Chapter 2 A SUDDEN STORM My intuition had hit the bull’s-eye Sherlock’s greeting came in the form of a grunt Good day to you Holmes I teased I’m glad to see that the sparkling Christmas atmosphere has made you cheerful Sherlock threw me one of his intense looks His hard gray eyes twinkled for a moment and then he covered them with his hand rubbing his face In the middle of his forehead which up to that point had been smooth and relaxed two wrinkles formed and his long sharp nose twitched with annoyance At the moment my mind is an endless desert of boredom he said And I am sorry to inform you that what you call the Christmas atmosphere simply does not exist Really I said as I sat down in an armchair across the table from Sherlock And yet it appears that I just saw a few thousand merry Londoners walking the streets ready to contradict your odd theory Sherlock responded with a sneer I do not understand why people are so merry he said crossing his legs in an irritated fashion Then he extended his long knobby fingers one by one as he listed everything that seemed incomprehensible to him Streets blocked by foolish people smiles engraved on their faces greedy shopkeepers eager to sell useless rubbish and a pathetic race to eat greasy food is that your idea of a sparkling atmosphere grumbled my friend I think you should send a formal petition to abolish Christmas to Her Majesty Queen Victoria I said Then you’ll have taken care of the problem Sherlock grasped his cup of hot cocoa took a sip and grunted again Then he smiled and I did the same By then I knew those moments of dark humor very well And Sherlock knew that I was certainly not going to be crushed by the grip of his anger What he would never admit however not even under torture was that my presence helped calm him And that he’d wanted to meet me at least as much as I’d wanted to meet him The truth he admitted after ordering a cup of hot cocoa for me is that I am now decidedly less irritated than I was just half an hour ago Irene I’ve always had a certain influence on you I kidded putting my gloves on the small table But the truth is I liked to imagine that what I’d just said was really so And if I might ask I continued to what do we owe this lucky improvement in your mood It’s because of the good old Times Sherlock answered grabbing a copy of the paper that was lying on the windowsill next to him I felt a stab of disappointment which I ignored Oh It seems there would be reading material that might serve your mood better than the Times I answered surprised And you are right admitted Sherlock flipping through the pages But this page of classified ads in Monday’s Times contains an interesting peculiarity If you’re referring to that blurb about the little Indian monkeys trained to steal wallets out of the pockets of well-meaning
people well Mr Nelson already spoke to me about that at length Even he was struck by it I said Not the little monkeys It’s this answered Sherlock pointing to a small box in the corner of the page I leaned over to read an ad entitled Chess Problem It had three rows of letters and numbers starting with V2 P19 Q2 followed by the phrase Checkmate in three moves and ending with the signature The Black Friar Sorry I said leaning back in the armchair It was typical of Sherlock to pore over the paper to find the tiniest details He always read the small announcements and ads more carefully than the front-page news The game of chess is not really a strength of mine Is it a stimulating problem That’s exactly what’s curious answered my friend Whatever this thing is it’s definitely not a chess problem Excuse me but how can you be so sure I asked Sherlock snorted and leaned across the table It’s simple It so happens that a while ago in an attempt to survive a boring endless summer I hope it wasn’t the one when we met each other I interrupted him teasing One much worse I can guarantee you Sherlock said He paused and I thought perhaps he too was thinking back to when we saw each other for the first time on the ramparts of Saint-Malo He’d been hopelessly lost in the pages of a book looking for an intellectual challenge that could keep him from being crushed by the muggy weather and all the history that surrounded us No last summer had been anything other than boring I thought and I got ready to hear the rest of the story At that time he continued I became a fan of chess I read a good deal and learned all the systems of chess notation that I could get my hands on trying to repeat the great games of the masters of the past Chess notation I repeated What exactly does that consist of It’s Greek to me It’s simple he said Chess notation is how you represent the position of the pieces on the chessboard at a given moment in the game by using sequences of letters numbers and other symbols A type of code in other words I said Precisely And I can assure you this thing the peculiar Black Friar published is not written in any existing chess notation Perhaps he’s just an oddball who uses his own code I suggested For what reason Sherlock replied What would the purpose be of getting a chess problem published in the paper that no one except the writer could understand Boredom I suggested Sherlock ignored me and continued speaking Not to mention there’s no way to guess at this sequence No way to understand what the position of the pieces on the chessboard could be I’ve been racking my brain for almost an hour without getting anywhere Almost an hour of concentrating for an obsessive mind like Sherlock’s was truly an eternity I glimpsed that unmistakable twinkle in his eye that conveyed his need to share what was going on in his head with me At my nod Sherlock launched into an explanation of why the classified ad could not simply be a chess problem I confess that I quickly gave up on following his long complicated lecture of which I only grasped parts hoping that would be enough to paint a clearer picture of the situation for me Algebraic notation Smith method Gringmuth system Sherlock interpreting my silence as a sign of agreement pulled a small dark notebook and a pencil from his pocket intending to convince me beyond any doubt that his conclusion was correct I’ve no intention of taking a course in such a tedious subject Professor Holmes I interrupted It’s enough for me to see
that vein on your forehead to know it’s just as you say He stared at me bewildered and brought his hand to his temple where the bluish vein in question pulsed energetically Never underestimate a girl’s powers of observation I thought smiling Then I added The only point I don’t understand is what could be so exciting about all this It seems elementary to me answered Sherlock putting the notebook and pencil back in his pocket an astonished look on his face The inevitable question we must ask is this if the Black Friar’s classified listing isn’t a chess problem then what the devil is it And he continued before I could chime in why hide it in the pages of the newspaper I’m afraid these questions will keep me from sleeping tonight I laughed It was true A tiny unsolved mystery like this was for Sherlock Holmes capable of ruining a night’s sleep I was about to ask him how he intended to proceed solving the mystery and if I could help him in any way when the door to the Shackleton Coffee House burst open A striking figure appeared in the doorway in a gust of wind and snow He was wrapped up in an elegant crimson coat with a gray felt cap pulled down over his face I’ll be darned Sherlock immediately exclaimed sitting up against the back of his armchair A second look at the café entrance was all it took for me to be as flabbergasted as he was The patron who’d just entered the café had taken off his hat and scarf and his face was now clearly recognizable It was Arsène Lupin
