The Case of the Royal Leper

By Bruce Briley

A member of the British peerage is diagnosed with leprosy, a disease intolerable to the Crown because of its historical implications. Holmes and Watson, whose activities are known and respected, are asked (a virtual command) to convey the individual to the leper colony on Molokai, among the Hawaiian islands. The matter is so secret that royal physical and human assets cannot be utilized because of the risk of involving many people. The detectives are not allowed to restrain the gentleman, e.g., with handcuffs, because of his royal status. While he is very much against being exiled in this manner, he is not unreasonable, and such a lovely portrait of the colony is painted for him that he reluctantly deigns to go. (However, he backslides on this continually, creating many problems.) Several routes are considered, and the one selected partially involves the “colonies” because of the relatively recently completed transcontinental railroad, shortening the land travel duration from months to days.

Subplots/activities include:

a) The discovery of something by Holmes en route that makes him an assassination target for much of the trip.

b) The maturation of Holmes and Watson’s charge as the result of events on the trip.

c) Involvement in four wars.

d) Learning to live off the land.

e) Inventing a novel way to fight off savages.

f) A modicum of disobedience to the Queen.

g) The need for Holmes and Watson to learn the skills of Able-Bodied Seamen before the mast of a large sailing vessel.

h) The process of Watson properly organizing the medical practices and medicinal supplies of a very large hospice and administering medical care to a multitude of patients under primitive conditions.

i) Learning to ride for vast distances on steeds whose ancestry was traceable to Genghis Khan; similarly on Bactrian camels.

Holmes and Watson wrestle with many difficulties, but Holmes, as usual, evidences his renowned deductive and inventive powers, observational skills and cool demeanor when lesser mortals panic. A surprising ending rights a terrible wrong.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bruce Briley
• Release date: Apr 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9781939337979

Bruce Briley

Dr. Briley has a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D from the University of Illinois. He has 4 children and 10 grandchildren, has been employed for many years at Bell Labs, Lucent and Motorola, and is now with the Illinois Institute of Technology where he was awarded the first Alva C. Todd Professorship. He holds 21 US patents and has authored 2 textbooks as well as numerous technical papers (not unlike the "monographs" Sherlock Holmes often mentions).He has been a Sherlock Holmes fan since he was first able to read his Adventures. Of late, however, he became unhappy over the films and TV series of a "modern" Sherlock epitomized by the "Elementary" series which savages the concept: Holmes and Watson are transported forward more than a hundred years, Watson is transmographied into an Asian female, and Holmes, while still a brilliant detective, is portrayed as a social buffoon similar to Monk.Though he has found such series very entertaining, he longed for some new tales of the traditional Sherlock in the Elizebethan era, resonating with the original image while fresh in scope.And so he penned 5 novels (and is planning a 6th) that strive to accomplish that:The first, "The Lost Folio", chases Holmes and Watson all over England, involves Moriarty and Lastrade, etc., responding to a kidnapping and murders in pursuit of Shakespeare's Lost Work, while encumbered by an impenetrable cipher.The second, "The Sow's Ear", takes them on a dangerous sea voyage to rescue a young lady lost in the labyrinth of China, and stumble upon a plot to destroy the Silk trade, involving murderous rogues, and multiple assassination attempts upon them.The third, "The Vatican Murder", finds Watson jailed on the Vatican grounds, indicted for the murder of an old school chum and subject to the strict laws of the soverign Vatican State. Holmes is helpful, but a tangled web endangers Watson when he is mistaken for Holmes on two occasions. Watson, when separated from his boon companion exhibits his ability to improvise, but is convicted of murder.The fourth, "The Royal Leper", finds Holmes and Watson charged by royal warrant to convey a member of the Royal Family diagnosed with Leprosy to secretly convey him half-way around the world to what would effectively be banishment to a Leper Colony on Molokai island in the Pacific Ocean. An abundance of adventures ensue, taking them to places they would not have dreamed of visiting. No other Sherlock Holmes mystery/adventure has ever been so extensive.The fifth, "Something Rotten in Denmark", engages Holmes and Watson in an investigation of a series of murders that have taken place in Kronborg Castle, near Copenhagen. (Krongborg was selected by Shakespeare as the model for the setting of Hamlet, and has played a vital role in the history of Denmark.) The baffling nature of the murders is that they follow the order of events in Shakespeare's Hamlet. A tangled set of clues and witness narratives compel the pair to perform extraordinarily."The Fifteen Hundred Word Curse", involves a modern-day man who discovers that he is the victim of a huge (and genuine) curse levied upon the Reivers of the Walk (a large and dangerous group peopling the Scottish-English border whose descendents include Custer, President Nixon and Neil Armstrong) by the Archbishop of Glasgow. He enlists the aid of an ecclesiastical lawyer/priest, an aged, experienced expert on exocism, and a youthful priest fresh from a seminary. He learns that a large collection of evil influences have been subtly causing inbreeding amongst the descendents to strengthen the power of the curse upon his unborn child. Terrible events transpire as the result of attempts to apply logic to lifting the curse. A surprise awaits at the story's end.

