention you will come to realize that this is, indeed, a most remarkable worm and one completely unknown to science!’
‘How did you come to be in possession of so remarkable a creature?’ I asked mockingly. ‘Does it form the basis of your latest case?’
Indignantly, Holmes hastily covered the jar with a napkin and led me towards our chairs and the Persian slipper. ‘This is a matter that can wait for another time, for I am certain that you wish to know the outcome of the Randell Crosby affair.’
‘Well of course I do … but that worm—’
Holmes stopped me in my tracks. ‘Desist!’ Obediently I sat down and lit my pipe.
‘As you might well imagine, the searching out of Nathaniel Crosby was a routine matter that presented me with no great difficulties. Posing as a potential buyer of Crosby’s vacant house, I was soon able to extract his present address from the agent handling the sale. Then, masquerading as a cockney hawker, I was able to fall into conversation with a senior member of Crosby’s household. From this loquacious individual I discovered that Crosby was now in the employ of Kyle and Onstott’s, a small yet most influential bank in Cheapside, where Crosby is expected to do very well.