Sherlock Holmes and the Discarded Cigarette Read Free

unable to attend.
    As I pulled them out from my vest pocket I queried my friend as I saw him heading for the front door “Holmes, did we have any plans for tomorrow evening?” Stopping momentarily he turned in my direction and replied “Other than spending an evening scouring the papers for some hint of a crime that may have been committed; no I don’t believe we have any. Why do you ask?”
    While looking at the tickets I answered “Well I was given a pair of tickets by a patient of mine for a lecture that is to be given at the St. James’s Theater in King Street tomorrow evening.” sensing that I now had aroused his curiosity Holmes asked with some interest “And who is the lecturer?” “An H.G. Wells” I answered “and he will be speaking about a new book he has just had published.”
    Holmes pondered my reply for a moment “H.G. Wells let me think; yes I believe he is a novelist, journalist, sociologist, historian and a member of the Fabian Society if I am correct.”
    I must pause here to acquaint the reader with the society to which Holmes had just mentioned. The Fabian Society is a British socialist intellectual movement, whose purpose is to advance the socialist cause by reformist, rather than revolutionary, means.
    â€œAn excellent suggestion” Holmes continued “what time does this lecture begin?” I turned the tickets over to see when the performance was scheduled to begin “8:00 o’clock it says” “ Then Watson I shall make the necessary arrangements with the hansom cab driver who will be taking me to my destination this evening to arrange that we have transportation waiting for us at 7:00 o’clock tomorrow evening giving us enough time to arrive at the theater.”
    With that Holmes was dressed and out the door and onto his evening errand. Once the over powering smell of smoked cigarettes and cigars had finally left the room I pulled down each of the large parlor windows to keep the damp and cold outside, I stoked the coal fire in the hearth,
    lit the coal oil lamp on the small table beside me and my pipe then comfortably settled in the large green leather chair next to the table to continue with my journal.

Chapter 6
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    I heard Holmes downstairs letting himself in the front door just as the mantle clock was chiming 10 p.m. As he was coming through the front door of his rooms I looked up from my writing and asked him with some interest if he had any luck with the forgery.
    â€œDue to the obvious quality of the painting Watson, the Metropolitan Police and myself agree we lack the necessary artistic skills to discern if it is a forgery or not. To this end it is to being taken to the Belgravia Gallery tomorrow morning where their experts in forgery will ascertain if it is or is not. “
    After removing and hanging up his over coat and top hat he sat down in his favorite chair for a minute to scan the evening newspapers looking over the top of the news paper he had in his hands Holmes asked in passing “speaking of tomorrow night’s lecture do you know the title of this new novel written by Mr. H.G. Wells?”
    â€œThe Time Machine, I believe” I answered some what quietly while waiting for some sort of predictable and skeptical reaction from Holmes. Holmes thought for a moment, and then he said something very unpredictable “
    â€œA machine that travels through time in the hands of a master criminal, Watson what an interesting if somewhat a disturbing thought. The nature and types of crime that could be committed are astounding. “ “Is there anything of interest in the news paper?” I asked him after a short time to get him away from thinking more about time machines in the hands of criminals.
    He was aware that by anything of interest, I had meant anything of criminal interest. There was the news of a revolution, of a possible war, and of an impending change of government;