Book preview

Grateful acknowledgement to the Conan Doyle Estate Ltd. for permission to use the Sherlock Holmes characters created by the late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Many thanks to Amanda Marie McGovern for her very able services in creating the covers for this series of books.

I would also like to thank the Telemachus Press Team assigned to my project for their professional handling of these books (and their author). I would recommend them to any serious author.

THE CASE OF THE ROYAL LEPER

FOREWORD

This being the fourth in the series of Forbidden novels, it is probably not necessary to repeat details of how they came into being, but in case someone should happen upon this work without benefit of having perused at least one of its three predecessors, a brief summary might be in order.

The great-grandnephew of John Watson found these works, recorded by the faithful John Watson, but written while he was in his dotage, and burdened by the Queen’s plea that they not be made public until all of the principals were certain to have expired. (The reason these were singled out was that the major individuals in each story were very prominent, and some aspects of their behavior might well have caused major repercussions.) Consequently, Watson dictated that they should not be released until fifty years after his demise. That requirement having been much more than satisfied, another one of the tales is presented herewith.

When these were penned, unfortunately, Watson had become somewhat impaired by his mature years, and the beautiful penmanship that the previous stories had displayed had been replaced by the crabbed writing of an arthritic hand, and much of it was thus only semi-legible.

I labored long and hard to decipher as accurately as possible what was before me, but I have occasionally encountered the need to extrapolate and interpolate his written words in an attempt to make reasonable sense of them. I fear that I may therefore have occasionally incorporated some slight inaccuracies in the translation.

In any event, I accept all responsibility for such inaccuracies. Please bear with me.

I should point out that this tale is more an Adventure than a Mystery, which I picked as the next easiest to decipher. It shares with the other tales the need to protect a notable of the time, but it also, to an extraordinary degree, displays Holmes’ resourcefulness and his effortless ability to command respect instantly with his presence in wildly differing venues. Sides of his personality not previously on display are seen. Hold on tight, for we will occasionally gallop (sometimes literally).

CHAPTER 1

Tell me about Leprosy, Watson, Holmes said, in a more subdued voice than was his wont.

They were taking their ease at their old digs at 221B Baker Street, Holmes puffing at his incessant pipe, Watson polishing a small monograph for submission to the Lancet on his military medical experiences.

Watson regarded him with a quizzical expression for several moments before replying, Why are you so suddenly interested in such a disease? You’re not showing symptoms, I hope.

No, Watson, but a member of the nobility has been diagnosed with it by one of your esteemed profession.

Really! I’ve only encountered two cases in my entire career, in spite of the many filthy parts of the world I’ve worked in while serving in Her Majesty’s military service, and they were cases among the camp followers. The soldiers were, of course, mostly in their youth and hale and hearty … a bit too hearty for their own good in my opinion.

Yes, Watson, so much for your experience and its rarity, but what are its characteristics and manifestations. How is it treated? What are the survival prospects? You must have studied it in medical school, since it’s been around awhile.

Awhile! Watson humphed. "It’s been around forever … certainly since biblical times, which might as well be forever. It’s a dastardly disease, and affects different people differently, but there are some common symptoms, such as loss of protuberances … fingers, toes, the nose. There is no known cure, and that’s why it was viewed as a disease of the devil in ancient times. Why there were even laws about lepers having to go about ringing a bell and singing out, ‘Unclean, Unclean,’ to warn people of their presence.

"It appears to be infectious, but only mildly so. It seems that some people can work around lepers for years without contracting it, while occasionally someone who brushes with them only briefly comes down with it.

In modern times, the poor devils are typically segregated into leper colonies, often tended by members of a religious order.

Yes, I understand there is one such colony in Hawaii.

I’m surprised you’d be aware of it; it’s on Molokai I believe. One of the smaller islands. It often surprised Watson to learn of yet another bit of knowledge that Holmes had at his disposal.

It’s run by an order of Nuns … not Monks, I don’t remember its name, but they apparently provide the necessities and some comfort to the poor wretches in their keep, Holmes mused.

It’s the Sisters of Charity, and they’ve been at it for years. I can’t imagine how the lepers looked after themselves before they came.

Pulling upon one ear, Watson took on a sceptical air, and proceeded to remonstrate. All right Holmes, tell me what has arisen to peak your interest, you’re not much for idle talk.

The gentleman in question is an esteemed hereditary member of the peerage, and an influential Member of the House of Lords. If his malady became common knowledge, his reputation would be ruined, and his family disgraced, and in fact the entire Royal Family besmirched. It is not to say that he be murdered, of course, but that he drop out of sight forever, in a place where he will be kept comfortable for the remainder of his time on earth. A well-run, remote colony under religious supervision was selected as the best solution.

But Holmes, the religious order is Catholic; surely not the best selection for a Member of the Church of England.

"It is hoped that generous donations to the colony’s needs would overcome qualms among the Sisters. The greater good can justify many compromises.

"Of course, as seems always the case in such circumstances, there are those who would profit from exposing the situation, so the utmost in discretion is essential, which led its implementation to be brought to our door.

"This young man had been commissioned into the Royal Fusiliers, and dispatched to several middle-Eastern posts over time, with significant time spent in India and Ceylon. He was known to have sampled the flesh pots there, believed to be centers of contagion, and probably contracted the affliction in one of those countries.

With his Bon Vivant history, you would expect reluctance to submit to being cloistered in so remote a locale as Molokai.

Yes, Watson responded, it must seem to him like a prison sentence … almost like a death warrant.

We have an immediate problem, I fear, grumped Holmes, I predict that he will go to ground before our ship embarks. He appears to lack the character to take the steps necessary for a gentleman in these circumstances.

Might he resort to the Dutch Act? asked Watson with some gruffness.

I wouldn’t totally rule it out, but I suspect that he lacks the courage necessary for that

Do you have any clues as to where he might hide?

None, but I’ve put out feelers. I should hear something soon.

Did you want my assistance in this adventure? Watson asked with a raised eyebrow.

Why of course, my friend, I was hoping you might have some free time to engage. I’d be hard pressed to handle this case alone. You know how I value your efforts.

Well, I have just about finished with this monograph, and have been casting about for some worthy next endeavor.

Capital! Let us get to it then.

This would entail conducting the gentleman to the Hawaiian Islands I gather? asked Watson.

Of course. We are to be entrusted with maintaining his incognito status en route as well, as could be expected. Clearly, there are many who could perform that service, but our reputation apparently caused us to be chosen.

Well, it is something of an honour to be chosen for the task. Was it the Queen who decreed it?

None other. We will have to take extraordinary care of course. He is a very well-known and recognisable fellow. Unfortunately, he is also dead set against this scheme. He is apparently unconvinced of the diagnosis, and the thought of spending the rest of his days on a tiny island in the Pacific in the company of very ill companions under the finger of a religious order does not sit well with him. He has a reputation of being a hell-raiser and womaniser as you may know, and very full of himself.

Yes, Holmes, everyone knows.

One of your tasks of course, would be to verify the diagnosis and convince him of the wisdom of going to Molokai.

The first should not be difficult, the second may prove near impossible.

You can only do your best, old friend … I have complete confidence in you.

Thank you, Holmes, but I have qualms. Is he to embark on one of the Royal packet ships?

"No,